Getting Started with Small World Play: A Beginner's Guide

What is Small World Play?

Small world play is a type of imaginative play where children interact with miniature figures, objects, and environments to act out real-life or fantasy scenarios. Whether it’s a farmyard, a jungle, a fairy garden, or a construction site, small world setups give children the freedom to explore big ideas in little worlds.

This form of play supports open-ended storytelling, problem-solving, and creativity, offering children the chance to process their understanding of the world, develop empathy, and strengthen cognitive, language, and social-emotional skills.

Why Small World Play Matters in Early Childhood

From a developmental perspective, small world play is a powerful tool for supporting learning across domains:

• Language Development: Children use rich vocabulary, descriptive language, and sequencing while narrating their play.

• Early Numeracy: Children explore size, counting, spatial awareness, and categorizing as they set up and interact with figures and props.

• Emotional Development: Small world play offers a safe space for children to act out feelings, conflicts, and resolutions.

• Understanding the World: Play themes can reflect real-life experiences like visiting a doctor, going to the grocery store, or exploring different habitats and cultures.

How to Spark Interest in Small World Play

To encourage children to engage in small world play:

• Start with themes they love: Dinosaurs, animals, construction, family, fairy tales, or vehicles.

• Observe their interests: Use their real-world experiences or favourite books to inspire setups.

• Make it visually inviting: Use trays, bins, or defined spaces with natural and textured materials.

• Add storytelling prompts: Place a book beside the setup, or ask open-ended questions like “What’s happening in your world today?”

Let children explore freely without needing to "play it right." Follow their lead and extend learning through gentle guidance or questions.

Beginner Materials List for Small World Play

You don’t need a large budget to get started. Many materials can be collected from nature, recycled, or repurposed. Here’s a basic starter list:

Base Materials:

• Tuff Tray, PlayTray or Shallow Bin

• Fabric scarves, felt, or coloured paper

• Sand, dirt, sensory fillers, or water

Loose Parts:

• Natural items like rocks, shells, sticks, leaves, pinecones, flowers, wood rounds

• Recycled materials like bottle caps, cardboard tubes, lids

• Gems, scenery stones

Mini Figures and Props:

• Animals, people, vehicles, fairies, dinosaurs, vehicles, or characters from stories

• Small furniture, fences, buildings, or block sets

Optional Extras:

• Sensory items like kinetic sand, pluffle, kidfetti

• Labels, signs, or books to support the theme

Simple Small World Play Set Ups & Ideas!

These simple and engaging setups are perfect for introducing small world play in your classroom or home environment:

Farmyard Fun

Figures: Farm animals, farmers, tractors

Materials: Soil, dried lentils or oats, wooden blocks for barns, popsicle stick fences, mini hay bales

Learning Opportunities:
Children can engage in storytelling and role play while pretending to feed animals, drive tractors, and manage the barn. Sorting animals by type or size introduces classification skills, while feeding and counting tasks build numeracy. Use real corn kernels or oats for an added sensory layer.

Book Link: Touch & Feel Farm or Noisy Farm help children make connections to the animals!

Construction Site

Figures: Diggers, dump trucks, peg dolls or construction worker figures

Materials: Dirt, kinetic sand, gravel, wooden blocks, safety cones, measuring tape

Learning Opportunities:
Encourages engineering thinking, measurement, and spatial awareness. Children can design their own buildings, measure road lengths, and solve challenges like “how to move the big rock.” Use real tools like scoops and rulers for added realism.

Book Suggestion: Construction Wheels at Work 

Dinosaur Land

Figures: Dinosaurs, volcanoes,

Materials: Sand, moss, rocks, dinosaur bones, fossils, trees

Learning Opportunities:
Explore prehistoric habitats and imaginative storytelling. Children can sort dinosaurs by type (herbivore vs carnivore), create timelines, and build volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar.

Book Link: What are Dinosaurs? By Bobbie Kalman

Ocean Adventure

Figures: Sea animals (octopus, whales, fish), boats, divers

Materials: Blue fabric, water bin, shells, pebbles, sponges

Learning Opportunities:
Support classification and early math by sorting creatures by size or species. Add shells for counting or patterns. Engage in dramatic play with boat rescues or undersea exploration. Talk about ocean zones and conservation.

Book Link: Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae

Fairy Garden

Figures: Fairies, woodland animals, miniature houses

Materials: Leaves, flowers, moss, stones, twigs, glass gems

Learning Opportunities:
Supports creative thinking and storytelling. Children build tiny homes, map fairy villages, and create invitations to play using natural materials. Explore cause and effect by “magically” changing the scene overnight.

Extension Idea: Write or draw fairy tales based on the scene

Polar World

Figures: Polar bears, penguins, Inuit characters

Materials: Cotton balls, silver foil, ice cubes, blue glass beads

Learning Opportunities:
Explore climate, Arctic habitats, and seasonal change. Use ice cubes for sensory science and compare melting times in different conditions. Introduce Inuit culture and animals adapted to cold environments.

Book Link: Polar Pals by James Roberts

Woodland Animals

Figures: Deer, owls, bears, foxes

Materials: Bark, pinecones, moss, acorns, felt leaves

Learning Opportunities:
Explore Canadian forest ecosystems and animal behaviours. Encourage classification (nocturnal vs diurnal), storytelling, and sound play (e.g., owl hoots). Add a nature journal station to draw what’s observed.

Extension: Create a woodland scavenger hunt

Our Community

Figures: Vehicles, Peg People

Materials: Blocks, Houses, Trees, Felt Mats

Learning Opportunities:
Reinforce daily routines, SEL, and community helpers. Act out visits to the doctor, going to school, or grocery shopping. Use it to talk about diversity in families and occupations.

Extension: Create a map of the neighbourhood

Space

Figures: Astronauts, rovers, planets, aliens

Materials: Foil, black paper, star confetti, styrofoam planets

Learning Opportunities:
Support inquiry-based science. Explore gravity (using inclined ramps), size of planets, or moon craters (flour and marbles). Encourage vocabulary like orbit, launch, and solar system.

Book Link: There's No Place Like Space! by Tish Rabe

Pond

Figures: Frogs, ducks, turtles, fish

Materials: Blue fabric or bin, lily pads, pebbles, reeds, stumps, logs

Learning Opportunities:
Explore life cycles (frogs, dragonflies), floating and sinking, counting lily pads, or sequencing events. Great for sensory exploration and science observation.

Book Link: My First Space: Let's Zoom Up to the Stars!

Garden

Figures: Garden bugs

Materials: Fake flowers, soil bin, watering cans, garden tools

Learning Opportunities:
Explore plant parts, counting petals, insect sorting, and pretend planting. Add magnifying glasses for close observation. Build compost bins with scraps.

Book Link: Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert