Read field notes about this activity

Name of Activity:. Up in the attic

Category:. Magical Mystery Time

Props: A large box filled with costume pieces for both boys and girls. One possible way to fill the box with with "magical" costume pices: fairy wand, halo, boa, fairy dress, wizard costume, gloves, various hats including police person, firefighter, construction worker, among others. The other way to fill the box is with found pieces, like old fashioned, abandoned clothing that might be really stored in the attic. Many of the smaller pieces should be duplicated so that you can dress up too.

Your Role:

Directions: This activity is a culminating one and consequently has many stages. The first stage is the guided journey in which you take the child on a hunt to the attic in order to find the trunk. Both premises (finding the magical trunk or finding the storage trunk) are detailed later. The second stage is exploring the trunk to see what possibilities exist within the trunk. (Similarly the guidelines are outlined below.). Then the third stage is to come up with the activity: tea party, princess ball, creating a story, etc. The final stage is to record what happened. This may be that you and your child draw a picture, write a story, make a collage, or have a photo taken.

Goals for You:

Goals for Children:

Possible Strategy:

What to say

What to do

Possible Shaping:

What to say

What to do:

Possible Ending:

What to say:

What to do:

Material on this site created by Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D. and Yakov M. Epstein, Ph.D. in conjunction with their forthcoming book titled Play for Success. All material on this site is copyrighted and may not be reproduced or cited without written permission of Helane S. Rosenberg, Ph.D.. Dr. Rosenberg is Associate Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. Dr. Epstein is Professor of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Science of Rutgers-The State University, New Brunswick, NJ. He is also Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education of Rutgers University.

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