What do you notice when you look around you? If you look closely enough you might just discover a tiny door hidden in your backyard or kitchen, or perhaps there is one hidden in a nearby tree maybe leading into another world?
These little doors have prompted much imaginative play & storytelling in our house, & most of them started life as recycled paper or card. I drew a selection of simple doors & added a few details with fine marker pens & stickers.
Once they were all cut out I laminated them so we could use them outside come rain or shine. The laminate also made them more sturdy & prevented them being damaged during play.
On some of the doors I added a little clue as to who might live behind them. Can you guess who may live here?
I wonder what event was being celebrated behind this door?
I hid the different doors around our garden & waited for Minnie to find them. This wall was an ideal place to hide a tiny door in the ivy.
Next time you're out check the bottom of your garden shed, you never know what you might find.
These daisy stepping stones gave a little clue as to where one door was hidden.
And how about this residence, could a fairy, mini princess, or elf live here? According to Minnie a giant lives here! But not just any old giant, a magic giant who can make himself big & then really, really tiny!!
Who might live in this tree?
Or in a rock?
Apparently flower fairies live in this tree, & they have a garden around the back where they grow carrots & tomatoes!! Can you guess what Minnie is currently growing in her veggie patch? ;-)
Could this be a house, school, church, or perhaps it's a door leading to an underground tunnel?
This indoor flowerpot would make a great residence for mini gardeners!
Adding a few small pebbles around this door offered more play opportunities. Where could this door be, in a rock, cave, or along a stony path? What could the pebbles represent?
Minnie loved finding this door in our fireplace! The mini stepping stones to the door where able to be moved around, & she later turned them into letters to post through the letterbox! The big question of course is who is the pie for?! ;-)
Adding a few props / characters offers a starting point, or prompt for a story, but who knows where the story will go, & what adventures will take place! The story could go anywhere!
These little doors have encouraged Minnie to create new worlds, & scenarios, as well as reenact favourite fairy stories, & familiar domestic situations. They've been a key part of her outdoor play recently & have been moved around the garden to house ants, frogs, & bears! She has been totally absorbed in the stories she has created & it's been a joy to listen to the descriptions & narrative she's shared.
I'd love to see what kind of doors Minnie would design, & who she would make them for.
So much language, imagination, creativity, & stories to explore!
I wonder where the next door will take us, & what adventures lie behind it.
