With all this double-duty-ing that I do in my everyday life, I tend to look at how to maximize time, energy, and money for double purposes.
Thus, my perspective on toys = tools for learning.
Kids play a lot. Or I should say, kids should play a lot.
But technology gadgets distract the human brain from the potential brought on by normal boredom. Parents, there are many a moment to put limits on these glowing tablet addictions… and remember with our children how to play.
When kids are lost in play, it’s fascinating to watch. While observing play, I’ve recently seen everything from MagnaTile walls trapping ferocious dinosaurs in my living room, students wrapped in fabric in a fashion competition in my classroom, and tiny (real) pumpkin pies lined up in front of a row of dolls in my kitchen.
When given the right conditions, kids love to play. And adults desperately need to play right alongside the kids.
What?! Adults playing?!
(((Please know I am not very good at putting down my adult task to focus on imagination play with my child for any amount of time… so this post is just as much for me as it may be for you…!)))
Here’s what can be so crucial about taking time as an adult to play:
We immerse ourselves in an experience where we practice seeing the world from our children’s eyes. This says to the child, “You are important to me. I enjoy my time with you.” What better parenting impact to have then to share this loving picture of who our Heavenly Father truly is.
We practice not worrying about tomorrow, taking Jesus’ words seriously (Matthew 6:34). We focus fully on what is right in front of us today (our children) and we practice not getting caught up in details about tomorrow (whatever that may be).
And most importantly, we put down our seemingly-ever-important adult tasks and we show God how much we trust Him. We say, “Okay, I trust that You are sovereign and in control even when I don’t wash all the dishes in the next 10 minutes.” And we focus on our higher calling straight from the throne of heaven: to express Christlike love to our child right where they are today.
Which leads us to our next question:
How can we inspire an environment ready for play? Here’s some ideas:
ONE. Limits on screens. Enough said. (More here from a friend, if you need convincing.)
TWO. Creative toys with an open purpose.
The box becomes an igloo and also a car.
The MagnaTiles trap those dinosaurs and then later become a rocket ship.
The measuring cups are cooking utensils for the dolls and then later ice cream scoops in the Dairy Queen our family opens during bathtime, because #play.
Fabrics of different textures and colors become an indoor recess favorite at school as students make costumes for our plays and then also fashion shows at recess.
THREE. Learning tools are toys for today and tools for the future.
The binoculars are fun for spying on the birds in our backyard. (Biology! )
The stopwatch and metronome are fun to play with at the piano. How fast or slow can you play Twinkle Little Star? (Music! Math!)
The yardstick and measuring tape… How big is our living room, kids? How about the wall? The yard?
The magnifying glass and microscope… Go find some bugs, kids!
Measuring cups and spoons… Let’s cook, kids!
Puzzles give that satisfaction of persevering in the face of a challenge… We started at 24 piece puzzles and have worked our way up to 100 so far…
FOUR. Books, books, and books! Oh my!
I can’t emphasize this enough. The more books you have in your home, the more impact it has on your child’s curiosity. Curious children become learning children simply by means of environment.
Kids need to spend daily time with books. We do 30 minutes a day of reading time, and this is anything from me reading out loud or one kid reading to stuffed animals while the other reads independently. The purpose is to be intentional in sitting for awhile and enjoying those books.
We feed their imaginations through stories and then watch those stories come out in their play! How will kids know to play castles and dragons if they’ve never seen one? How will they know to play survival if they’ve never heard a gripping survival story?
Any other ideas about how toys are tools for learning? Would love more ideas.
So as we learn to put down our adult tasks for 5 or 10 or even 15 minutes, let’s thank our Heavenly Father for how much He has invested in us so we can in turn invest in our own children… through play.
Until next time,
Awesome, super-practical post that lays out the benefits of play...which we should take a lot more seriously. :-)