Outdoor Play – Walk direction dice and Stuck in the mud play

Walk direction dice
This week I saw a post on the Artful Parent blog about dice walking and decided to give them a go.  Some days Luath loves our woodland walks, others she is keen to head home ASAP.  Often she will walk most of the way home but this means a walk along a road, and although it is a quiet road, it doesn’t offer as much freedom as a woodland outing.  I hoped the dice might help on one of those early home requests.

I made ours by using one of Luath’s wooden blocks and drawing direction arrows onto it. 
The other day we hadn’t gone far, Luath turned around and started saying that we were going home.  I took the dice from my bag and made a big show of shaking it in a small tub.  Luath made a high speed about turn.  I showed and told her that the dice had arrows and it would tell us which way to go.

We didn’t actually end up much further along the path, but we spent a while throwing the dice and running to find which way we were to go next (just a few steps in the direction).  Luath doesn’t understand the arrows but she kept asking “which way does it say”.  Later the same day we played with the dice indoors.

Stuck in the mud play
Once we had played with the dice Luath returned to a firm favourite of puddles.  After a few walkthroughs she stopped half way and said “help I am stuck call the firemen” (she wasn’t stuck).  This week we have been playing with her fireman rescuing stuck people/animals/vehicles.  I then called the firemen, but they said they were having their lunch and couldn’t come. 

I asked Luath how was she going to get out.  I suggested maybe a path like George the Giant from “The Smartest Giant in Town” – he helped a dog cross a bog using his belt.  I laid some branches down and she walked out.  We both took turns in being stuck, each time the firemen couldn’t come.  Luath suggested that our dog could help pull her out, so she held onto the dog’s lead and the dog pulled her out (as I kept hold of the lead too!).
 
On my last turn in the puddle Luath offered to help me out and stretched out her hand for me.  I was so proud of her kindness and also her inventiveness in her play.  We pretty much were still in the same place as where Luath had first said she was going home, but we had passed a fair bit of outdoor time having fun.

Shared with Outdoor Play link up via Learning for Life see other outdoor play ideas linked up

(Luath is 24 months)