my nearly 6 DD is very keen on jigsaws, although i feel i have engineered that to a certain extent. All her life she has lived in small homes, so i've needed to find activities to do, that don't take up much space. I buy jigsaws for her. We do jigsaws together, so it's become a bonding activity i suppose. Now she's happy to do them on her own. She's up to the 100 piece ones, but the clear detail type, not the photographic/heaps of sky/water/snow ones that are too hard for her.

she loves making patterns and sorting, with baskets of pebbles, marbles, shells. She has a collection of play cloths (made from muslin) and i'm amazed how much fun she has with those, engineering her own little cubbies and costumes with them.

her fave thing right now, is to draw, it seems, every waking moment she is not at school. She has the little rectangular Lyra crayons, great for shading and detail. i have found if i provide her with crayons that are easy to use and handle, she becomes very creative.

she likes drawing hopscotch with chalk on footpaths. and rollerskating. and scooters.

so many outdoor forms of play i would love to provide her with, if we lived somewhere different.