In addition to our Building Area, I decided to add a Den Making Area. I wanted to define a different space with supplies that wouldn’t be so heavy over the kids’ heads.
I saw a “Dens” PDF article on http://www.infiniteplaygrounds.co.uk/resources/
that gave a great explanation on the importance of kid built structures.
Last year we had a prebuilt playhouse, but the kids just ended up being territorial over it. I noticed that the kids were taking more ownership with a large piece of coated foam they made into a makeshift den.
Here are some of things to rotate for den making materials:
cardboard boxes. Although there was some concern on line of sight issues, so I cut holes in the side, but then the kids ended up ripping it apart after it wasn’t stable after being cut up too much.
sticks — tarp — haven’t tried this yet, we need to make a place to put these
we have a pack of Sticklets, but I haven’t found a place nearby where I can get sticks. Also, we have yet to figure out how to deal with ‘the stick issue’.
*large tinkertoys tried this product but it was too cumbersome for the kids, it required a lot of teacher assistance. Even once it was up it was too fragile. Also, plenty of the kids kept trying to sneek off and use the poles as swords.
magnetic Panelcraft- www.panelcraft.com
we only have one earthtone set of these, but the kids love using them for structures or as animal gates. The product is pretty durable. They even sent me a couple inserts— the color changing one eventually lost its ability, but the mirrored surface still looks great!
Builder Boards – I first read about these in Builder Boards Book I got from the library, and I even ended up buying a used book inexpensively, but I haven’t gotten around to making a set yet. They seem really neat though! There are competitors too that seem like they would be neat for the kids too!