Why we love playsilks

(Goblin is 41 months)

I first discovered playsilks while investigating Waldorf/Steiner education. They are simple coloured squares of silk that can be used for open ended play. Because they have no obvious prescribed use they really allow a child's imagination to take over in their usage. I've seen them used for dens, dress up, and small world play.  

I bought Goblin his first playsilk before his second birthday. It was definitely one of those toys that you buy as a parent because you think its pretty but your child has very little interest in. At that age he didn't really know what to do with it. We played a bit of peek-a-boo with it, and at my prompting we used it as a pretend fire but mostly it just sat in the toy box looking pretty. 

Its only recently that I have really come to love playsilks. In the last six months Goblin's imaginary play has really branched out. He enjoys small world scenes and a small amount of dressing up. So we have used playsilks often. As tails when we are being dogs, as water when we are fishing or swimming, as scenery in small world play and of course our favourite, as props for emergency rescue. Goblin will fetch the big blue silk and say, "I'm using the hose to put of the fire", or he'll cover the boat shed with the orange play silk and say "oh no the shed is on fire". 

Basically since Goblin's imagination has flourished, playsilks have become a must have piece of open ended play equipment in our house. 

Where to get your silks

You can buy playsilks from Etsy and its worth doing that if you want something specific like a rainbow one. But you do need to check the sizes, some seem to be sold as quite small squares which I don't think are ideal for really good imaginary play. Beneath the Rowan Tree has a good shoppers guide to play silks and also sells some good sized and reasonably priced silks at 35" square. 

However, an alternative is to dye the silks yourself. You can buy Silk Voil (1m by 1.4m) from World of Wool (UK based) for £8. That is a big play silk. I started dyeing the cloth using Marabu Silk dye. Its really quick and easy and gives a wonderful all over colour. But having seen articles suggesting you could dye silks with Kool Aid  I gave it a go. You can't buy Kool Aid easily in the UK so I ordered mine on Amazon. I used instructions from The Artful Parent which are really easy top follow. 

I decided to make a silk that really looked like fire so I over dyed yellow (lemonade), orange and red (cherry), tying knots in the cloth each time to preserve some of the colour beneath. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the colour (except the yellow which is a bit pale even with 4 packets).  

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New Year's day activities

(Goblin is 26 months)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I don't make new years resolutions. Its one more thing to feel guilty about half way through January when you have failed to keep what ever resolution you made. Having said that I have been thinking that I need to be more 'present' in play with Goblin. That is to say, rather than sitting back and watching him play with his toys (or worse watching TV or reading Facebook while he plays with his toys) I need to spend more time getting down on the floor and engaging in whatever he is playing, whether its lining up cars, make-believe with his dolls or moving plastic animals around the room.  

So you would think that I should make a start with my good intentions on new years day. However last night we went to a fancy dress New Year's eve party, stayed up until 2am and then Goblin woke at 6.30am. Four and a half hours sleep is not a good foundation if you are trying to start the year as you mean to go on. At least I didn't have a hangover. 

As a quick aside, Hublet and I stopped drinking when Goblin came along. But we both still really enjoy the taste of wine. We have found a great website in the UK called Alcoholfree.co.uk. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, a designated driver or like Hublet and I just not drinking booze but still fancy the idea of a glass of faux wine, you should check out the Bonne Nouvelle red and white wines on this site. They are the closest I have found to the real thing in an alcohol free version. We had their alcohol free champagne last night too. 

So with only four and a half hours of sleep under my belt I have to confess a large part of the day was taken up actively encouraging Goblin to watch TV and clips on Youtube. Not that he needs much encouragement to do the latter. He is obsessed with watching clips of diggers, bin lorries, tractors and combine harvesters, and listening to "the wheels on the bus" and a lovely song "big blue sea" (above) that he also gets me to sing (Its the only song he allows me to sing - any other song I attempt, he tells me to stop - I am quite tuneless). 

But eventually both he and I got bored of Youtube and I broke out some of his pouring equipment. This now includes a funky vinaigrette bottle with top that I pinched from Hublet's Christmas acquisitions. The bottle has quite a narrow neck and Goblin struggled to poor split peas into it. They went all over the mat I'd put down. But I was really pleased when Goblin went off and got his brush and dustpan without promoting. He did quite a good job of sweeping up the peas and pouring them from the pan into the big jug. His previous attempts at using the brush and dust pan haven't been great. There have been a few things recently that Goblin seems to have suddenly got the hang of - I'm wondering if its an age thing. 

After sweeping and pouring for a while longer Goblin decided to pour all the peas out onto the mat. He then lay in them moving them around with his hands and feet and telling me he was a snail. I was delighted that he was getting such a great sensory experience from what had started as such a simple exercise. But there was a small screeching voice in the back of my head which kept saying "the peas are going everywhere". I'm really not a neat freak so it always surprises me that I get uncomfortable with the idea of dried lentils, peas or rice being spread over the floor. For Goblin's sake I really try and ignore my little voice. 

My little screeching voice paid another visit when Goblin decided to do some painting. At the moment "painting" seems to consist of squeezing far to much paint onto paper, and then getting a new colour of paint and doing it again. Luckily Hublet was on hand. Having two adults assisting in a messy activity always makes it less stressful - one can grab and clean the toddler while the other grabs and cleans the equipment. 

 We also played with some play silks that I dyed and hemmed myself. Goblin and Hublet pretended to be pirates. Goblin knows that pirates say "Aaaar". And it amuses Hublet and I no end when he does it. 

Our final activity of the day was some brick stacking with his best friend Lamby. I'm going to write that up as a separate post because I think there are lots of valuable things about that game that need a post of their own. 

You will spot from the photos that the entire day was pent in pyjamas, as I said earlier - start the year as you mean to go on!

felt balls - wet felting and needle felting

(Goblin is 24 months)

This week I have been experimenting with felting again. I wanted to see whether it was easier to make big felt balls using needle felt or wet felting. The only problem is I haven't done wet felting before, but why would that stop me!

My expectations of the wet felting working were quite low so I didn't bother to take any photos of the process. As it happened it worked great and looks fab, so I'll have to do it again so I can do a step by step for anyone else who wants to try.  

My plan was to make a hollow ball that could be a 'case' for Goblin's play silk. But I forgot how big the play silk was and it doesn't fit. I'll have to find a smaller silk to go inside. In the mean time though a least I know the method works. 

My other felt ball was a needle felted stuffed owl. It is somewhere between the size of a tennis ball and a golf balls. It actually took me quite a bit longer than the wet felting to make.

But it does make a lovely light ball for Goblin to play with indoors without breaking stuff. And when he's not playing with it I can use it to decorate my Autumn tree (which should probably be turning into a winter tree quite soon).

Play Silks

(Goblin is 24 months)

After reading lots of Waldorf Steiner inspired blogs I decided it was time to buy Goblin a play silk. I searched around and found a beautiful one in an Etsy shop called The Purple Tangerine. As well as the obvious games of hide and seek with mummy under the silk and Goblin doing the finding, and then Goblin under the silk and mummy doing the finding - which is surprisingly successful every time we play - we have also had fun using the silk in other ways. 

 Goblin enjoyed hiding his fire engine under the silk, especially when he turned the lights on and they flashed through the scarf. 

And we used the colours of the scarf to play at putting out an imaginary fire. 

 Here is the fire, all orangey and raging in the toy basket!

Don't worry, Fireman Goblin to the rescue - he even makes the 'woosh' noise of the water going onto the flames. 

And look, the flames are gone and now there is a big pool of water. 
This was a good game for naming colours. Our play silk is 30" by 30" which is a really good size - not too big, so Goblin finds it manageable. Play silks are a great toy to take away with you because they pack down nice and small, and you can even use them as a mummy accessory.