As part of the Kid Blogger Network (KBN) I am taking part in their 100 Days of Play Challenge. We are challenging each other and you to spend a little time each day playing with your child. It’s important for both you and your child to spend time together each day not worrying about anything else and just enjoying your time together. We find it makes everyone happier and more agreeable. Sometimes in these busy lives we lead it’s not always easy to remember to spend time with the ones we love. The little reasons why we work so hard.
You don’t have to spend money to have quality time with your children. All they need is for you to be there in the moment with them, getting down on the floor with them, and having fun with them. This is one of the activities we do together using toys the children already have.
One dreary we made a quick stop into the local baker’s shop on our way home from the library. We had stopped in to purchase a loaf of corn bread that they had just started to make the last time Mom came to visit when Kallista was born. We don’t usually buy specialty breads; but this loaf is so good that we’ve been known to declare it at customs to take some back to Canada for Mom and Dad! We made the purchase, but then while having a glimpse around the delicious smelling sweet cakes and cookies, I spotted some current buns, and a song popped into my head. I made the impulse purchase and we were singing the song along the way home. It is called “5 Current Buns in a Baker’s Shop”.
I hadn’t heard of this song in my ‘younger’ years, but I’ve since heard it on a BBC kid’s TV show called Something Special.
The children had been singing this song for a while, but hadn’t yet tasted a current bun, so this was a good day for them!
Now that they knew what they were singing about, we constructed our own simple pretend play baker’s shop for the day.
We moved their little table to the centre of the room. We brought out one of my cash registers from my childhood (and it still works!). We went through the play food and found some bakery items to put on display.
Tristan decided on his purchase. To expand on this song and make it a little more difficult we changed some of the words to fit with our ‘food’ items.
Kallista was happy to be wearing the chef’s hat and working with the cash! But it’s also fun to take turns. Now it’s Tristan’s turn to run the shop and Kallista and I were the customers.
The children have had a great time with this pretend play baker’s shop, and have recreated it many times since these photos were taken.
It’s easy to expand on this activity with older children as they begin to acquire the concepts of money and addition/subtraction. You can have them add up the total of the purchase and make change. They can print signage and pricing for the items for some literacy and art practice as well. These will be our next steps.
We have also made many other types of pretend play stations, and we will be sharing them with you over the next little while, so please keep dropping in.
How have you spent time with your child today?
If you would like to make your own buns, why not try our Scotch Rolls?
Please take the time to follow along and see the other terrific ideas already posted for the 100 Days of Play, and those yet to come!
