As it’s building up to Halloween all the shops seems to be selling glow sticks and I wanted in on the action. I’ve often thought about using a cardboard box to build a dark den (as the ones you can buy from educational retailers are astronomical) but having a box big enough requires buying something big and expensive. Not having a big box was a problem until I realised I had something just as good – the travel cot covered with a dark quilt and put up in a room with the curtains closed during a cloudburst this afternoon. No real planning or expense required and only a small reliance on dark clouds adding to the atmosphere.
LBL, BBL and a friend were more than happy to climb in and see what was going on. I didn’t have any books about dens so we read a book called When Darkness Slipped In by Ella Burfoot. Not directly relevant but I always love an opportunity to get a story into every activity and it was about darkness. All I added were a few packets of glowsticks purchased from the supermarket – and let the children try and crack them on their own. Pretty successful and very rewarding as their den was suddenly filled with different colours which glowed interestingly. This was the hard part to photograph so I didn’t bother. The best thing about this activity was that BBL could get involved. The packet says not suitable for under 5’s but without using the plastic bits to turn them into bracelets I couldn’t see what damage he could cause. The addition of a piece of bathroom plumbing from the Boyf’s cupboard under the stairs also allowed for interesting colour mixing which I could photograph. I’ll be doing this again and plan to stock up on any reduced glow sticks following Halloween. I only wish I could have fitted in there too.
funkidoo 