‘What is it?’ A friend asked as I showcased one of the first products to launch at MooAngel.
“Who’d want to buy that?’ scoffed another.
“Wait and see’, I replied.
Now just over a year later it has been a continual best seller.
Open Ended Play
Is it a car? A plane? A submarine? The answer to this is yes and so much more.
Children love to explore and create. Young children are absorbing the world around them, developing language skills and making sense of the information they pick up from the real world and in books and in media. They have a wonderful ability to combine all of this in to their play.
The Explorer range has been created to allow children to be facilitate their own play. Its lack of clarity of what it is has been a conscious decision.
To demonstrate , here is clearly a toy tractor
This is giving the child the knowledge of what it is and directing the play. The play will always be with a tractor going to the farm. This is what has been dictated. Specific function with a clear point of view where the thinking has been done for a child already.
Here is a MooAngel Explorer. 
Yes, this toy could be a tractor if the child decides this, it could be a carriage going to the royal ball, or a jeep on a dinosaur hunt. Open ended play has endless possibilities where a child can develop their creative, critical thinking and problem solving skills as they build and explore their ideas.
Children are more inventive and playful where lots of variables are on offer. Simple materials and components can be transformed into complex ideas.
Oh and by the way - the friend at the start of this blog now has a much loved, well used explorer in her garden. A popular product with her own children and those visiting also. Please feel free to share any examples of open ended play that you have tried and has been a success with little ones! Simple add into the comments box.