Playtime Series : The Imagination Tree : hands on : as we grow

————

[This is part one in a series of features on the play based hosts of It's Playtime!]

————

The Imagination Tree is a very creative, play based blog written by Anna Ranson from the UK. She currently stays at home with her two little girls, but professionally she’s a primary teacher. Throughout Anna’s posts, she has learning experiences in everyday play. Anna encourages and expresses the importance of play in each post.

I think I have to label Anna and say she’s known for her play dough! She has a lot of playdough recipes [such as Strawberry Sparkle Play Dough!]. Not to mention she’s full of ideas to do with playdough, like making chocolates or decorations! And isn’t this black sparkle play dough just brilliant?

Discovery Boxes are one of the highlights of The Imagination Tree. These are bags or boxes put together of like minded objects and left up to the child to decide what to do with them exactly. Fun open-ended play. To learn more about Anna’s Discovery Boxes, check out her page that explains them here. There’s even a version of this for even littler ones that she calls Treasure Baskets!

Anna has a BA in History of Art, and this really comes through in a lot of her posts. She’s incredibly creative and loves to incorporate art along with the playfulness of her children! I keep coming back to her post about Wellie Boot Printing and have had it on my to do list with Henry for quite some time. But others like her Muffin Tin Art and Fork Scrape Painting continue to inspire me.

Anna also hosts a weekly 5 a day Book Challenge. She challenges you to choose 5 books to read for a week, then read all of those to your child every day. Join the challenge every Monday.

————

The Imagination Tree can be found at these places:

Blog : The Imagination Tree

Facebook : The Imagination Tree

Twitter : @imaginationtree

————

If you’re playful, be sure you stop by and play with us each week from Thursday to Tuesday for It’s Playtime and link up any play based posts, or find new ways to play! There’s usually around 100 ideas for playing! Not sure if you got the right stuff? Be sure to read How To Play first!