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functional gardening equipment at the ready perhaps stored in a
crate or on a low shelf nearby, so your little one can water the owers
and weed when they like.
Let them look and be captivated
Hang a few old CDs to the branches of a tree. When they turn and
twist in the breeze theyll catch the light and the eye of your child.
On sunny days you may even spot the rainbows they create, which is
quite mesmerising for young children.
Temporary invitations to play outside
When deliberately setting up temporary invitations to play, remem-
ber you are just setting up something for them to discover themselves;
to initially entice them and get them started. Theyll surprise you
with where they take the play and all the different ways in which
theyll participate. You can set these up when your little one is nap-
ping or otherwise engaged in independent play.
Let them play inside outside
Invite them to play with some of their inside toys outside, should the
weather suit:

Arrange their favourite construction toy invitingly on a rug or play mat
blocks, Lego, stickle bricks and the like. These have a different feel
and appeal if played with in the garden, and different things may well
be constructed.

Set up one of their small-world toys outside somewhere not too muddy.
A dolls house, toy garage, train track or a homemade play scene along
with figures and accoutrements will have a different feel and appeal
when in an unexpected location.
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Small toy animals or figures will have a whale of a time outside. Add
some natural materials like straw, rocks, grass or water in a small
container on a tray, or a container plant, as an exciting and different
environment for the adventure.

Bring out the dress-up box and, if possible, a mirror, for some warm-
weather costume changes. Your little one may want to put on a show,
or just immerse themselves in some imaginary play in costume.

Set out some of their toy instruments and a few soft toys who might
want to get involved in an outdoor concert.
Let them play somewhere new

Make a sun canopy or cloth den and add some books to create a
temporary inviting quiet place, or some boxes, further cloth pieces and
a few plastic containers and bottles to help transform it into something
altogether different a car, a spaceship or a submarine may well appear.

Set out the picnic blanket, some favourite soft toys or dolls, a toy tea set
or some plastic cups and plates from the kitchen, with some leaves and
grass and so on for food.

Let them create their own new place to play. For example, fill a beach bag
with everything you can find around your home that might contribute to
creating a lets-pretend visit to the beach. It could contain a beach towel,
some shells, a nearly empty suncream bottle, a sun hat, some sunglasses,
some toy sea creatures, a net, some pebbles, an umbrella, a bucket
and spade, an inflatable water-ring and their swimming costume (if its
summer). If you have a paddling pool out or you have a sandbox, then
either or both of these might feature in the creation of their beach. Then
again, they might make something else altogether.
Let them play at being someone new

Bury a few plastic dinosaurs or pieces of plastic tea set in the sandbox,
or transfer some sand or soil to a washing-up-bowl-sized container so
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your little one can become an archaeologist or a pirate digging for
buried treasure. Provide brushes and a small spade to help with their
investigation.

Fill a washing-up bowl or bucket with warm soapy water, lay out some
soft cloths, sponges and brushes and get out the kids vehicles; youll
probably have a trike-and-scooter washer ready to work in no time.

Bring out the baby dolls, their clothes and blankets, toy medical kit, and
any other equipment you might have for them from buggy to cot to
dolls bath for an opportunity to play baby-carer.

In the summer months, gather whatever you have to hand to make a
lets-pretend ice-cream or soft drinks/shakes stall. Weve used cotton
wool balls, large beads, glitter, pipe cleaners, coloured water, crushed
melting ice, cardboard cones, pastel-coloured play dough, lolly sticks,
wooden fruit and cupcakes before. Plastic cups and spoons, plastic
bottles with lids for shakin up those smoothies can be put out ready
to be discovered. Be prepared for things to get a bit messy and wet,
and to buy lots of ice cream or shakes. Soft toys can also queue up very
sensibly for a treat.

Let them be a potion-maker. Making potions was one of my childrens
most favourite activities when they were very small, and they still
absolutely love it now. Its definitely one to set up outside if youre
worried about mess. The ingredients of the potions can be changed every
time you set up this invitation to play you could gather things for, say,
a science experiment, a magic potion laboratory or a perfumery. We use
empty plastic food containers destined for the recycling bin to hold our
ingredients. You could offer:

blobs of poster paint, little piles of glitter, sequins, water (fizzy or still)

little piles of out-of-date spices and sauces like ketchup and
mustard water (fizzy or still) and a little olive oil

vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, water, blobs of paint (this one should
fizz!)
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herbs from the garden, fallen petals, a pestle and mortar, water or
orange-blossom water
Youll also need some equipment for your child to mix and make the
concoctions; like plastic funnels, spoons, stirrers, plastic pipettes,
bowls, a sieve and plastic bottles or tubs with lids to store the nished
potions. The best place to set up this invitation is anywhere you
have a low table or bench, or you can put down a plastic play-mat
it denitely has to be a at surface, though, to give those containers
and bottles a ghting chance of staying upright.
Let them play with water
A water table is denitely a worthwhile purchase for your garden,
however small, but any large and shallow plastic container will do
the job, and is often a lot cheaper. We always use a large plastic
under-bed storage box, sometimes set on a low table, sometimes just
on the ground. Make sure you are happy for your children to get a bit
wet while playing; aprons, waterproofs or swimming costumes (if its
the summer time) are of course an option. Change the water every
time you set up a new invitation to play, and vary what your child
discovers by adding:

different things in with the water, like toy boats, or action figures and
plastic animals for racing, swimming and scuba-diving adventures

plastic bottles, containers, scoops, nets, sieves, a colander and funnels
for exploring the characteristics of water

a bit of sparkle with some glitter, or some colour with a few drops of
food colouring

a few natural objects, like pine cones, flowers, leaves and twigs, shells
and pebbles for all kinds of sensory play and investigation of floating
and sinking
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bubble bath or soap flakes, bubble wands, whisks and the like for a lot
of foamy fun

toy cars and plastic track for the ultimate in splash-racing-with-water-
chutes
Let them play with things that go!
Matchbox-sized cars set out on a paved area, along with some chalks,
will tempt your little one to design a brand new town for the cars to
zoom around, or perhaps a new Formula 1 track. Draw a couple of
little roads yourself, just to start them off.
Put out a at piece of cardboard as a track area and gather
together a few wind-up toys for some races. Snails will also participate
in this kind of thing, should you have a lot of these in your garden
and, like me, a little one who loves them.
Let them play out after dark
Even if it gets dark pretty early in the afternoon in the winter where
you live, its still possible to set up invitations to play in your back
garden. Young children nd it rather thrilling to get out after the
suns gone down and as long as theres a bit of light from street
lights, or spilling from your home or what have you, playing out in
the night is super exciting.

Put bike lights on trikes and scooters for an after-dark ride around
the garden.

Glow-sticks are cheap as chips, and as long as your little one knows
theyre not to be mouthed or snapped, they are pretty safe. Just place
them round and about outside for your child to discover, or hang them
from tree branches. They often come with connectors so they might
want to construct a glowing structure, or simply wave them around as
they run around.
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