A miniature rock pool

Before we jump into our latest little world post I have an exciting announcement. Mom with a Lesson Plan and I are collaborating on a new series – BIG and LITTLE pretend play. Each month a theme is chosen, Jillian tackles the BIG and I tackle the LITTLE. It starts late next week with our small furry friends... dogs.

Now for our miniature rock pool... Cakey and I worked on this together when Boo was asleep. I couldn't cope with the bickering if both kids had been involved. Cakey is very interested in "what stings you at the beach" – creatures such as blue bottles, jelly fish, sea anemones and spiky urchins.

Adding sea creatures to our ceramic tart dish

Plasticine (or coloured modleling clay) is perfect to create rock pool life. It doesn't go instantly mucky in water like playdough.

Cakey made a blue bottle, sea grass and an octopus while I worked on the corals and an anemone. We used an old marine biology textbook for inspiration. Matchsticks and playdough stamps gave texture to our sea creatures, Cakey also added matchstick spikes to her sea urchin. Some small packets of coloured sand were emptied and water with a smidgen of blue food colouring was poured into the bottom of the dish.

Then we both ran around the house finding all sorts of things for our rock pool. I found an orange net, some plastic sharks and gold coins for treasure. Cakey came back with some shells from laneway garden, spanish moss to use as seaweed and her mermaid ponies.

I left Cakey to play with her rock pool. She took off her socks and stepped in it. Then she dumped heaps of "rubbish" (which were actually perfectly good plastic toys) into the water. I thought she might be on an environmental crusade but no.... she told me, "the rubbish is for the fish to play with, they like rubbish".

If this is your first visit to at home with Ali – welcome. If you like it, you can follow along through our facebook page or subscribe via email or RSS. Cheers Ali