Creating the Deep Dark Woods
Have you ever read the story about the Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson?
If you don’t have it in your collection of books at home and can read it with your grown-up you can listen to it here:
I have given you all the parts you need to make the characters from the Gruffalo except an owl. Do you still have your pinecone owl? Do you think you could make another one if not?
With your animals we are going to head into your backyard to create some deep dark woods of our own.
You Will Need:
- A paper or plastic cup (foxes house)
- A big-ish rock
- A short stick as wide as three fingers
- A pile of small sticks (snake’s house)
- A stick with some branches (owl’s house)
- Your seascape
You will also need your Gruffalo characters: mouse, fox, owl, snake and the Gruffalo.
To the Grown-ups
Small world play is a play skill I’m going to really start focusing on at our outdoor programs. It is such a rich creative process both internally and externally. The ability to visualize and create small worlds gives a child such a wide and deep opportunity to work through their experiences and make sense of their world. It is also a play skill that will occupy your child for many hours and so is a valuable one for parents and caregivers too!
An underground burrow is built
by digging a shallow hole and burying a cup.
A stream and a bridge are made with some fabric and a piece of driftwood. Owl’s tree top house is a log round propped up on a couple toys. 
Our seascape can become a lake
and snake’s house is a pile of sticks aka logs.
Now we have the backdrop to retell the story. 
The Gruffalo walks behind the mouse.