Nursery World - Enabling Environments: Collections

Creative 'jungle' play can help improve children's understanding of the world, says Nicole Weinstein.

The jungle is a place of intrigue for young children. Providing them with a collection of small-world jungle animals and creating imaginary play scenarios where they can role play what it feels like to trek through the jungle or to be an animal themselves will help them with their understanding of the world around them.

Children may want to dress up as a tiger and pounce on their prey, which will help them act out their fear of wild animals, or they may prefer to create homes for the small-world animals, feeding them and sorting them into families. Either way, 'jungle play' creates opportunities for practitioners to talk to children about animal habitats and to encourage them to explore animals in fiction and non-fiction books.

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