The Rock Quarry
Posted: May 25, 2011 | Author: Jena | Filed under: Imagination, large motor skill, Recycling, Sculpture | 5 Comments »
Most days, when I pick J up from school, he’s on the playground with his little pack of boy friends. All of them are bent over their dump trucks, full of whatever treasures deemed worthy of the day, running as fast as their super fast shoes can take them, usually running from pretend monsters and bad guys.
With his interest in trucks that carry it’s no wonder…
J has a very good friend who owns a Duplo Rock Quarry Set, complete with diggers and dozers, grey Duplos and a plastic mountain. J thinks it’s divine and has a very hard time leaving it after a morning of play. So, after saving the Duplo box info in my head, I realize, we have all the bits to make up a rock quarry already.
I start up a conversation with J about what belongs in a rock quarry, and we make a list together:
The Quarry Machines
A Jeep
A Cement Mixer
A Dump Truck
People
Shovels
A Jungle
Rocks, little and big
The Quarry People and a Shark
So we collect all the things on our list, gather it on the part of the driveway already covered with small stones.
We build a little quarry out of bigger rocks.
The Rock Quarry Wall
Setting it up was enough fun for one day. J dug next to the rock wall for a bit and was done.
Digging in the Quarry
I can’t wait to see all the ways we use the rock quarry, but I’m already thinking of the things we can add. A huge water bottle from a bubbler, a scale we found at the Swap Shed, oh, and a great new idea I saw on havingfunathomeblog.blogspot.com, coloring warm stones with crayons. The crayons melt as you draw on the warmed stone…we’ll see how things play out and what stories emerge.
What a great place for a boy to work and play!
…or a girl!
Hm, don’t have any of those around here. At least not often enough. But, you are absolutely right! Or A Girl!
Oh my goodness – I love this! I love how you have followed his lead, built on his interests and found a way to make your very own rock quarry. Lucky, lucky boy.
[...] Alas, there is no space in my yard for a gravel pit, but if there were, we would totally make a “rock quarry” for the kids to have fun excavating! Jena, of Happy Little Messes, can we come to your [...]