Outside Provocations

We have been all about vehicles and things that go recently, so I set up a provocation that could potentially call to this interest outside.  This emergence into imaginary play is exciting for everyone in our cohort: the children as they play these new games; me for creating new provocations.

In the morning I gathered a few empty tubs and lined them up.  We have some hinged shutters that I arranged on each side of the tubs.  We also have this really great adult sized chair without legs that I placed in 'front'.

In my mind I was building an airplane, but I was excited to see what happened once the boys came outside.  It's always tricky to walk that thin line when setting up and implementing provocations.  You want them to spark and delve deeper into a current interest, while also not interfering in the natural evolution of their play.  I really wanted the boys to use what I set up like a truck, car, train...something!  But I also prepared myself to be ok with them knocking it all down and walking away. 

There was some short lived interest the first day I offered it, and then the shutters were knocked down the rest of the week.  I look forward to maintaining and slightly modifying to entice everyone to use it.  But really everyone was very interested in the tee pee which I recently filled up with leaves.  Maybe that can be a train!  Or plane. Or truck.  Or....