100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play by Georgina Durrant

Hopefully most of you have come across Georgina Durrant already as she is the creator over at The SEN Resources Blog. If you don’t it know it then take a look as it is a fab website full of great advice and resources for SEN families.   I was really excited when I found out Georgina was writing a book as I knew it would be ideal for us, so I was thrilled when she gifted me a copy to review.

The book is 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play.  I am always looking for new ideas for play activities with my boys and this is exactly what we need.  I really like the range of activities that have been included in the book which Georgina describes as a ‘sort of play recipe book’ which is a really good explanation for it.

What is in the book?

There are 100 different activities split into 6 Chapters:

• In the Garden
• On a Walk
• Sitting Still
• Rainy Day Play
• Crafts
• Sensory Play

I am a big believer in learning through play. Knowing that each activity has been designed to help develop key skills means that we can have fun and supporting the boys learning. The key thing for me is all of the activities are really accessible. They are ideal for kids like mine who have limited communication and attention skills.  As the book has so many activities it is really easy to flick through and find one for that moment.  In the past every activity book we have come across just isn’t suitable for us or we can only do a limited number of the activities. The fact that we can do all 100 of the activities in this book is a huge deal for me. I am so thankful that Georgina has written it with families like ours in mind.

We have been trying out the activities over the past few weeks. I found that we had everything at home already to complete the activities so it is a really practical book to use.  My youngest (5) had a great time making his potato masher paintings.

Layout – Recipe Book For Play

I really like how the book is laid out. It is really easy to use and has all the information you need. Each page has a new activity, there is a lovely illustration on every page which is really helpful to help show the boys what we are doing.  There is then the following information for each activity:

• Description – short, clear and easy to follow
• Equipment – everything needed to complete the activity
• How to – directions
• Alternatives – slight changes to do the activity a little differently
• Extras – ways to extend the activity
• Parent / Carer tips
• Skills – list of skills the activity is helping to develop

How did we get on?

All the activities we have done so far have worked out really well.  My eldest (7) particularly enjoyed showing off his counting skills when we did the cupcake counting.  My youngest surprised me getting involved too.

I have been really impressed with how much the boys have enjoyed the activities we have tried. Clearly Georgina’s experience of SEN teaching has helped her choose the activities that work best.

I have to admit I am not very imaginative when it comes to thinking up activities and love that the book has 100 different ideas for us to try.  Also the fact that they are all easy to do with stuff we already have around the house is brilliant. Big bonus is that I don’t need to do any advanced prep as let’s face it we rarely have the time.

The Play Doh Imprints was fun, we collected bits from the garden and got stuck in making our imprints.  It was really nice seeing the kids having fun squishing the leaves, sticks and snail shells into Play Doh.   A great motor skills activity, the boys were naturally learning about how much pressure they should be applying to get their imprint.

100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play is a fantastic collection of activities for young SEN kids.  The book is so easy to use and full of great ways to support our kids learning while having fun. I highly recommend it and will be getting a copy for my boys school.

This book is a must for anyone with young children SEN or not and should be on the shelf at every Primary and Early Years setting too. Available now on Amazon.

Georgina now hosts the SEND in the experts Podcast.