Inventory of Play and learning equipment
For older kidsWe have 4 big draws full of Legos, a wardrobe full of puzzles, Lego games, books in French, English, Spanish, German and Polish, remote control toys, models and shelves overwhelmed with Lego Bionicle, Mecanos, jeu de Go, chess, Risk, Monopoly, Cluemodels...
The under-stairs cupboard, garage & attics Storage for the toys not in use and unsuitable for age or stage of development . limited access to the children is some of the storage area but easy access of the most used toys. French Games
Découvrons la France, Les courses à faire, Le jeu de l'antipolution des reseaux d'eau potable, Découvrons la France,
Adult having fun
No matter how much equipment, toys and art and craft material I have, the best entertainment that the children in my care are getting is me. I play with them as much as possible and use my imagination to help them use their imagination.
Outdoor
I have a safe and secure garden with different areas in which the children can play, including a small covered area for rainy days with child level sand pit.
The equipment includes climbing frames, swings,water/sand pit, vegetable patch, gardening tools, quiet back road used for cycling, play with cars, scooters and running.
Lots of sensory experience are offered both indoor and outdoor.
Outdoor toys are stored in the garage. We love playing out.
Indoor
We use all the ground floor rooms and first floor may be used for sleeping or for older children to play with toys unsuitable for little ones (legos...) All areas offer numerous games and activities.Sometime the simplest toys are the best toys, here a basket and few autumn leaves catching the interest of the children.
Our kitchen
is used for food preparation as well as dining, crafts, pretend play... It is an ideal environment to make relationship, to develop communication and language and to perfection those moving and handling skills. I involve the children with my everyday tasks. We have:All you can imagine in a kitchen including individual face cloths, tooth brushes to teach health and self-care.A little kitchen next to and matching with our new kitchen.Cooking books for all agesScooby Doo Cookie-maker, a great "emergency vehicules" play dough set. little table & little chairs, high chair bibs & paint equipmentsThe dining room
has doors which lead into the garden. We use the dining room table for activities such as craft work, painting, colouring, mikado, tic-tac-boom, and games and cards.We offer the children musical instruments like Yamaha keyboard, accordion, harmonica, guitar, Ukulele... LaptopsDrawing and painting easel with chalk board3 cupboards full of toys, books, art and craft material and games like jeux des 7 familles, "Les courses à faire", sea battles (bataille navale), jeux des Instuments (memory game), scabbles... The cupboards under our desks are full of toys like timbres pour imprimer et colorier (printing stamps), aquadraw, marbles (billes) CLUE, GO, Monkey business, puzzle, magnets, Looping Louie, giant Snake and Ladders, The living room The cupboard next to the fireplace is full of toys and games, toys and books for little one are bellow and games, DVDs and books for older children are above. We have amongst other toys a till to play shop, a shopping trolley, a dolls house, baby toys and activity sets, train set, 12 Wii games suitable for 3 years and over and 8 Wii games for 7&+, Nitendo DS, iPad, K'nex, puzzles, jigsaws, games, prams/pushchairs, garage and cars and farm and zoo animals to name but a few. Most of the resources we have reflects positive images of culture (Jun au Japon), ethnicity (Kirikou, l'oiseau de pluie...), gender and disability (All Kind of People, A Lift-the-Flap Book, Un petit frêre pas comme les autres), social class (Poulou et Sebastien). I encourage song and dance time when we sing mostly in French.
Some of the toys are tidied away in a treasure chest and a big black poof and each child has a draw for his own belonging in a 10 drawer filling cabinet.