Ooey Gooey Play Party: A Prime Recipe for Play
Play is so powerful (see “Play is the way!”) that we’ve made it our mission at Here We Grow to share more of it with the world. While there is no such thing as perfect play, our Ooey Gooey Play Parties have a sure-fire formula for helping our little explorers experience joy and growth alongside the grown-ups who love them.
INGREDIENTS
A pinch of curiosity
A dash of motor skills
A smidge of spatial awareness
A sprinkle of socialization
A heaping dollop of mess and fun
Time in the great outdoors
An epic supply shed
Smart, engaging staff
DIRECTIONS
Pick a party theme. The more sparkly, silly, and messy, the better. Themes help littles compartmentalize their thinking and build connections between new and existing knowledge and experiences. Our party themes touch on hot toddler topics (did someone say bugs? construction? unicorns?) and frequently reflect the highlights and characteristics of the season.
Craft stations that engage all the senses. Littles will freely move through exploration stations using all their senses. As they play and create, they’ll also be coordinating their body position, motor skills, balance, and spatial awareness. Messy play is also social. Sharing, cause and effect, and choice are all a part of the activities at hand.
Provide balanced play opportunities. Activities are carefully curated to provide a wide variety of age appropriate experiences. Littles will experience a spectrum of senses - wet and dry, plain and colorful, light and dark, smooth and sticky. There are lots of familiar materials and textures at the same time as we are introducing new ones to provide a sense of familiarity and create a safe space to explore and take risks. Play Party activities have been collaboratively crafted by various experts from the early childhood field.
Let loose. Leave the expectations at the entrance and come in ready to follow your child's lead. Be prepared to get messy. The best play happens when you get involved.
Keep it going at home. Every Play Party is followed by ways to keep the fun going. In addition to sharing our rad party playlists, we also provide ideas for carrying on the theme and ways to play as a family.
Give back. As much as possible, we work to reduce waste by reusing and repurposing items. We frequently source materials through local buy nothing groups or small businesses. Because sensory activities frequently use food products, we have made a commitment to donate a portion of our proceeds to organizations supporting food insecurity and food scarcity.
We hope you’ll taste our recipe for yourself soon! Check out our current Ooey Gooey Play Party opportunities at www.here-we-grow.com/playparty.