Arctic Small World on the Light Table

Now that both boys are fully into imaginary play, I have been trying to create more opportunities for them to engage in some open-ended dramatic play using small worlds.  We have done a Frog Pond Small World on the light table and an Arctic Small World Sensory Bin (which would look fantastic on the light table too) in the past.  Since the light table is where the boys spend most of their days (chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool...), I decided to turn it into a giant, vibrant small world.  The main inspiration for this small world was quilt batting.  Yes, quilt batting.  I thought it would look cool on the light table so I gave it a try and alas, here's the arctic small world light table activity that I came up with.

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Arctic Small World Light Table Activity for Kids

The beauty of this small world is that it took literally two minutes to set up.  So despite it looking all gorgeous and glowy and complex, it's not.  I folded the quilt batting and placed it so that it covered about 80% of the light table.  I then scattered some of the figures from the Safari Ltd. Arctic TOOB (the walrus and one other figure were M.I.A.) on top of the quilt batting.  I then added some silver snowflakes.  They were from a cheap snowflake garland from Walmart that I cut apart.

Finally, I placed a variety of glass stones, in two shades of blue and clear, on the light table that was not covered by the quilt batting.  I placed the seal and beluga whale from the Safari Ltd. Arctic TOOB in the icy, Arctic waters.  And that's it.  Like I said, it was quick to set up!

J's favorite part was the sled from the Arctic TOOB.  He spent quite a bit of his time pushing the sled around the snow.  He then hoarded all the snowflakes.  He also loved hiding the polar bear in the igloo.  However, the polar bear is too big for the igloo so it ended up being more of a polar bear wearing a turtle shell igloo.

K first picked up the hare figure, glared at it, and proceeded to scold it.  It was kind of random, but he eventually moved on to happier play time with the figures.

I'm thrilled with how beautiful and simple this small world turned out to be.  I am even more amazed at the storytelling and pretend play that resulted because of it.

Oh and bonus points to anyone who caught the 90s TV reference in the first paragraph.  Post a comment if you know what it is!

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Arctic Small World Sensory Bin

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