More Bottle Baby Fun!

I hope by now anyone who follows this blog knows what Bottle Babies are & has heard of the book that 'spawned' them - Carol Stock Kranowitz's The Out-Of-Sync-Child-Has-Fun.

A Bottle baby walk way

They have been such a part of my setting now for a year that I take them for granted as part & parcel of every day outdoor play but this year the class doesn't go to them as naturally as the children did last year. It takes an adult to initiate play with them and then the children engage with them. I think a big part of this is that this class are just too busy elsewhere in the playground, this is a class that uses every part of the space. They spread themselves all over the space & particularly enjoy the 'forest area' - which used to be the grass area & then the mud area - now it is covered with bark chippings & leaves & feels very natural & provides endless hours of play possibilities for then class, with pine cones, hickory nuts, spanish chestnuts, gumballs, bark chippings & leaves. The children enjoy 'cooking' with these loose parts, moving them around the area & playing in the 3 willow domes. 

Part of our forest area.

However when they were taken out & lined up on a seat, some of the children then lay them down on the ground & one child started to walk on them. This particular child has cerebal palsy & it was quite incredible to watch him persevere at mastering this quite difficult task as it is hard enough for him to walk on a flat, even surface with out moving over wobbly Bottle Babies. 
Other children then attempted this too & they could be heard shouting to each other 'arms out for balance'.
They even took them for a walk in the prams & one girl created an umbrella with a stick & giant Lego block for the Bottle Baby.

I think it is amazing that Occupational Therapists who are working with several children in the class have written the bottle babies into the children's educational work plans as they can see the benefit of these great free resources for developing proprioception. But best of all every child can fun with them without even realising how beneficial they are.