Play Provocations #6: Small World Play

In this episode, Play Provocations returns with a deep dive into Small World Play. Host Linda Harrison is joined by Centre Director Aimee Hansen to discuss how miniature environments—filled with tiny figurines, recycled loose parts, and natural materials—are powerful vehicles for child-led learning. We explore how small world play allows children to act out complex emotions and make sense of the world around them. 

Aimee and Linda share three inspiring play provocation set-ups. You'll hear how to create a dinosaur garden that blends kinetic sand, moss rocks, and wood slices to foster early math and engineering skills. You'll also discover how to build a vertical, multi-level 'Gruffalo’s Deep Dark Wood' using stacked crates and artifical plants. Whether it’s stomping through prehistoric sand or weaving a story through a woodland canopy, these small world play provocations provide the perfect stage for children to become confident, involved learners.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome to Learn Play Thrive the podcast, the ultimate early learning podcast for educators and leaders in the sector. Let's learn, play, and thrive together.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

The Learn Play Thrive podcast was recorded on the lands with the Jark and Jung people. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians, past, present, and emerging. Hands up, hands down, clear and dark and jungle.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Hello listeners and welcome back to play provocations. I'm Linda Harrison and I'm absolutely thrilled about today's show because joining me for the next two episodes is a seasoned expert in creating engaging play provocations in early education settings. Centre Director Amy Hansen. Welcome, Amy.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Thank you so much for having me, Linda. I've been so looking forward to this because small world play is such a passion of mine.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Now before we jump into the miniature worlds, let's just remind ourselves what we mean when we talk about a play provocation. So at its core, a play provocation is a thoughtfully prepared setup that invites young children to explore new concepts, test their own ideas, and engage in hands-on exploration without a predetermined outcome. So it acts as a starting point, a spark that encourages children's curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

That's definitely right. The power of play provocation lies in its ability to connect with children's current interests while guiding them toward deeper learning. Whether it's a tray of natural materials arranged near a magnifying glass or a small world construction site filled with loose parts, a good provocation encourages your young learners to wonder, investigate, and construct meaning through play.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

Yes, and in the Reggio-inspired classrooms, we often see the environment used as a powerful tool for learning. And it's all about carefully curating materials through that thoughtful placement and the responsiveness to children's exploration, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yeah, it should always feel like an invitation, not a directive. So it should whisper possibilities rather than shout instructions. So today we're going to look at how to apply this small world play in early education settings.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Well let's dive in. So what is small world play? Well to put it simply, small world play is exactly what the name suggests. So it's play with small props like figurines and recycled loose parts, other natural materials or within miniature worlds. And through these, children can enact different scenes, so they're using their imaginations, stories they've heard, and their lived experiences to create and make sense of the world around them and problem solve.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yes. And whether it's a natural habitat like a forest or a built environment like a farm, possibilities can be endless. And it helps children develop new ideas and ways of thinking by creating setups of environments that they may experience in their real lives.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

And small world play really matters in early childhood education, doesn't it, Amy? Because when we look at the EYLF version 2.0, we see how this play aligns with children becoming confident, social, and involved learners. And if we think about story-based small world play, it really is an ideal vehicle to nurture child-led imaginative play. So children can act out story plots using figurines of animals, people, creatures and settings. And when they're engaging in that kind of small world play, the children become the storytellers. So they're the masters of that little landscape and those miniature worlds. And this type of play is really a perfect tool to support children in exploring complex issues and emotions so that they can see the world from the perspective of others.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

I definitely agree. Small world play supports our young children's development across all developmental areas. And not only does this nurture their imagination, it also enables them to explore new materials, act out scenarios from real life, build on their language skills, practice their social skills, and gauge an understanding of their world around them. And by manipulating tiny objects in small world play, children are also developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yes, so whether you're setting up a dinosaur land, a beach or a farm, there are so many great options to bring small world play to life and ignite children's senses at the same time. So when we use natural resources in small world play setups, we can also promote the use of all the five senses. We can also provide opportunities for classification and sorting, and of course promote that use of descriptive language. So we're really supporting lots of literacy and numeracy skills for young children through this type of play. So Amy, I'm really keen to dive in. I heard that you recently set up a beautiful lizard habitat, Small World Play Provocation, that was sparked by an observation in the garden in your playground. So can you tell us about it? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

In our garden we have lots of lizards. So the children were intrigued by the lizards and they were just too hard to catch as they're such quick little creatures. So to extend on the interest, we set up a small world replica of a natural habitat, and it was all about creating that Australian bush feel within a large tray. So for our setup, we co-researched where lizards live using books and age-appropriate websites, and then we created dry creek bed habitat, reproducing those rocky paths found in the Australian during the dry months, and we used a winding path of fine light sand down the centre to represent the creek path. So for the different materials, it was a collaborative effort to gather smooth rocks and natural loose parts like fallen leaves and sticks on either side of the sand, and we layered stones and pebbles to create the banks of the creek. And for the different textures and sensory learning, we added curved pieces of driftwood and small hollow logs, which are perfect for the lizard figurines to hide in. And to bring it to life, we tucked it in some lush ferns and large round clumps of ornamental grass, and together with small insect and reptile figurines, including lizards, snakes and termites, ants and spiders.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Wow, that sounds like such an inviting play provocation. And how did the children engage with the materials after they'd helped to set up small worldworlds?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

It was fascinating to watch, and they especially loved it because they'd helped collect everything. So the children enjoyed transferring their interest from the real lizards to this replicated small world, and they became completely absorbed in slow-motion lizard hunts, unlike the frantic ones in the garden. And we saw them carefully camouflaging the lizards under the driftwood and negotiating which predators like snakes might be lurking in the tall grass. And there was lots of new vocabulary used as the children described the lizards laying in the sun on the warm stones. We also made sure to include tools for documentation like clipboards with paper and crayons. And it was wonderful to watch the children make meaning through different mediums. They actually use the crayons to take rubbings of the various rock textures as well, creating these beautiful organic patterns on their paper as they explored the small world that they've built together with us educators.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

It sounds like such a rich play provocation and lots of opportunities to kind of enter and exit from different aspects through those open-ended materials. So I think let's now move on to our second play provocation for today's episode, which is a focus on literacy and building 3D narratives. So educators can create a graffalo's deep, dark, wood small world play provocation, which is inspired by the picture book The Graffalo. So I've been looking lately, Amy, is at some different ways to set up small world play provocations rather than your normal kind of horizontal hex tray. And I've been looking at some vertical shelfy setups that really challenge that idea of small world play that it has to be stay flat on a table. So instead of a single tray, we can use some different recycled wooden boxes or crates and stack them up on top of each other. And if you place some upright and others on their sides, then you kind of create a canopy, different levels of forest floors and hollows for the animals to hide in. And so we can also place the gruffalo book in the display for that visual anchor. So to make it feel like a deep dark wood environment, we can then drape a variety of artificial plants over and through the boxes. So things like ivy and fern fronds, they really set that dense woodland mood and it softens all those hard edges of the crates and makes it feel like an invitation to enter another world through that play. Then for the next part of the setup is where the characters come in from the story. So you could place some figurines like the characters of the mouse and the fox and the snake and the gruffalo and put them on different levels of the crates and then scatter in some other open-ended loose parts like pine cones and rocks and little wooden trees to act as props. Then the children can physically move those characters through the different levels, and they might reenact the story, the mouse's journey up to meet the owl or down into the fox's underground house. And it really encourages them not to only retell the story, but they can also invent new adventures within that kind of multi-level forest small worldplay. It's definitely a timeless story, that gruffalo. And I think we've got a third provocation for today, which is around a dinosaur garden. So is this something that you've implemented, Amy?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Absolutely. We have dinosaur-obsessed children everywhere. Our final world play provocation is the dinosaur garden, and this is a classic for a reason because it lets their imagination run wild. So for the setup, you can use a tub, a large container, or even just a sturdy cardboard box, and then pour in some kinetic sand for the base. And to make this prehistoric world come alive, here are just some suggested resources to add. You can add recycled wood slices to create platforms or paths. You could use large pebbles and rocks for mountains and dinosaur hideouts. Some artificial vegetation. Some plastic stones, these are useful as water, and remember to only use these with older children as they can be a choking hazard. So substitute with blue fabric for maybe our littler children. Some artificial moss rocks. I love these for adding a lush ancient feel to the world. And of course, dinosaur models.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

I love that idea. It's such a rich setup. And once those dinosaurs are in the sand, the types of play that we'll see, I'm sure will be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Oh yeah. We'll often see children diving into functional play, so where they simply just enjoy the sensory experience of stomping the dinosaurs through the kinetic sand or burying fossils under the mossy rocks. But it quickly evolves into dramatic and narrative play, and children start assigning roles and personalities to the dinosaur figurines, and obviously all the different names. They amaze me all the names they know.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Oh yes. And I love how it would also probably spark that constructive play because you'll see children becoming little engineers, you know, using the rocks and the wood slices to build caves so that they can protect the dinosaur eggs from the T Rex.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Oh, definitely. And this play provocation inspires so much learning about math and science as children discuss which dinosaurs are carnivores based on their teeth or sort them by size and colour. And it really encourages them the two use the environment to create complex scenes which support literacy as they take on characters and build a deeper knowledge of the world as they discuss habitats and prehistoric life.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Well, Amy, I think we've certainly seen today how small world play helps young children connect with what they see, hear, feel, and think. And it really is a powerful way to make learning visible and deeply engaging for young children. So thank you for joining us on Play Provocations. And please visit www.learnplaythrive.com.au for more ideas. And we'd love to hear how a child's interests has recently shaped a small world set up in your practice. So please share your photos on our socials. Until next time, keep playing, learning, and thriving.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Learn Playthrive the podcast. We hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to fuel your journey in early childhood education. Remember the key to fostering learning, promoting play, and empowering young minds lies with your dedication and creativity. Stay connected between episodes by following us on Instagram at LearnPlaythrive underscore and join the conversation on Facebook at LearnPlaythrive Australia. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please like, subscribe, rate, or review our podcast on your favourite platform. Your feedback helps us to continue to deliver content that resonates with you. And don't forget to visit us at our website at learnplaythrive.com.au for additional resources, blog posts, and professional development opportunities. Until next time, keep learning, keep playing, and keep thriving. We will see you in the next episode of Learn Playthrive the podcast.