Small World Play

Over a year ago I first made Munchkin a 5 little speckled frogs small world play set up.

I thought I blogged about it, but of course I can't find it!

It was just before we moved, hence why I know it was over a year ago.  It was the only imaginary play thing I could think of doing that didn't involve diggers and trucks, or needing to buy anything.  I got the idea from The Imagination Tree (see the original here). 

He absolutely loved it.

And spent hours playing with it, both with the frogs, and his own variations.

And over a year later, he still asks me to make "five speckled frogs" for him.

I don't quite know what the allure is, but something about it must appeal for him to remember.  We don't have it out often, but every few months the request comes and he spends time playing with his frogs in the little imaginary world we create.  This last time we ended up with a shell in there, from a wedding I attended years ago.  I love how things end up being reused in the strangest ways at times.  This was just recently...

Tomorrow morning he's going to wake up to something new...

I've been hoping to do some other little imaginary play things for him, especially now we have some other plastic animals, but somehow it never seems to end up on my to do list.  So after a weekend of having my dining table commandeered by a wooden ramp (taped to the table) and a car garage (perched precariously on top of the piano stool which was wedged on the other side of the table), together with a makeshift camping tent for several cars (made of some cardboard and containers on the dining table), and two duplo dragons and their friends the duplo robots, I had had enough.  I made him pack it all up.  But I softened the blow by promising to create him something new to play with.  It will be interesting to see what he does with it, considering past variations to the original theme (grin).

A mix of jungle on one side, and snow (with arctic pond and a ah, artic frog??) on the other.  We went to the snow recently which was a big hit.  Don't have any snow animals like polar bears or anything but goats and reindeer is close enough, right?  After all, it's all about using your imagination!


Amy

Hidden Spaces

Have you ever noticed how pre-schoolers like to hide?  Behind the couch.  In the cupboard.  Under the bed.  Munchkin has his favourite haunts at home.  Then there's the love of running ahead with one of us on a walk, to lie in wait (half hidden!) for the other (supposedly) unsuspecting parent to stumble upon us and get a fright! 

And have you ever noticed how taking something really straightforward and simple and changing how you do it can totally change the experience?  Like having lunch on the deck instead of in the house.

Over summer we found a perfect little hidey-hole, tucked away from one of our usual walking paths.  Just a few minutes stroll from home, this little glade was the perfect place for a picnic.

So we packed up our afternoon tea and headed out for a walk.  It turned the meal, and the walk, into something of an adventure!

Photo taken by Boyo of our picnic area!

There was, of course, a stop to pick blackberries on the way.  My idea, but Boyo's tenacity when it came to the bounty across the creek! 

Amy

Pink is for Boys Too

I used to love dress ups as a girl.  My brother and I spent hours playing with Mum's old wedding gown, and a friend and I used to create plays for her younger siblings after raiding their dress up stash.  There's something about putting on different clothes to what you normally wear that unleashes hidden creativity and imagination!  Something amazing happens.

So of course, I want my son to likewise enjoy it.

But he's not really been that interested.  They aren't cars.  Or a sandpit.  I've come to the conclusion that dress ups is something some kids are interested in and others aren't.  That's not to mean they shouldn't be offered it, but simply that some children like to dress up and imagine.  Some do it every day, and have a collection of dresses and animal costumes.  Then there are others (like my son) who show periodic interest from time to time, in between their main interests. 

But the interesting thing, is that the dress up item my son is most interested in is a bright pink set of butterfly wings and matching headband, given to him by a beloved grandparent.

Not your usual 'boyish' outfit.

So what do you do as a parent when your child chooses something that society tells us is 'not appropriate' for their gender?

Well, I guess you could do quite a few things.  But I've decided to leave him be.  He's not yet four, and I'm sure he'll be told often enough what people expect a boy to do.

But it does concern me.  Not that he likes butterfly wings, but that we expect him not to.  That we offer girls tutus but not boys.  Yet boys can dance too!  This might be one of the great ballet dancers of all time, but how would we ever know if we told him that dancing is for girls (or sissies!)?

So my boy wears his pink wings.

And dances around the lounge.  Sometimes wearing a tutu.

And sometimes we wear crowns and capes while getting ready for bed.

I'd love to get him a kids hardhat and flouro vest though.  That would be sure to go down well!

For his birthday he has requested a bright pink bike.  I am ashamed to say that I did try to offer him a different colour.  I just felt worried about what other people are going to say about my son riding a pink bike!  Isn't that sad.  But he was adamant.  He does not want the red one, or (surprising, considering blue has been his favourite colour for ages), the blue one.  He wants pink.  So pink he will get.  Pink is for boys too!

Amy

A Bit of Company

My son and I are both highly social.

Yet the life we lead is not exactly conducive to frequent social interactions.  Sometimes there are days we're alone, when we'd much rather be with others.

But at times like that, it's always good to know that Clara will keep us company.

She's good like that.  Always available, always cheerful.  Clara was my dolly when I was little, and now she loves to spend time with Munchkin too.

Some weeks we don't see much of Clara.  She's busy sleeping in her little bassinet, quiet in a corner of his bedroom.  But other weeks, she's a very sociable doll.

He takes her in the car.  He cuddles her in bed.  He dresses her, and gives her breakfast in her highchair.

And one day, she went for a walk...

Clara is good company.  She even likes the local playground.

Sometimes all you need to turn a routine walk on an ordinary day into something amazing is a bit of company!

Amy

ps - "They" say that boys who are encouraged to play with dolls develop a higher level of empathy and compassion than their counterparts who do not.  Sounds good to me!  Although, I wonder what taking your dump truck on a walk might mean?  We've done that before too!  Grin.

Inside Fun

What do you do on a wet day?

Our usual occupations revolve around cars, trains, or DVDs.

But one day recently I had an idea.

Let's have a picnic.

A teddy bear's picnic.

We got out a blanket and the picnic set.

Munchkin arranged all his soft toys.  He made sure they had glasses, plates, and cutlery.

I created some cardboard chocolate chip biscuits, cheese sticks, apple pieces, and (on special request) pineapple pieces.

And the teddies picnicked.

Amy

When You're Feeling a Little Bored

Sometimes even a good thing can become a little same-old-same-old.

You know, when you've used it so many times that you're just feeling a little jaded?

Seemingly overnight, something that you or your kids just LOVED for weeks and weeks is now sitting, unused, forlorn, forgotten, gathering dust.  The kid's moved on.  The old toy's forgotten.  And you're left with a house full of unused stuff.

Ever found that happen in your house?

I think one of the great unacknowledged tragedies of our modern, instant-gratification, new-is-best generation is our inability to really milk something for all it's worth.  We're really not good at getting every little drop of use and goodness out of things before discarding them for something newer, faster, brighter, shinier.  Our landfills are testament of our passion for the short-term fling, the buy-it-cheap, use-it-fast, and throw-it-away-as-soon-as-it-starts-looking-tired mentality.  It's sad.  And what's even more sad is that we're raising an entire generation (several of them in fact) who know only this.  They don't really know how to look after belongings to make them last the length of a person's lifetime.  They don't know how to repair, mend, or replace parts to renew an old appliance or give new life to an old toy.  They don't know how to use their imaginations to create something new from something old.  They get easily bored, easily distracted, easily led to the latest gadet or fad leaving behind them a wake of half-used toys, discarded clothes, and unwanted gifts.

But what do you do?  It's such a pervasive attitude that runs throughout our entire society, half the time I find myself giving in to it without realising why.  Why do I need new cushions?  Does it really matter that a few of them don't match, when I have a pre-schooler who likes to play with them, drool on them, and pillow fight with them?  Surely I could just wait a few years.

I've watched friends give away or sell unwanted toys, after discussions with their child about how they don't use it any more so they should let another child have it instead.

I know a few folks who hide half the toys in a back cupboard somewhere, while the child plays with the others.  Then every few months some toys are 'swapped out' with cupboard ones.  It's like having new toys all over again!

Here's a solution from the Munchkin:  When you get bored of using something for one purpose, find another way to play with it.  Engage your imagination.  You'll have already seen that Munchkin LOVES his sandpit.  He loves to dig in it, he loves to zoom cars around a  race track or through bridges.  But even sandpit play can get boring.  Recently the cars got to have a rest, and the toy animals came out to play instead. 

It was amazing listening to my little guy create intricate story lines around all the things his animals were doing!

So, when you find your kids (or yourself!) a little bored, perhaps instead of something completely new, it might just be time to move things around a bit, change how you play with or use them, see them in a different light?

What creative ways has your family reused or otherwise adapted the use of something recently?

Amy

The Last One at Last

The final blanket square is done (for my yearly contribution to Operation Cover Up)!
Or rather, the final strip.

Time to pose!

Or not?!

And of course, time to play...

A spider web!

A road!

Some bandages for hurt arms and legs!  Mummy and Daddy also had bandages at various times later in the day, but no photos to prove it.

Look who went shopping with us one morning, all wrapped up in a blanket!  I wish I'd got a photo of Munchkin sitting in the trolley with red bear tucked in beside him!

Now I only need to crochet the last two strips (one either side) onto the blanket and whip round the edge.

It's been a bit of a marathon effort.  They always are, but this one in particular seems to have been hard work to get finished.  Not that I dislike the hard work!  I do love to just sit and knit row after row of bright colours.  But I also dearly love to feel like I've accomplished things, reached my goals, finished.

I have (of course) started a new square for a new blanket.  I had a few days off.  And I'm really enjoying using some of my new colours, as I always do with each new blanket!  Isn't it funny how something that you love at first can become almost an object of loathing if you spend a lot of time with it? So glad to have changed colours.

What have you been creating lately?

Amy

A Little Bit of Imagination

We have a sandpit on our back deck.
It was Munchkin's third birthday present, carefully built by me in the garage (which is currently housing an almost-but-not-quite-there delux guinea pig hutch!).

It's pretty much square, about 25cm deep, filled with grey sand.
But this folks, is no ordinary sandpit.

Some days, it's a racing track.  Other days, there are tunnels.

Sometimes big machines are hard at work.  Come summer, I'm sure there will be ponds.

This past week, we had a bridge.  Cars were getting tired, so a rest area was added.  It has a shelter, and a picnic table, and some trees.

Some cars liked it so much, they had really long rests!

The wood's just bits left over from past chook and guinea pig hutches, tucked away in a bag in the garage.  The 'trees' were simply pieces of bracken from around our place (seriously, we have a TON of bracken fern!).

Munchkin liked it so much we did it again a few days later.  This time we added some flower gardens too though.  Loads of white daisies in our lawn between mows at present.  Loads of fun.

All it takes is a little bit of imagination.  I'm amazed at all the different things we do with a simple sandpit.  It's not like we have heaps of other materials, just the important ones (CARS and DIGGING MACHINES!).
What have your little ones been enjoying using their imagination for lately?

Amy