Small World Play: Bug Garden

I've loved the idea of small world play for a while now, and I've anxiously been waiting for L to get old enough to really appreciate it for what it is (and frankly, for me not to have to fear that she might choke on something in front of her). Now that she is knocking on the door of twenty months, I just couldn't wait any longer. So I put together this bug garden small world play, and just as I'd hoped, it was a huge (and tiny!) hit.

To set the stage for our bug garden, I layered a small plastic tub with a section of beans and some coffee sand (for the coffee sand recipe, click here). Then I added some silk flowers (I would have preferred to use the real deal, but it's been so dry here that everything is dead, and anyway, the silk ones will last forever) and some plastic bugs. L's eyes widened to the size of saucers at her first glimpse - it was bug love at first sight!

It didn't take L long to get those bugs buzzing and humming all over that little bin! She really loved this activity, and I loved the fact that she got to use her imagination and got a great sensory experience to boot! I'm positively giddy that we'll be able to add small world play into our repertoire!