Invite them to play

by KELLI JESSUP

With an active 3-year-old and 6-month-old at home, it often feels like we do more at our house by 9 a.m. than the average human does in a week. We’ve had breakfast, colored, changed a diaper (or five), enjoyed crumpets during a “tea party,” gotten dressed, read books, gone on a walk, had a snack… and we still have the whole day ahead. Exhausted from the constant need to be the entertainment, I knew I had to help my toddler, Halle, to ignite her own imagination and creativity.

Thus began the journey of me inviting Halle to play. I started setting out openended objects and then letting her create and imagine using those objects. At first she just looked at the objects and held them, even asking me what she was supposed to do with them. I would demonstrate a few ideas of what she could do with the objects, and then set a timer for her to play independently. While everything was not an instantaneous success, she quickly began to create and imagine and pretend… and play for longer and longer periods of time with little planning or need for me.

Very fond of playdough, this has become a quick favorite for Halle. Every few weeks we make a new batch, usually to go along with some kind of theme, gather a few objects from around the house to go with the playdough, and then let her imagination run. Most recently, we did a fall theme. Halle and I made pumpkin spice, apple pie and cranberry playdough and paired that with some peg dolls, pebbles, jars and various leaves from outside. With just these few items, Halle has spent hours making “cookies,” having birthday parties, and making peg doll villages. With a few plastic cups, bowls and plates from Target, Halle has cooked up endless dinner recipes in her outdoor “kitchen.”

Hours of time have been spent outside with a bucket of water, scoops and jars, resulting in Halle making up stories while transferring water from one object to the next, watering the plants, and setting up various bird baths.

Some pinecones, acorns, leaves, sticks and yarn were invitations Halle jumped on for an afternoon of outdoor play. In a culture where more and more time seems to be spent on a screen, it has been a joy to watch my toddler play for hours with minimal resources or direction. Join us! Consider this your official invitation to play.

Photo by Kelli Jessup/NWO Playdough, peg dolls and outdoor finds offer an easy way to create an invitation for children to use their imaginations and play.

Let’s Play

• Grab a pile of acorns, leaves and pinecones from outside, a paintbrush and paint, and let your child decorate nature. • Put together a fall playdough kit – make playdough, collect rocks, leaves, grass, etc. from outside and let your child create. • Set up a doctor’s office. Line up a few chairs with stuffed animals or dolls, lay out items from a doctor’s kit or just some bandages and a notepad and pen and let you child take care of everyone. • Try to name all the leaves on the Kids’

Korner on pg. 28, then go outside and try to find and identify different types of leaves. • Grab a bowl or plastic bin, throw in some rice, spoons, old spice containers and peg dolls for sensory fun and play. • Go on a nature walk and collect leaves.

Make leaf bouquets and then set up a shop where your child can sell the bouquets.

Have a play cash register at home? You can even work on counting and math skills!

Pumpkin Spice Playdough

1 cup all–purpose flour 1/2 cup salt 2 TBSP cream of tartar 1 TBSP vegetable oil 1 cup water 1/2 TBSP pumpkin pie spice 1/2 TBSP cinnamon 1/4 TBSP nutmeg food coloring

Bring water to a boil. Mix together flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable oil and spices. Add food color to hot water until desired color is achieved. Stir until all ingredients combined and dough is a moist (not sticky!) ball. Add more flour if too sticky or more oil if too dry.