Toy's picnic

Our main planned activity for the day (a three hour tumble gymn session at a local gymnastics club) had to be cancelled at the last minute today when I found a spot on Toby that looked very much like the chickenpox Ollie had last week.  So a quick rethink was in order, and here is the result - our very own toy's picnic.  Teddy bear's picnic is a firm favourite already, which involves taking a teddy on a walk with a picnic.  After the food is gone, teddy then explores all the places Ollie can't get his head - in holes and up trees and everyone gets very dirty and goes home for a bath, especially teddy.  Given the cold and the potential chickenpox trying it inside seemed like a good plan.  Ollie chose the toys to invite, set out all the plates and cups and made sure everyone got enough food and drink.  The bit that made me laugh the most was when he had to take the toy dog out to 'the garden' (the hallway) because he "needed to poo and he's not allowed to poo in the house".  Ollie even picked up the imaginary poo with a bag, put the bag in the bin and then went to wash his hands.  He also fielded a few 'phone calls' from naughty dinosaurs who wanted to come, but were told they were not allowed as they might stomp on the food.  This is a fantastic way to get down on the floor and share in your child's rich imaginary world, and can be a really good way of promoting their nurturing behaviour towards others when they help their toys to eat and drink.  It also has proved to be a good way of getting less favoured foods down the hatch - "you need to eat your tomato so that turtle will be a good boy and eat his" worked a treat.