Outdoor Play Party - Bottle Babies

For those who know all about Bottle Babies you might just want to check out the other outdoor play posts hopefully linked up in this weeks OPP but perhaps there are some out there who still haven't heard about Bottle Babies.

A whole gaggle of Bottle babies, all lined up ready to be counted.

I first came across them over at Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School (TPCNS). I noticed lots of lovely bottles with coloured water in them in the background of lots of their photos but never really considered them as anything other than a quirky resource of TPCNS!

The TPCNS Bottle Babies - such delicious colours.

But then I got chatting with Lesley, the Director of TPCNS and she told me about how they came from a book called The Out-of-Sync-Child-Has-Fun by Carol Stock Kranowitz.

I first introduced to my nursery class of 3-4 year olds in September 2012 & they were an instant hit, the children just accepted them straight away & incorporated into their play. At the end of the school year they each got to pick one to take home & keep and so we started off in September 2013 with a whole new set.

They are the ultimate 'loose part' and best of all they don't cost money - just refill old 2 litre drinks bottles with anything you can find to hand. We have pen lids, lolly sticks, glitter, water beads, buttons, sequins, straws etc. - honestly try anything! The children use them as babies sometimes pushing them in prams etc. but they can also be salt & pepper when cooking, ice cream, nail polish, bricks, you think of it the children will build them into their play.

They are brilliant at settling in time, when the children don't know each other or don't mix easily. A child who is unsettled or finding it hard to focus on play can be won over by searching for a particular colour of bottle baby & then this is turn can end up as part of a larger group activity, helping to gel the class together. 

Walking on bottle babies is a particular favourite of my class each year too - it takes real skill to do this without them rolling from under their feet.

Once again there were so many great posts linked up in the last OPP but my favourite was from the inspiration for Bottle babies for me - Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School. I love what they have been doing with the old Christmas trees & I'm already planning what to do with some next January!

• Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!

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