Before we finish up this Wild Rumpus report for the summer, I would be remiss if I didn't share these great photos and experiences from a different kind of Wild Rumpus. Every summer for the past maybe 10 years or so, Madison Public Library has hosted a carnival at the Central Library location. This year, the Carnival planners asked if I'd like to bring the Wild Rumpus materials into the mix and I thought that was a great idea. We arranged four carts of play materials in one of the large, sunny meeting rooms upstairs and let kids play however they wanted to. Here's what happened:
At least one kid started to try balancing on top of a spool, but unfortunately the group leader who was responsible for him told him not to try standing on it (I hadn't had a chance to talk to the leader about the importance of risky play yet!) and so, even after I suggested that maybe it actually would be fine, he chose not to try it.
The spools also made great stepping stones to jump across the room on
And check out this fabulous tower!
The inner tubes served as hula hoops...
This child was thrilled to roll around the room inside the inner tubes with mom's help
and also spin:
but walking was possible without mom's help. Also it was funny!
And these siblings played in their "boats" going fishing for a very, very long time, enjoying a rich conversation and SO much imagination. I was captivated!
The "rollers" (large plastic cylinders) provided great inspiration for play:
The blocks saw lots of rolling action too:
excellent architecture:
Love the wood flooring in this house big enough for a baby to explore!
And this cathedral window with long crossplank? Beautiful!
Kids used a wide variety of materials to create this obstacle course circle, then instructed their friends on how to get everyone started moving around the circle:
Not sure if anyone tried walking across this bridge or not.
Love that she brought a kick-step over from the side of the room to help her reach the top of this structure to add the finishing touch!
This guy? He built tall tower after tall tower after tall tower. Each time they came crashing down after so much hard work, I kept expecting him to get upset, but every time he just cheered joyfully and started building another.
Here he is building his first tower. He couldn't quite get that piece up on top of his tower and he wasn't feeling secure on the upper rungs of the ladder yet, so he called in some support.
Thanks, mom! Perfect amount of support without hovering.
and speaking of ladders, check out these innovative uses!
(sorry this video's sideways, but I just had to share this attempt to do stilt walking on the second rung:
My biggest disappointment was that with all of the other fun things going on at the Carnival downstairs and in other parts of the third floor where we were, no one took the time to create their Play Story. A few people sat down to draw a picture as part of their play, but that was as far as it went today unfortunately.
One final video to make you smile (a big thanks to the Central YS team who thought of adding these fun pop-up tunnels to the AnjiPlay materials--great idea!)
Please note: "Anji Play,” refers to a specific philosophy and comprehensive approach to early education developed by Ms. Cheng Xueqin in Anji County, China. I use the term "Anji Play" to describe my programming and throughout this blog with the explicit permission of Ms. Cheng because our programming has been developed as part of a close collaborative relationship with her and her team of Anji Play educators. If you are interested in learning more about how you can bring Anji Play to your community, please visit www.anjiplay.com
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