So even though we show lots of activities, we realize that a good portion of a young child's day should be free play and exploration.
Little children find inspiration in the simplest objects and always discover new ways of using things. These ideas don't always occur to us adults with our preconceived notions about what a purpose of an object is. We see objects and know what they are used for, kids see objects and decide how they want to use them.
Arielle (mommy): We went to the park today and my kids showed me this over and over.
Lil used rocks as sidewalk chalk, O saw Lil, grabbed a sunscreen stick out of our diaper bag and used it like sidewalk chalk.
Lil accidentally spilled water near her chalk drawing and then decided to use the water to make handprints on the concrete.
Our friend brought soccers and cones to the park, Lil took the cones, set them up and made up her own game called "Hoppy Loop."
They didn't need me giving them any suggestions, their games were better than any I could have thought of.
Cynthia(Nanny): We had planned to spend some time outside playing with the girls' new water table, but as I began filling the table a leak had sprung! Oops!
When I assembled it there was one tiny itty bitty part that wasn't staying attached so I figured, "eh, we can do without it." Well, that insignificant part was part of the water stopping mechanism. Great.
So the only thing I could think of to bide time was snacks! Little sister (1 minute younger) was happy to sit in the nice breeze and eat her morning snack. Big sister (one minute older) was not too happy about the water table not working.
So after the tantrum, we went inside for some free choice play time while I unpacked a box. (The family just moved into a new house) Free choice turned into an Imagination Station!
Sometimes boxes can be more fun than a room full of toys! ;)
Really great information!
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