Photo A Day, Day 16: Play

Since I have small children, “play” is a large part of my life. My kids and I spend most of the day playing. We play games, we play with toys, we play with trucks, we play with dolls, we play dress up. We play board games, we play word games, we play playground games. We read, we build, we imagine. We have a whole toy box full of toys with which we play.

 

The toy box is like the wardrobe leading to Narnia: it’s small, but it leads to giant places. The boat at the right, especially when combined with the Barbie dolls, brings us to the pool, or the lake, or the ocean and teaches us fun and safety together. The tutus bring us to the ballet where we can spin and swirl and twirl to our hearts’ content, all the while learning about grace and posture and our bodies. The railroad track lets us build, create, and race, while we learn geometry and physics. The green ball and the bouncy glittery “eyeball” ball let us run and catch and learn yet more physics and fitness at the same time. The shape ball teaches us spatial relations and shapes. And playing together helps us learn manners and cooperation.

This toy box represents so much: childhood, learning, exploring, joy, sibling rivalry, sharing, parental love, imagination. All wrapped up in one single word: Play.