Kidmade Playthings

Riding in the backseat with a backpack full of books, coloring books, and toys our 6 year old granddaughter found more pleasure in playing with one of those cardboard paint color strips than any of the stuff I had packed. She pretended it was a cell phone and proceeded to talk on it for hours, dialing, charging it with an imaginary charger, and huffing when she said a call was from her boss which was most annoying.

We spend so much time planning for kids play and what we don't put into the equation is that the money we spend can't equal what their imagination can create out of ordinary items that most of us would throw away. I remember as a kid having a closet full of baby dolls yet Dayna and I spent weeks carrying around small bricks that my Dad had left over from a job. We drew faces on them, made diapers out of newspapers and wrapped them gently in dishtowels. Our manufactured dolls with sweet smiles on their faces and eyes that opened and closed laid untouched as we created our own.

Cam was all about Ghostbusters when he was 5 and he had every toy we could find related to that movie. His Ghostbuster backpack was rarely off his back during those days. One morning, he asked me for an empty cereal box after breakfast. I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing while I cleaned up the kitchen. Later, I found him with his new creation and his GB backpack jammed in his overfilled toybox.  He had drawn on the cereal box to replicate his purchased toy and then added  a little piece of hose from the garage and a papertowel tube as the zapper. He had taped it all together with great care and was beaming at his creation. After that he generously shared his store bought backpack with friends and brothers while he used his special one.

When cell phones were first coming out T and his friends in the 5th grade were turning their Capri Sun drink bags into their own cell phones. They folded them just so and used the straw to push up and down as the antennae. I bet those 24 year olds never even think about their first cell phones as they text and talk into the antennaeless real ones they use today. It makes me smile remembering Lisa Johnson chatting away into that piece of aluminum, she was so engrossed in her imaginary conversation she didn't even notice my smile!

One of the best Christmas gifts Ron ever got the kids was a big box full of wooden dowls and screws and bolts from the hardware store. Our 4 little darlings spent the whole day creating that Christmas day. Their imaginations were stimulated and the pride in their eyes was our best gift.

We spend so much time, effort, and money to get the perfect toys for our kids. If they show the slightest interest in anything we run out and purchase more than they could possibly play with. Then we have a themed party where everyone brings them even more of the same. Kids have incredible imaginations and don't need us to saturate them with things. They will often choose simple throw away items to create their own perfect playthings.

The old saying that kids will enjoy the boxes toys come in more than the toys themselves is so true but we are not paying attention!

In Him,
Joyful