TroveTools

Outdoor Play

Early Years · Reception–Year 1

Fuzzy felt beach, forest, snow and rainy day, with the story played back.

About the outdoor play

Four fuzzy felt boards for outside: the beach, the forest, the snow and a rainy day. These are the boards where things get made. Fill the bucket with sand and tip it out for a sandcastle. Bend the sticks into a bender. Roll three snowballs into a snowman and give it a carrot nose.

Things are built in an order, and the order is part of the fun. The medium snowball waits on the snow until the big one is in place, and the head goes on last. Nothing says it is wrong for waiting.

Some things are hiding. Roll the log away in the forest and there is a woodlouse, a beetle and a worm underneath. Move the rock on the rainy day and there is a slug, a snail and a worm.

Put the sled at the top of the hill and down it goes, children and all. Put a child in wellies in the puddle and they jump in. Give the ice cream van a coin and out comes an ice cream.

Press Play and the board tells the whole story back, one step at a time, with a line underneath saying what happened.

How to use it on your whiteboard

  1. 1Choose a scene: Beach, Forest, Snow or Rain.
  2. 2Drag a piece. The place it can go glows gold, and it goes there when you let go.
  3. 3Drag the sand into the bucket, then the full bucket onto the beach.
  4. 4Press Play to watch the story told back from the start.
  5. 5Press Start again to put everything back.

Questions

How do you build the snowman?
Big snowball first, onto the patch of snow, then the medium one, then the small one for the head. The conkers, the carrot and the stones go on the head.
How do you make a sandcastle?
Drag the sand from the tray into the bucket, then drag the full bucket onto the sand and let go. Out comes a sandcastle. You can make three.
What does Play do?
It tells the story back. The board goes back to how it started and does every move again, in order, with a line underneath saying what happened.
Does it move on its own?
The sled slides down the hill and a child splashes in the puddle. If your computer is set to reduce motion, those happen without the movement.