Childcare Expo 2013

We are happy to announce that we're exhibiting at this year's Childcare Expo in Coventry on the 27th and 28th of September. The Childcare Expo is an inspiring and informative free event for all those working in the early years, childcare and nursery sector.

You can expect to see stands from loads of the UK's top nursery suppliers - including Red Monkey Play! We're going to be exhibiting some new products - it's the first time you'll be able to see our new Kitchen Units outside of the workshop, and we're also launching our new range of Play Blocks, designed to inspire creative play and improve spatial awareness. They'll be available to purchase from our stand, so be sure to drop by!

Our new Play Blocks are a fun and flexible teaching tool.

As well as our products, we'll have free gifts to give away and we're running a competition to win some great Red Monkey play equipment - so visit us and say hello, and who knows, we could be delivering a spark of imagination to your play area soon!

You can find this year's Childcare Expo at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, and you can find Red Monkey Play at Stand E13. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information on the Childcare Expo, why not visit the website?

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Teaching with Role Play

Inquisitive children will come
up with all sorts of stories.

Why role play?

We know that role play is an important part of a child growing up and developing. Creative play can teach children so many things about the world and about each other. These advantages are now acknowledged in the National Curriculum.

So it makes sense to include role play as a part of your children's learning and playing experience. But how can you incorporate role play into your teaching schedule?

Let children direct their learning.

Every teacher knows there's a fine line between fun and chaos when it comes to teaching with play - the trick to successful role-play is to control the teaching environment without getting in the way of children's ability to express themselves.

Children will play by themselves - give them any tools and they'll be away creating worlds and stories in their heads. This imaginative play is crucial to learning, and it's important to let children play out the fantasies they come up with.

Get involved.

Our Play Stage is the perfect space
for creative play.

But that's not to say you shouldn't get involved. Try suggesting ideas that complement their role playing - if they are playing house for example, are they playing in the countryside? In the city? How many people are in their imaginary family?

Asking open-ended questions is a great way to fire up their imaginations while still letting them control the direction of play. With questions like these, you can start introducing important themes - things like empathy, cooperation, and teamwork. Get them thinking, and then let them figure it out for themselves!

Why not become a part of their story yourself? Play along with them, dress up with them, let them direct you in their story. You'll find it much easier to direct their play when you're a part of it yourself, so don't be afraid to get involved!

A bit of help from Red Monkey Play.

Of course, having the right props makes imaginative play all the easier, and Red Monkey is here to help. We have a great range of role play products, from simple play blocks to get their minds working to huge pirate ship play units for a swashbuckling pirate adventure! Why not visit us online to see how we can help.

But when it comes down to it, role play is all about the children; their stories, their imaginations, their learning. Let them take control of their playtime, and you'll be surprised what they can learn outside of the classroom!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.

Role Play & Learning

The importance of role play.

Role play is an important part of growing up. It's how children learn to communicate, how they learn to relate to each other and the world around them. That's why it's so important, especially for Early Years and nursery-age children, to encourage healthy, imaginative play as much as possible.

Children learn important social
skills while they play.

The importance of role play is something that's now being acknowledged by UK teaching authorities; the three key pillars of the 2013 Early Years Foundation Stage framework are 'communication and language; physical; and personal, social and emotional development.'

Every one of these areas can be bolstered by including role play ideas in children's play time. And it's not hard to do! Given some simple tools, most children will naturally come up with their own imagined worlds, with their own rules and ideas to explore. All you have to do is provide them with the means to get creative!

Introducing our Early Years Kitchen Units.

At Red Monkey Play we recognise the importance of role play to children's learning and development. All of our Nursery and Early Years play products have been designed with children's imaginations in mind, and make great additions to a role play setting.

Our Kitchen Units make the perfect addition to any role play area.

These are the Kitchen Units, our latest Early Years role play products. Children love to play house - it's a way for them to learn to cooperate and empathise with one another, and just as importantly, it's plain old fun!

Our Kitchen Units are the perfect addition to an imaginary house set, providing three key features of the kitchen - a sink, an oven, and a washing machine. They're the perfect size for Early Years children, and are built from robust play-grade timber, so they can stand up to rough-and-tumble play sessions.

And in the true spirit of role play, our Kitchen Units don't have to be kitchen units at all - they can be the controls of a space ship, or machines in a laboratory, or treasure boxes at the bottom of the sea, or…or anything else you can imagine. I'm sure the children will be able to come up with better ideas than I ever could!

With role play, the only real limit is their imaginations!

Written by Tom for Red Monkey Play. For more play ideas and great play products, visit www.redmonkeyplay.co.uk.