Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Children, Play & Things That Get Me Thinking

Remember being a kid and getting so excited when your parents said you could have that giant empty box that packaged some newly-arrived-on-your-doorstep appliance-or-such? It's a fort! It's an elf castle! It's a giant dollhouse! It's a... whatever you could imagine it to be.

Take a listen to this, from last week on NPR: Old Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills.

Turns out you didn't need the latest and greatest toy after all. And with all that unstructured play time you were learning, too. Who knew?

Along similar lines-- an excellent commentary over at Finding Wonderland, for those of us that are tired of the endless marketing of "stuff" to children (and everyone, for that matter...)

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I agree.
"Toys" are horribly over-rated.
Think how one's children loved real keys, real telephones and toothbrushes.
Like so much in America - and elsewhere of course - it's all about marketing.
Give me mud and water any day.......

Jennifer Thermes said...

Yes... and tape and string and cardboard tubes... my kids always have a field day with that stuff... even now that they're older.