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| Captain Tyler aboard the "S.S. Fluffy-Pants" (he named it, naturally!) |
Whilst pretending to participate in a "mum's group" conversation (I never really get into the whole 'Mother's Meeting' shebang) - we were discussing "play time"...c
In our house - I'm pretty proactive in having engaging, active "playtime". Playtime to me isn't "chuck the kids infront of the telly" or "pour out the lego"... I was kind of disappointed to hear how limited and uninvolved a lot of the other mums were with their kids when it came to playing... Lots of them said "they just watch TV"... Or they play in their room... Sure, there are times where we let the kids occupy themselves for the sake of getting the washing done, or doing the dishes, or having a shower... But play time should be scintillating. It should be developing their imagination, their coordination, their ideals and values... It should be of benefit to the children, encouraging them to grow and learn...
Telly is probably my least favourite kids' activity... I'm pretty restrictive as to what they do and don't watch, and consistent on when they can watch... In our house... The telly is on during breakfast. It then goes off after breakfast, and we do whatever we need to do that day (shops or whatever). Then when we return home, the telly stays off, and it's time to "play". We get involved. We do "things". We spend time together and 9/10, the kids play happily because they are engaged, focussed on and having fun... The telly then doesn't come back on until after "nap time" (when they wake up, around 3:30pm).
I think why it disappoints me to hear that most of the other mothers weren't so involved was because to me - orchestrating an effective "playtime" isn't hard. Nor does it have to be expensive. Or messy... Messy IS good sometimes, though... But very simple ideas can be transformed into really fun play activities... So I guess it peeved me when I shared some of my own ideas and was told "that's too hard/takes too long/is too complicated"...
Some of the fun "playtime" things we've done include:
- Building a cardboard box boat and turning the kitchen into an ocean scene (as per the pic)
- Burying dinosaurs in the sandpit, and pretending to be explorers digging for dinosaur bones
- Treasure hunting for nature items (find a leaf... find a flower... find a small rock... find a big stick... find something yellow... find a feather... etc.)
- Tactile play (boiling spaghetti in food colouring and putting big bowls of coloured dyed spaghetti out on the back lawn and letting them squish and play with it... or mixing food dye with shaving foam to make foamy paints)
- Pudding Painting (making up instant pudding mix in different flavours, paper up on the art easel and letting the kids paint with the pudding... this is a good one for when they're really little because it doesn't matter if they eat their "paint").
- Water and food colouring in different levels in glass bottles, to tap with the end of a wooden spoon to make our own music
- Gluing crayons to a blank canvas in rainbow order, then melting the crayons so they run down the canvas, making a spectacular melty rainbow picture
- Other "easy" stuff like potting seeds together to grow flowers... or potato print painting... or making soap crayons for in the bath together... or good old macaroni necklaces... making daisy chains... making dolly beds/rocking cradles out of old shoe boxes and spare fabric... "painting the house" with a bucket of water and a paint brush... Wrapping up a couple of their toys in about 5 layers of wrapping paper and taking turns to unwrap layers... etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum!
I think the crux of playtime is that it's not just for the kids... Parents need to get in there, and get involved, too. They need to give guidance to their kids to keep them on task, and try and give their children some fascinating new knowledge along the way. Kids are stimulated by the smallest of miracles. The look on a 2 year old's face when a bottle of water turns from clear, to red, to purple, is priceless. The joy of a 1 year old running her fingers through cold spaghetti without reprimand is precious, also...
Get in there and have FUN with your kids if you don't already... Because they're not little for long... and some of these moments become the foundations of their most favourite childhood memories as adults. I myself remember being fascinated at learning how to wood burn (with supervision from Dad of course) using a piece of timber and a magnifying glass... And dad explaining how the lens could amplify the tiny packets of electromagnetic energy in the light to create fire by concentrating the photons in the light... Something that's always stuck with me and I'll never forget... Same as learning how light travels faster than sound... and "tricks" you could do with certain flowers in the garden (like making a swan from a certain type of purple flower that grew on a bush in our garden... or making snap-dragons chitter-chatter to each other...) So many fantastic memories I have of "learning" as a child came from the most basic, simple, one on one activities I engaged in with my parents...
Until next time - peace, love and "have fun cleaning up the glitter spills"!
Suzy xx
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