These beautiful, colourful little insects are a much loved gift from Mr 2's birthday. We had been playing with them inside the house and having a lot of fun with them but they were just screaming out to be put into a more natural environment. 

Actually I was screaming out to get the black ant out, which looks remarkably like a spider and which I would invariably come across in odd places all around the house!

Most of our play happens in the spur of the moment. Often I am sitting down playing with my son when we end up creating something together. When it has been something fun and loved we will then repeat it over the coming days and weeks. That's the best type of play I think. The type that is so loved that it is repeated over and over again.

Kids need repetitiveness in their play. I can guarantee you that not one play idea on this blog has been played with just once. Each time they play with the same thing they get that little bit better at it. Their fine motor skills sharpen that little bit more. Their imagination grows slightly to add a new element into an otherwise well rehearsed play scenario. We may not actually see what is changing and improving but that doesn't matter. It's not our job to interpret and analyse all of their play. We can observe and encourage it if we want, we can guide it a little and get them started, but we don't always need to understand it and we certainly don't need to control it all.

This post has been sitting in my drafts for over a year now. It is very close to my heart, a little too close perhaps that I haven't wanted to let it go. However today marks the 6th anniversary of the day my Dad passed away and I feel like it is time to give it life. It's raw and unedited and it's not like the posts I normally write, but if it connects with just one of you, if someone feels like this idea could help them, then it will be worth it.