$5 in an op shop goes a long, long way. My sister and I allowed our children to explore a second hand shop for items to create a cubby-house.
Talk about excitment central. It was like a great big treasure hunt.
Items to look out for:
mosquito net — pots — utensils — foldable child seats – basket — bell (for a secret call) — ribbons — blankets — phone — cushion — ropes — tarpaulin — cutlery — ribbon
Children are incredibly resourceful and imaginative and I love to see how they think (I know, you can’t see thinking). Scottie found a retro telephone directory (pictured) to keep special codes in.
Awesome job girls.
This activity combines the outdoors, creativity, ingenuity, construction and environmentally friendly play. Can’t get much better than that.
Note: This activity is suited to school aged children, although my 2-year-old son enjoyed picking out a truck quilt cover. Be wary of broken and dangerous items.
Try this: Friday after school, raid a second hand shop. Come Saturday, you won’t see the kids all day. Remember this activity for the September school holidays.
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All that great learning you mentioned, PLUS learning how to budget with $5! Real life Maths lesson with no pain, just fun. I love it!
YES! Great input here BC… as always.
Thanks for visiting me at The Amazing Mess!! It always makes my day when someone leaves me a comment!
This is such a fun idea — I didn’t know what an OP shop was — but I figured it out later on! I’ll have to take mine little ones to a garage sale and see what they come up with!
Our kids thought it was absolutely wonderful!
Oops! I meant “my little ones”.
Great idea! Op Shops are fabulous. So are cubbies!
Yep — a winning combination
Kelly this is a really great idea!!
Keep in mind Cath, when your children are a little older. They will LOVE it!
That looks like fun! I’m curious about the “codes”. Did you get to have a peek after the codes were written?
HA! I didn’t ask… Hmmmm
What an awesome idea! I love op shopping but will look forward to this project when my babes older! Great stuff
Oh do! Op shopping is absolutely fab.
Hey just call me the Retro Mama, coz I got one of them retro telephone directory thingies!!! LOL
LOL! My Dad used to have one too. I thought it so cool!
I love this – I agree, children can be amazingly imaginative at seeing multiple uses for an object….You activity has created so many different great learning opps…My oldest child is just 2 so I will remember this idea and give it a go in a few years time…
Mum and Dad had one of those old phone directory things and we used to play with it all the time!
Oh do Gill. I’m sure, in a couple of years, your child will love it!
I like the idea of giving Princess some money to go treasure hunting at the op shop. We have to go next week and get clothes to wear to an ’80′s party, so I might try it and see what she comes up with. Dress ups, tea sets, would love it if she could find a typewriter (anytime I open twitter she suddenly reveals a need to type! I think the different feel and sound of the typewriter would be awesome!).
And the typewriter would go so well with the phone directory for setting up an office or newspaper!! Oh, now I want to play!
Love the kids cubby
I’ve been looking for a typrewriter too! LOL. I agree, the feel and sound it something special. Go the 80′s. Make sure you have big hair and purple eye shadow.
My girls are usually given $10 each at birthdays and Christmas to buy gifts for each other. It is fascinating to watch them try to puzzle out how to spend the $10 and get their sibling a nice gift (that they can also play with themselves
)
Love the Op Shop cubby idea. I :heart: op shops and we seem to spend much time in them.
@Marita, you really ARE a FunMum you know.
What a great idea, my cousins and I had a cubby filled with op shop finds and bits and pieces we begged from our families when I was growing up.
What a great idea kelly! We love op shops too and we love taking our kids to “Antique/Preloved” superstores which are dotted around Victoria. The kids have found some amazing finds like old Star Wars figurines, my favourite Enid Blyton books which are now their favourites – “The Magic Faraway Tree” etc.
We love, love, love exploring inside them – glad the kids do too!
We do things like this too. It’s become a lot of fun in our house!
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