Less is More- Part 1

It’s the weekend before Christmas and I am trying to tie up the loose ends I have on my list and make sure I have all the gifts for the upcoming festivities and especially Christmas morning. As I was mentally checking off people in my head, I walked into my kitchen to find Bossy Boots and Mr. Friendly playing a game with a card board box called “Sleeping Doggy”.   The picture gives you a visual for this really weird game they made up.

I was struck by the irony of me thinking through what presents I have for them and what I still needed to get and yet they were perfectly happy making up a game with a card board box. (It’s under Mr. Friendly.)

I jokingly posted on Facebook that I don’t know why I bother to buy toys!

As the morning progressed, the kids got tired of playing their “Sleeping Doggy” game and made their way to the basement where they morphed part of a train set together with the Barbie townhouse bathtub.  The bathtub became a vehicle of some sort and Batman was thrown in as a character that was sick and needed to go to the hospital which was inside the train track.

This sort of play is obviously pretend and is made up on the spot as their minds naturally stretched the ideas to create a plot with characters and conflict.   The plot unfolded as they integrated new ideas and resolved mini-problems within the context of the game.

As quickly as the game began, it ended as soon as they realized they were hungry for a snack.

I kept thinking about this play and how it promoted language, story structure, abstract thinking, interpersonal skills, and conflict resolution.  Then my mind went to some of the toys I have contemplated buying during this holiday season.  They pretty much pale in comparison.

I am not anti-toy or anti-gift, especially during the holidays.  I get just as much satisfaction from giving my kids things as the next person. I think what I was struggling with this morning was that I need to be more selective with the gifts that I put in front of my kids.  None of the toys that were played with this morning were electronic.  None made noises or flashed or outwardly professed to teach some concept.  They were simple and adaptable to multiple games in multiple ways.

So, if there is one parent-teacher tip I have for you as you wrap up your list this week it would be “less is more”.  The less fancy, flashy, noisy, and complex the toy is, the more room you leave for your child’s brain to fill all of that in.

Now that’s the gift that keeps on giving!