I've introduced a few more small loose parts to August's play over the past few days. It's been interesting to watch him in action with them. For me, it's been an opportunity for me to sit back and watch how he played with them to inform me of what his play style is at the moment. He's showing an interest in posting in the @navybabynz tray and I could see him sorting through for pieces that matched. He LOVED seeing himself in the @playitforwardnz mirror as he explored he stacked a few pieces carefully on the surface. But mostly he likes tipping! When presented with the basket - he NEEDS them to be scattered all over the floor immediately! So now I know to set up more opportunities for him to do that!

It's so important to not come to play with an agenda of how we want kids to play with the item. Especially if it's expensive and there's a way we expect it to be played with. Our baby's brains are incredible and they're learning so much every day - they know what they're working on!

I bought these loose parts and I tried to dye them. I can't say it's been a success. I bought FAS dye and soaked the pieces in it then out then out to dry. They looked SO VIBRANT but colour was coming off. So I washed them in water and they're mostly still coloured but nowhere near and bright and they're quite patchy now. I probably need a tutorial on how to do it better!! Don't follow my lead on this one! In the future I'll get it all sorted so that these pieces can be grouped by colour for colour learning :)

In a dream world I'd own all the Grapat stuff but I'm not a millionaire so here we are. 

Watch August play with the loose items here