[Open-Ended Play Series, Part 4] PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 Wooden stick horses and hockey sticks (aka Revolutionary War musket) see endless hours of play here at our home… And finally, we wrap up how we can help facilitate and protect free-play: 1. protect free-time 2. don’t micro-manage 3. keep it simple In our […]
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Extreme Weather – Arizona Style
Dust storms are quite exciting, especially if you happen to actually catch one rolling in towards you! I had to break from my series on Open-Ended play to share some pictures we took when we noticed a big one rolling in yesterday evening as we were getting the kids ready for bed. From our upstairs window, […]
Micro-Managing No More
[Open-Ended Play Series, Part 3] PART 1 PART 2 {This is not an ordinary basket, but a space suit helmet, aiding Xander in his pursuit of outer space travel.} As I mentioned earlier, protecting free-time is an important aspect in encouraging open-ended play. Another way we can facilitate and protect this kind of play is […]
Pregnancy Update
Well, it’s been a while since I posted any kind of pregnancy update, so here is the digest version: 27 weeks along. 5 weeks past the time when I went on quasi-bedrest with the last pregnancy. (hurray!) Despite contractions starting at 13 weeks. Seriously?!?!?!? Thrilled to be in a place of getting to take care of […]
Sounds Easy Enough…
[Open-Ended Play Series-Part 2] Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 {My little ‘minute men’ spontaneously re-enacting in anticipation Independence Day while I made dinner!} So, just letting our children play and explore the world around us sounds easy enough, right?!?!? Although it sounds simple, our culture of consumerism, hectic schedules and competition all compete to […]
Free to Play!
After writing that post on play, last week, I was reminded of a series I had written almost 3 years ago on open-ended play. Since that blog no longer exists, I thought I would take some time to repost it here. It is a ten part series that unpacks exactly what open-ended play is, the benefits […]