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Playing with More Sticks!

Posted on August 23, 2011 23 Comments

Last week I put my big girl undies on and let my kids have a fabulous time playing with sticks outside. I learnt a lot from the experience of letting go and allowing my kids to take reasonable risks and it seems lots of you feel the same way (thanks for all the lovely comments).

While we were ‘up the back’ playing last week I had a crazy idea that adding sticks to our block constructions might be fun too. So we collected a big basket of sticks, branches and small logs to bring back to the house.

We made a quick stop at the shed where the kids watched me saw up some of the logs, branches and sticks into more manageable pieces. We could have skipped this step for the sticks but I thought having the ends flat rather than pointy might be better, and hey… I just really like to saw things on the band saw!

After I was done sawing I popped the basket full of ‘stick blocks’ on top of our slow combustion wood fire for a few days to dry out a bit and then they were ready to be played with.

stick blocks

We managed to collect a huge variety of sizes and shapes of wood and sticks so building with them was lots of fun! We even found some thick curved pieces of bark that are very cool!

home made wood blocks

I didn’t bother trying to saw the bottoms off flat and even, so it was often a bit of a challenge getting them to balance or stand the way we wanted to, which made it even more fun!

home made castle blocks

Our stick blocks have been add to lots of different construction toys as well as being enjoyed on their own. Morgan and I discovered that they help make awesome wizard’s castles!

Joining with It’s Play Time at Let the Children Play this week!

What have you been playing with lately?

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Filed Under: Activities for kids, Preschooler Fun Tagged With: activities for children, activities for preschoolers, construction activities, home made toys

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. Megan at Writing Out Loud says

    THAT is seriously cool!

    Reply
  2. Terri says

    Now I need to go stick hunting! This looks like so much fun… we definitely need a basket of sticks to play with.

    Reply
  3. Brenna says

    We collected sticks then made the 3 little pigs house. Fun.

    Reply
  4. Brooke says

    Amazing! I absolutely love this – what kid wouldn’t love to build with real sticks?

    Reply
  5. Janice @ learning4kids.net says

    Wow!! I love this!! What a brilliant idea……thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Posie Patchwork says

    We can never leave a park or backgarden or even the school grounds without sticks & amazingly, my 4 never feel the need to poke each other with them, brilliant!! Love Posie

    Reply
  7. Ayana says

    My own kids played with sticks. There is something so joyful in it.
    My work kids do too… in fact I bought some really long pussy willow sticks just for such play! They get dragged around, made in to cubby houses, used in the sand and dirt patches.

    Reply
  8. SquiggleMum says

    Of course I love this…! xx

    Reply
    • katef says

      Do you guys have any tree blocks? Would love to make you a set next time we are up the back collecting sticks and things!

      Reply
  9. margaret says

    What a fantastic idea. I love the idea of adding to our existing block pile and it’s free! Plus I also enjoy using the power tools when I can.

    Reply
    • katef says

      ah yes… power tools are fun!!!

      Reply
  10. Jena @ HappyLittleMesses says

    The structures they put together are magnificent! I really enjoyed this post! Hmmm, band saw. I’ll need a lesson. SO you smoked the sticks? How would I go about making a low combustion wood fire?

    Reply
    • katef says

      Band saws are easy… just be careful not to chop your finger off!

      We didn’t smoke our stick blocks, just popped them on top of our fire box (we have a slow combustion wood fire that heats our house – a fire box with a fan instead of an open fire place) for them to dry out. You could simply put them out in the sun on a nice hot day, or I somewhere warm and sunny inside if it’s not so hot out? But really you could just use them as soon as you saw them too!

      Reply
  11. jackie says

    I love this, Kate! The jungle is gorgeous! We’ll be borrowing this idea. :)

    Reply
  12. Jess says

    I love this idea!Think I need to go and hunt sticks!

    Reply
  13. Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas says

    what an awesome castle – LOVE it! you got some great stick shapes there. Thanks for linking this up to the Sunday Showcase – FB & tweeting this.

    Bern

    Reply
  14. Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says

    Love this! My daughter loves collecting sticks and making piles of them in the yard! Love this post and we’ll be doing some stick sculptures soon! Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply
  15. Brooke (siayla) says

    we LoVe using natural elements in our play :) Shared here http://siayla.blogspot.ca/2014/01/got-wood-try-these-wood-crafts.html

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Weekend Reads 8.27.11 | Not Just Cute says:
    August 28, 2011 at 10:35 am

    […] Playing with More Sticks {Pickle Bums}  […]

    Reply
  2. It’s Playtime Link Party says:
    September 1, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    […] flip-flop art – from Uber Savvy Building with wooden sticks – from Picklebum Felted Wool Mat – from I’m a Teacher, Get me Outside – she collected the wool […]

    Reply
  3. Homemade Toys says:
    December 14, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    […] Make your own DIY Wood Blocks, cut up a tree and use the blocks and branches for building in these wooden toys to make. […]

    Reply
  4. Homemade toys: From your recycle bin! - Kids Activities Blog says:
    June 27, 2013 at 2:04 am

    […] Make your own DIY Wood Blocks, cut up a tree and use the blocks and branches for building in these wooden toys to make. […]

    Reply
  5. 14 Open Ended Materials For Toddler Play - Triple T Mum says:
    November 4, 2013 at 10:03 am

    […] “Stick Blocks” from Picklebums […]

    Reply

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