Child’s Play
Babies and young children don't come with any preconceived ideas about the proper way to use things, the form and function of the world around them. This means they can be pretty open-minded and creative about the use (and yes, abuse) of the things in their world.
When our first two children were about 1 1/2 and 3 years old, they showed me a lovely example of 'what do you have in your hand' thinking. We had kitchen chairs with long, smooth vinyl backs. They tipped these chairs upside down, making a slanted ramp of the long back, and they would climb up the back (using the legs for hand holds) and slide down. These chair-slides were slightly smaller than similar little tykes slides for the same age range, but they took up no extra space in my house.
Similarly, a friend of mine discovered that her baby used a laundry basket full of clean clothes as a 'walker,' which he cheerfully held onto and pushed around the living room as he learned to toddle about. When she had no clean clothes in the basket, she weighted it with a few books.
The same friend would put a large, fat, book on the floor in the corner and her baby would step up and down the book, feeling like a great conqueror of heights, for a good half hour of self-entertainment.
When my brothers and I were growing up we never had a dress-up trunk- we made do with bathtowels (which made great super-hero capes, flying carpets, and shawls or skirts, especially if they were beach towels), and occasionally my mother would let me borrow something of hers if I promised to be careful. We do have a dress up corner, full of interesting clothes from the thrift shop, but some of the favorite items are merely raw yardage- 1-3 yards of fabric.
Another of my children used to get a good hour of entertainment with my largest stainless steel bowl and a small rubber ball. He would work on tilting the bowl just right to keep the ball spinning around and 'round in the bowl, and we also would stop what we were doing to watch, fascinated by his fascination.
I used to get a book catalog by a woman who lived with her family in a small cabin in the mountains of northern California. During the winters they were nearly completely snowed in, venturing into town only when they absolutely had to, so they stocked up on supplies. She said one winter her children entertained themselves for weeks with her cans of tomato sauce- they built towers, small towns and cities, all kinds of structures by raiding her pantry for canned goods. Remembering that, one rainy season when we lived in Washington, I directed my preschooler and her toddler brother to the pantry and let them loose on all the cans they could use. They, too, were entertained for hours every day for weeks by stacking and restacking my cans. I don't know why they liked these better than the blocks and stacking boxes we actually bought for the same sort of play, but my theory is that the cans felt much more substantial to them, and thus more meaningful. The stacking blocks with their pictures and numbers on the sides were toys, these cans of food were real.
What real things have you seen 'repurposed' by the children?
Want more like this post? Read on!
- Seashells and more These pictures were taken about 23 years ago. We lived...
- Frugal Making Do A friend of mine says she saved money clothing her...
7 Responses to “Child’s Play”
July 18th, 2008 at 8:41 am
My 4-year-old just discovered that an ice cream bucket lid makes a pretty decent Frisbee! I love to see the creativity that comes out in children. I grew up with very few toys and the sort we had were old wooden thread spools and such like. I really believe those sort of toys spark more creativity and learning than most any push button noisy toy. My challenge is to keep it simple for my kids. With all the yard sales I go to I really can get lots of nice toys for really cheap. I need to think harder. Do my kids really need this to be more creative?
July 18th, 2008 at 9:21 am
When my daughter was about 6-12 months she was fascinated with the tea towel cupboard – she would very gleefully pull them all out and spread them all out. We started putting the rags in there so that I would have clean tea towels, and it did not kill the game. She had so much fun. We have pictures of her with a big smile and the mess all around her.
She also could flip through my Bible for long periods of time! And thinks that dusters are toys….
July 18th, 2008 at 10:45 am
I love this topic. My mother was so good at modeling for me the fun to be had in reusing items for other purposes. I think some of that has rubbed off on my kids through me, leaving them a legacy from the grandmother they never got to meet.
My kids’ “secret” playhouse is a stack of cement blocks my husband and I salvaged from a house that was being demolished. We just piled them on the back edge of our property near untrimmed trees and shrubs. The kids move them around as they see fit to make walls for rooms, furniture, etc. Sometimes they use the wheelbarrow to haul large chunks of firewood over to the playhouse for chairs.
Someone at church this week offered me bags filled with various sizes of unfinished wood pieces. I took home three gallon sized bags, and the kids have used them to make all kinds of buildings for their cars.
I see no point in buying doll accessories when the girls use the old baby sling for wearing their dolls, cloth diapers for burp rags and changing pads, my old purses for diaper bags, etc.
My five year old has a red bandana that goes nearly everywhere with her and has for months used it for a cape, a tablecloth for her dolls, a sling for her arm, a bandage, a diaper…
The five year old is currently using a crib mattress that didn’t sell at our garage sale for a boat in the living room. I’ll store it in the basement after this week, but it’s been rainy all week so I left it out for her to play on.
The eight and ten year olds regularly rummage through our recycle bins for jars or cans for projects. One is using a large jar for a moss garden, the idea coming from our science lessons. They repurpose metal lunch boxes to hold all kids of things depending on the day (everything except lunch since we homeschool.) =)
And ten minutes ago the five year old reshelved a bucket of homemade pumpkin pie playdough in an ice cream bucket. I repurposed a bottle of very old pumpkin pie spice, found in my father-in-law’s cupboard, to make the playdough pie scented.
I’ve learned to never throw away “junk” that’s sitting outside before asking my kids what it’s being used for. They find all kinds of things on this property (orginally a homestead in the late 1800s). Lately, it’s not uncommon for me to find “fairy stew” cooking in rusty muffin tins.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:17 am
My girls love to play “family” and will make “families” out of just about anything – markers (each color representing a different family member), pens and pencils, hair scrunchies, toothbrushes, spoons & forks, etc. Anything that is a set becomes a family. Then they will take their shoes and make “boats” or “cars” for their little dolls to ride in. Bookcases become doll houses. They re-purpose everything they can get their hands on. Their creativity amazes me.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
My daughters favorite toys when she was pre-walking were Daddy’s socks (used or clean, she didn’t care!) and shoes.
July 20th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
My kids have what we call “the homeless shelter” made of blue tarps, old boards, and cast off furniture and stools. It’s sort of a fort but it seems to have the same architecture that our homeless population use. They also seem to think the large rolling tote for our recyclables is actually a craft material cart.I often see them hanging upside down in it dumpter diving for cardboard or egg cartons.
July 21st, 2008 at 5:57 pm
When I use to buy UHT Milk (longlife milk) in 1 litre cartons my daughter would have wonderful fun building City towers.
Ah, those days of innocence!
Leave a Comment