Thursday, October 10, 2013

Time for play...


Yesterday I read Gretchen Joanna's blog post, What You Put in the Dough You'll Find in the Cake.  It's a great article about children and the education we "bake into the cake" that is their lives.  It got me to thinking about modern families living in this high tech, modern world.  It can't be easy.  Raising children isn't, but how much more complicated is it today compared to when we were kids?  It made me realize how fortunate and blessed I've been to raise my children in a quiet place in the country away from a fast-paced world that has little time for children who want to dawdle about a flower garden or climb trees or lie in the grass watching clouds go by.

I've been doing some thinking about the children I know and love.  My own children are grown and off living their lives, some of them with children of their own.  I feel blessed to be near my grandchildren, and since I am, I see them lots and I feel like I know them in a very intimate yet ordinary way.  I watch them play, and sometimes I play with them.  Most of the time, I am just outdoors working at something and they are with me.  We aren't doing anything special.  We just do ordinary things together, but for some reason, the children think it's magical at Gram's house and the best fun ever.  I tell my kids that I really do not spoil their children, I just do my thing with the grandkids by my side, and they are mostly doing their things.  There are times when the Littles want to help me:  watering plants with a watering can, picking up sticks from the lawn, or carrying buckets of apples or fresh-picked carrots.  Most of the time though, they are playing by themselves. 

What I love to do is to watch them play out of the corner of my eye.  I rarely tell them what to do, but I do offer them a few tools to "play" with.  There are garden shovels and tin plates to make mud pies and dirt cakes. There have been many birthday cakes made for the dogs, Sue and Charlie, complete with flower seed sprinkles or flower petal decorations on top.  Shovels also create castles or dig holes for "planting" plucked flowers.  The Littles find out quickly that rootless flowers don't stay pretty for long.

 

In the flower garden there are tiny pebbles that act as a mulch, but to the children, they are beautiful, colorful gems to be studied and spilled from hand to hand.  There is a large ocean rock in the garden that has finger-sized holes all over it, and it makes the the very best sorting bin.  Smooth pebbles go into the holes and some spill out of holes.  Again and again they are dumped out and refilled. 

Seed study happens all through the summer.  The children are naturally curious, so an unusual flower seed pod is instantly spotted and picked and given to me to identify or to find the seeds within.  Poppy seeds are such fun to shake out like a pepper shaker.  Flax and Love-in-a-Mist pods crumble and reveal small pepper-sized seeds too.  Hollyhock seeds are like many tiny slices of bread all in a circle.  What a beautiful play-ground God made.  

There are always sticks lying around and the dogs will gladly play fetch as long as wee hands will throw the sticks.  Dogs also must withstand having water poured on them from a watering can or dirt sprinkled over them -- all in good fun, of course.


Another game that is played is Running Down the Hill to the apple trees below and back up.  Don't we all wish we had that youthful energy to run up and down hills all day?  The very best hill game is Rolling Down the Hill.  This, I confess, I did teach them.  I remember rolling down grassy  hills when I was a girl, and I thought my granchildren would think it fun too.  They do!  So much giggling happens when one rolls down hills, and so much dizzy walking after.

There are big rocks to climb on and sit on and pretend on.  It is also fun to pour water on rocks for some reason.  Maybe it's the splashing.  It must be because the other favorite play to be had is when I take the children to the pond near our house.  What do we do there?  We scare up frogs that hop into the water, we throw sticks in the water for the dogs to fetch, and we throw rocks in the water.  Why?  To watch them splash, of course.  Big rocks make big splashes and little rocks make little splashes and sticks float.  Great lessons.

The Big October Snow gave us some fun with sledding and snowballs and snowmen.  When the temperatures begin to really freeze this winter, we'll go back to the pond for ice skating.  Peach reminded me that we must remember to skate when the pond freezes over like we did last year.  Do you remember the pink skates?  


 I'm writing down all these ordinary play ideas to remind myself and to remind parents that children don't need a lot of stuff to be very happy at playing.  The only real toys that stood the test of time at our house were wood blocks, Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, a few puzzles for little ones, Tonka trucks and toy tractors, and books.  Are books toys?  I'm not sure, but they stimulate the imagination and play, so I'll count them.  My favorite toys to give are books.

What I learned from my own children is that they needed a Time for Play.  What I am enjoying with my grandchildren is watching them make their own Play.  When I say that children need time for play, I don't mean a time for organized sports with parents dictating and running it.  That is something altogether different. I'm talking about children deciding to play ball together or make mud pies or make tents under the clothesline without any adults telling them how (unless asked).  I'm talking about giving children the freedom and time to think their own thoughts and play their own kinds of play.  Just yesterday I watched Peach and Toodles play with a fuzzy caterpillar for over an hour.  They talked to it, and set it down here on a log and there on the grass, and then they let it crawl on their arms and stuck it to their shirts.  The word, wonder comes to mind.  I think wonder and play go together well, don't you?  What are some favorite kinds of play you remember growing up?

23 comments:

  1. Ah, Jody, I just love your blog.

    Yes! I love this. It helps me feel like I'm doing okay...because really, as a mom, I feel like I just bumble along. I remembering spending hours on end, down in the trees at the end of our lane, with my sister building tree forts of all kinds...just out of branches we would find lying around and stack them in various ways and play house.

    Your grandchildren are so blessed to have you nearby. You are an awesome grandma.

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  2. It's a blessing to have so much input into our grandchildren's life as they grow; facilitating play experiences such as you describe is a privilege. I'm so grateful my husband and I have been able to spend lots of time with all our grandchildren. I would love to share some of those fun experiences when we all get together, but it's a part of my life that I've decided not to include (photos) so often on my blog. We have great fun at the seaside, the older ones playing with the younger ones and also in the garden or in the countryside. Our oldest came to stay recently. He's 27 and he was telling us what he remembers about the little things he and my late father enjoyed doing together. It made me very happy to hear that. The grandparent/child relationship is a precious one and it's a blessing for you to have
    your little ones enjoy the wonders of the natural world and other simple pleasures in and around your home.

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  3. Thank you for this sweet post. I love it when my kids come in with a handful of fresh eggs and tomato seeds in their hair from garden samples. Yes, the kids are dirty; but they are having fun with each other and learning more about God through His creation.

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  4. So nice that you wrote this down, I loved GretchenJoanna's post as well. When raising my own children, if felt that they needed time to explore and imagine and play outside and I don't know how I would have done it now with all of the electronic gadgets. I am thankful that my girls continue to keep them away and focus more on books and play the way they were raised. You have thought this out very nicely. I am still in pondering mode about this. Very well thought out and thought provoking today.

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  5. How lucky your grandchildren are! I loved going to Grandma's too -- we had lots of play time with ourselves and Grandma's place always seemed new and full of adventure. On another subject, PW posted about all the cattle that were lost in the big snowstorm -- I hope you guys weren't hurt too badly!

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    1. I am convinced there is something magical about "Grandma & Grandpa's house."

      There were many losses of cattle during the Oct. Snow. The last number I heard was 68,000 head dead in just our area. We had zero loss. We were not in the heaviest of the snowstorm and I'm sure there were many factors we do not yet know. Thank you for asking.

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  6. I'm 74, so all the things you've mentioned were also my way of playing growing up. One thing that sticks out in my mind was my aunt giving me a coffee can of water and an old paint brush, which I used to "paint" her porch. I had forgotten rolling down grassy hills - oh my goodness, what fun!

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    1. I sometimes give the youngest of the grands water and a small paintbrush when we paint with watercolor. It seems to satisfy the little ones -- even if there is no paint coming from the brush.

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  7. You're so right. Kids need time to pretend. They need thinking time and crazy running around screaming time, too!

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    1. Yes, lots of screaming and running time too. Kids need to burn off all that energy and let it out. We might all feel better if we went outside and ran around screaming.

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  8. Perfect, dear friend! I love all the play you describe. Our kids had 6 years on a huge "school" campus in very-rural Iowa, and Oh! how they loved it, esp. my son who was about 7 years old when we moved away. Total freedom to play over acres of ground, all day long. Wonder is a good word. Children learn so very much about how they ought to relate to the world, simply by playing in it, alone.

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    1. I wish all children had lots of room to run and roam and play at their own games. Your kids were blessed to have all that glorious space.

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  9. Yes, yes, yes!! If only all children were allowed this slower-paced, wonder-filled childhood. Such bliss. xxx

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    1. There is also the crazy fun stuff too, but lots of quiet wonder.

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  10. Gretchen did write a wonderful article and, frankly, I fear for today's children and all of us tomorrow. Children are being taught to be "good little boot steppers" and that's not good news.

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    1. I think there are still many families out there who feel as we do. They just don't make the noise that the rest do.

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  11. Oh, I so agree with you, but you probably already know that. I think children love being around people who care about what they care about. I see this with the neighborhood children who flock to me because word has gotten out about how I care about the animals in our pond/creek and that I am always interested in what they have found. They LOVE talking about naturey stuff with me. And I love it, too, to be honest.

    When I was little I loved playing house and making meals out of outside things ... mimosa leaves, grass, mud and I had a stuffed bunny I carried around like a baby and fed. (I still have him.) I dressed up the dog, rode my bike, and played doctor. I was available to give the neighborhood children "shots" with those pointy leaves from holly bushes. I loved playing teacher and even preacher. :)

    Great post, Jody, and I really love the pictures.

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    1. You had sharp holly needles to vaccinate your patients! That tickles me. I can just imagine you, Leslie, at your playing. I love it that you are the Queen of Nature at your pond. What fun to see all the children's treasures.

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  12. This is such a nice post. I love it when children have to use their imaginations instead of being entertained with TV or electronics. Childhood is such a short time; and when they start to punch a clock, they are forever on a schedule.

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  13. Jody, my daughter linked to this post on Facebook, and I'm glad she did, because I had missed it while out of town. You describe so well the wonderfully normal life of young children, and I bet your own children had many of the same experiences. Thank you so much for taking the time to describe a few scenes and pass on your experience of "God's playground." It's very encouraging!

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  14. When I was little, I liked playing by a creek that was at the bottom of our hill. I liked building villages out of acorns and sticks. I also enjoyed the third grade marble craze and our neighborhood football games. It makes me sad that there's so little of this kind of play anymore. Everyone's always got some kind of practice or another after school, or else they're in an aftercare program. Sigh.

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