AnjiPlayDate, week #5: The play digs deeper

The play got a deeper focus and much more intentionality this week.  Check it out!

 

 This older participant has created two play story notebooks.  The photos above and below are today's entries in her two notebooks.

I love that this guy was trying to sit on the tunnel as though it were a horse.  (It didn't hold him up!)

When I asked this young one about his play today, he told me that he had gotten eaten up by those caterpillar things.  Then, since I had missed seeing that when he was first playing with the caterpillar, he was kind enough to demonstrate exactly what he meant by that phrase:
 
 There was also some great clay play today.  Here, he's figuring out the effects of poking the tip of the block into a little piece of clay:

 And this little one is trying to pick up clay with the open end of a clothespin (he tried to pick up lots of things with this tool today):

 I'm not sure what she's making, but this is a realllllly long skinny string of clay!

 This artist told me exactly how he made this flower (which he tells me is a tulip), "I made a bunch of semi circles, lined them up, and then rolled them all together!"

 He also made some candy canes:

 And this sailboat.  The blue blocks below are water.

 Here is his play story of his sailboat.  I asked him what the yellow spot in his picture was and he said, "it was just a block on the table behind the boat."

 

 This week's block play examples are all in video.  First of all, I loved watching this toddler's climbing capabilities and then his balance work as he walked over a pathway of blocks was also impressive:

 
 
at the end, I was so excited to see him try out the sloped block, but it wasn't quite stable enough and he fell. Mom was ready to step in and comfort him and he was able to calm down and feel better soon. Minor mishaps like this are a fairly standard part of Anji Play (and, indeed, childhood!) and help kids to gain a better understanding of what structures are "safe" and which need to be adjusted in order to be safe.
Lastly, I'll share this video of this little guy:
 
According to his play story, this wheel was a "cutter."  It's apparent from the video above that he has a specific purpose in mind and I didn't want to interrupt his "flow" to ask him about it, so I was pleased to see that he'd incorporated it into his play story.  I also love how near the end of the video, the wheel turns into something he can sit on.  I wonder if, when he went to the cart, he was looking for a spool large enough for him to sit on more comfortably?

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