photo credit: my sister. Since we just finished up a series on Open-Ended Play, I wanted to share some thoughts my sister had on “Art vs. Craft”. In the early years especially, I’ve traditionally been a huge fan of open-ended art. And I still am. But as she points out ‘craft’ has its place too […]
Archives for July 2011
Delighting in the Days…
I’m ever so thankful for reminders to cherish each day and each season in life. My oldest came down with a stomach bug in the middle of the night which put a kink in our plans for a swim date with their cousins. So we had a quiet ‘at home’ day today. Which really, after […]
Play Silks: A Giveaway!
Well, as we just wrapped up our series on the importance of and how to foster open-ended play with our children, I’m delighted to bring you all an opportunity to bring some play silks into your home!!!! I talked extensively about them and shared examples of how we use them in our home in my […]
Making It Work: Promoting Open-Ended Play
Patriots going into battle. Note the broken golf-club, hockey stick and broomstick that are all standing in as rifles… Who needs play guns, anyways? They’ll improvise! So what now? It is hard to not end up with scripted toys. But I’ve found that this really doesn’t hinder a child when you are encouraging their creativity […]
From Trash to Treasure
(Xander at 3yo enjoying a homemade shield that he asked us to fashion from an egg carton and his lance from an old packing tube.) As we’ve been talking about, encouraging our kids in open-ended play is a great way for them to learn at their own pace as well as develop important creative and […]
Kitchen Play
Well, as we start to wrap up this little series on open-ended play, I had to include some ways we’ve incorporated everyday things we have around the house into our play and learning. There are so many toys to be found in the kitchen! Outside of the many practical and original uses for items found […]