This Is How We Play

I found mention of this book, Unplugged Play, on a website that I was reading, and immediately got a copy. The kids watch too much TV as it is, and I really like the idea of them having play that requires no batteries or plugs. Just good fun that gets them dirty, if necessary!

K made them a little cubby, with a blanket and an extra curtain draped over our dining table. It was supposed to be like a secret hiding spot for them, but they basically turned it into a stage, with their dinosaurs as puppets. This was J's made-up story:

Once upon a time, there was a Mommy dinosaur and Baby dinosaurs. Then one day, the Mommy dinosaur couldn't find her Baby dinosaurs. So she roared really loudly, and that woke them up.

We were pretty impressed that there was an actual plot!

***

This was basically a modified game of soccer. An empty carton served as the goal-post, and for lack of a better alternative, our Christmas ornaments were the balls. They could kick, roll or throw. J quite got into the whole scoring thing. E did too, in her own way. In spite of my instructions, she'd stand right up in front of the carton to fling the balls in. Then, she'd yell, "Ta-dah!"

***

Pizza play! This, I thought, would be lots of fun. Each kid would get a flour tortilla (we had these lying in the fridge, anyway) to act as the pizza base. I used a small tub of yoghurt that was probably a little past its prime, as the "sauce". Then they got to assemble the pizza themselves, using whatever snacks we had in our pantry. Cheerios, raisins, Teddy graham crackers, multi-coloured Goldfish and marshmallows.


This was interesting too in revealing their characters! J is, true to form, quite meticulous. None of that sprinkling nonsense. He put each ingredient on his pizza in its precise spot. And even though his favourite marshmallows were out, he was so focused on getting his pizza done properly, he didn't even remember to eat any of them. He does not like to get dirty, so he'd call for a tissue the moment he touched any of the yoghurt.

E, on the other hand, started snacking the moment she saw the Cheerios. Only after she popped a few into her mouth, did she remember about making the pizza. Quite the opposite from her Kor-kor, she is of the 'sprinkle' school of thought. After a while, she started pouring the ingredients straight from their plates on to her pizza. Why waste time picking them up?

So no prizes for guessing which pizza belonged to whom.