The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

  • Home
  • Start here!
  • Welcome
    • About Me
    • Popular Posts
    • Play Challenge
    • Subscribe
  • Age
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Preschooler
    • School Age
  • Activities
    • Literacy
    • Numeracy
    • Creativity
    • Physical
    • PHSE
    • Science
  • Resources
    • Spaces
    • Toys
    • Books
  • Contact
  • Kindness Elves

Panda Bear Small World Imaginative Play

June 6, 2013 by Anna Ranson

Make a panda bear small world play scene for imaginative play, understanding animal habitats and story telling with kids! Perfect for a knowledge and understanding set up in the classroom or a portable table top activity at home, and plenty of hours of engaged, playful fun.Panda Bear small world play scene for kids We recently acquired some new, gorgeous small world play animal mother and baby sets to add to our growing collection. The panda bears have appealed to the girls the most and we have found a lovely story and information book called Tracks of a Panda and used it to learn a lot more about their habitats and way that they live.

panda bear and bamboo small world set up We discovered that pandas are mainly from China and live high up in lush, green mountainous regions, feasting on bamboo plants as their main sustenance. Using the information that we learned, we set up a little small world habitat for them to live in.Playing with panda bear small world play We picked handfuls of grass from our over-grown lawn and used that as a base for the box. Then they added small pebbles around the outside and a little backdrop of mountains that I cut from a cereal box and we painted with purples and whites to make them look distant and misty! Panda bear small world play We used some of the recent mint choc chip play dough to make a base along one side of the box, and into that they stuck lots of snipped stems of real bamboo plant (thankfully my dad has an enormous one growing in his garden!) We talked again about how this is a panda bear’s main diet, and they spent lots of their playtime making the pandas climb through the bamboo and munch on it!Panda bear toys Because the small world set up is in a little tray, it has been great for taking outdoors on sunny days and playing with on the grass, and back inside again for table-top play on other occasions. With no dedicated play room in our house these types of portable play are so helpful, and also mean that we can leave them out for longer than we otherwise would have ben able to.

The next steps for this small world set up are to make some little information books about pandas together, or to create some panda story telling props or masks to turn it into dramatic play. Following your child’ lead and interests is the key here!

Panda bear habitat small world playWhat they are learning as they play:

creativity: using objects to represent others in representative imaginative play, making a diorama from mixed materials

literacy: reading and obtaining information from non-fiction books, storytelling using props and figures

knowledge and understanding/ science: understanding about animal habitats, using information books to find things out, learning new vocabulary about animals and their eating and living habits

 

Cakie: 4.9

Pop: 3.2

Bean: 15 mos

Love small world play scenes? Check out dozens of other ideas to inspire you here! 

[This post contains Amazon affiliate links as a guide for you!]

Related Posts

  • Natural Animal Small World PlayNatural Animal Small World Play
  • Fairy Garden Small World in a DrawerFairy Garden Small World in a Drawer
  • 5 Speckled Frogs Natural Small World Play
  • Dinosaur Small World Play in a Suitcase
  • Farmyard Sensory Small World Play
  • Phonics Ball GamesPhonics Ball Games

Filed Under: Activities, Age, Animals, Book Activities, Books, Creativity, Discovery, Habitats, Imaginative Play, Invitations to Play, Knowledge and Understanding, Learn, Make, Natural Play, Nature, Panda Bear, Play, Play Prompts, Preschooler, School Age, Science, Sensory, Small World, Story Boxes, Story Prompts, Story Props, Story Telling, Toddler, Toys & Games Tagged With: Animals, Early Literacy, Habitats, Knowledge and Understanding of the World, Small World Play

« Alphabet Sound Machine
Handprint Flower Card and Framed Art »

Comments

  1. Shaunna @ Fantastic Fun and Learning says

    June 6, 2013 at 11:33 am

    I love that you added the playdough to help the bamboo stand up. When we made our small world we just wedged the branches in, but that would have been a big help. The girls really learned a lot and included a lot of the information we discovered as they engaged in pretend play with our panda bin. Your ideas for extending the learning beyond this bin are great, too…my oldest would have loved to make an informational book. Thanks for sharing…always love your ideas!

    • Anna Ranson says

      June 6, 2013 at 4:29 pm

      I’ve just popped over to see yours and it looks gorgeous Shaunna! I LOVE the black beans you used to make a sensory element to the bin. I will grab a link to yours and add it here for others to find too!

      • Shaunna @ Fantastic Fun and Learning says

        June 7, 2013 at 3:41 am

        Thanks, Anna! You certainly don’t have to include a link, but you’re thoughtful to do so. I always love to see how people approach similar ideas. Looking forward to any follow up posts you do, so I can pin them for our next Asia unit study!

  2. Helen Cross says

    June 6, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    Love love love this idea, can’t wait to create my own small world scenes incorporating natural products, great idea.

  3. Sam @ Thrive 360 Living says

    June 6, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    What a beautiful small world. I love that it’s contained in a small box so it can be easily moved inside or out. You always do such a wonderful job with adding natural elements to your projects and activities. Very inspiring.

  4. Veens says

    June 7, 2013 at 3:35 am

    Aww… that Panda Bear bin is adorable 🙂 I am sure Aarya would love it 🙂

  5. nicky says

    June 7, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    Love this! My 7 year old and 3 year old absolutely love small world play. Thank you for this inspirational activity. I will be adding this one to the list of “to do”.

Trackbacks

  1. Trabalho e Brincadeira II | Lar Montessori says:
    October 29, 2013 at 1:29 am

    […] 3. Brincadeiras de minimundo – tratam-se aqui do que se chama habitualmente de small world play, e que traduzimos mais ou menos livremente. É um tipo de brincadeira que envolve pequenos bonecos, miniaturas do mundo real. Não é necessário que sejam muito fiéis, e podem ser feitas em pano, madeira, ou (até…) plástico. As miniaturas são usadas em maquetes, que também podem ser feitas de vários materiais. A interação entre as formas humanas ou animais e seu ambiente é uma mímica do mundo real e ajuda a criança a simbolizar sua realidade e compreender melhor suas características. Podem ser abordados temas tais quais esportes, profissões, escola, família, transporte, animais selvagens, animais domésticos, paisagens, localidades geográficas. Da mesma maneira que o mundo real é infinito em suas maravilhas, o minimundo também é.  Lembre-se de que o faz-de-conta que parte da realidade é muito mais interessante para a criança do que aquele que precisa gerar todo um mundo de fantasia para acontecer, e tenha em mente também que o minimundo não substitui o mundo real – ele é sua mímica, sua imitação, e conta com a exploração do real para fazer sentido. Veja ideias aqui e aqui. […]

  2. Trabalho e Brincadeira II | MonteSorriso says:
    November 23, 2013 at 12:10 am

    […] 3. Brincadeiras de minimundo – tratam-se aqui do que se chama habitualmente de small world play, e que traduzimos mais ou menos livremente. É um tipo de brincadeira que envolve pequenos bonecos, miniaturas do mundo real. Não é necessário que sejam muito fiéis, e podem ser feitas em pano, madeira, ou (até…) plástico. As miniaturas são usadas em maquetes, que também podem ser feitas de vários materiais. A interação entre as formas humanas ou animais e seu ambiente é uma mímica do mundo real e ajuda a criança a simbolizar sua realidade e compreender melhor suas características. Podem ser abordados temas tais quais esportes, profissões, escola, família, transporte, animais selvagens, animais domésticos, paisagens, localidades geográficas. Da mesma maneira que o mundo real é infinito em suas maravilhas, o minimundo também é.  Lembre-se de que o faz-de-conta que parte da realidade é muito mais interessante para a criança do que aquele que precisa gerar todo um mundo de fantasia para acontecer, e tenha em mente também que o minimundo não substitui o mundo real – ele é sua mímica, sua imitação, e conta com a exploração do real para fazer sentido. Veja ideias aqui eaqui. […]

The Imagination Tree on FacebookThe Imagination Tree on TwitterThe Imagination Tree on PinterestThe Imagination Tree on G+RSS feed from The Imagination TreeThe Imagination Tree straight to your inbox

Search The Imagination Tree

About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

The Kindness Elves Store
Play Ideas on The Imagination Tree

Create with The Imagination Tree

Makes on The Imagination Tree

Sign up for our FREE emails:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT