Last week, we talked about how the dinosaurs died out and that led to a discussion of the food chain and how ultimately all lifeforms, even top carnivorous predators rely on lifeforms that make their energy from the sun. Using Playmobil plants and animals and some silk flowers, we set up a simplified food chain and extinction demo. First I made a set up, putting out lots of plants, a smaller number of herbivores and a few carnivores. Then I pretended a disaster had struck and most of the plants died. Then most herbivores died out and then the carnivores had no food and they died too.
M insisted on making her own set up next. Then she told the story and explained what was happening as different lifeforms died.
This process led to discussions about the need for biodiversity, global warming, and the need to protect areas where wildlife can flourish.
And of course, after we were done, the rest of the Playmobil came out and much fun was had setting up worlds and creating stories.
Playmobil is always a winner. We try not to have too many plastic toys, but I’ll always make an exception for Playmobil! There was an interesting programme on BBC last night about The Natural History Museum – I don’t know if you can watch it online, or some other way, but I think you and the girls would enjoy it.
We love to do educational play with playmobil also – we will re-enact scenes from history with the Roman and Egyptian sets.