First off..a very special shout out to my son Jeff who turns 22 today! Happy Birthday, honey! LOVE YOU! :cD
Second off -
Yesterday was a Happy Scrappy Houses workshop with the Venice Area Quilter’s Guild of Venice, Florida!
And while I could talk about what we did in class, I’d rather talk about something else we found ourselves discussing and pondering and sharing stories of during our lunch break…because I’ve been thinking of it ever since!
We were talking about the difference between children today, and the children we raised ourselves when we became parents, and the children WE WERE when we were children and how times have changed. And then we thought back to what our parents told us about their own childhoods and how things were even more different back then ----Just within 4 generations, wow ---how have things changed!?
Well, obviously things are more computer-generated and electronic now than they have ever been – but the biggest thing we seemed to come up with is that children don’t seem as motivated or encouraged to play by PRETENDING as we were in previous generations.
Do kids still put on plays and want to act them out within neighborhoods anymore? Do little boys build forts and play Cowboys and Indians? Do little girls put on pretend dance recitals? I’m sure some still do, but more and more and more I’m seeing kids glued to TV’s and computer games ---What has happened to IMAGINATION!?
Imagination is SO IMPORTANT!
Neighborhoods are empty. Kids aren’t playing touch football or kick the can or things that were ever so popular growing up. They might have organized “TEAM” sports where they are on a soccer team, or a little league baseball team ---set days and times and practices appearing on the calendar like clockwork --- but do they really PLAY to PLAY?
I’m sure there are some who do. And maybe it’s just that I’m removed from what it is like to raise kids anymore – mine are grown ---but oh how I loved to imagine when I was little, and create, and dream, and play that story out however I wanted it to be….it wasn’t directed by any set response in a video game – if I wanted there to be unicorns, there were unicorns. With my imagination, I could make them green unicorns, or pink unicorns or whatever I wanted them to be. Our imaginations set us free – and taught us so many things.
One of our ladies, Pinkie, had recently retired from making puppets! Think back with me ---How many of you wanted the puppets that they had in the “Sound of Music?!
“High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, Layyeeeodle-Layeeodle Lay –hee whoooo!”
I wanted that whole puppet theater set! I asked for it for Christmas one year, the puppet set, the puppets, the one that played the tuba, the one that blew the foam off the beer --- but I didn’t get it. How many other kids secretly wished that they too had that really cool puppet theater?
Puppets were so fun to play with. We made them out of socks, out of paper bags, out of anything we could think of ((How many of you love the Fandango commercial at the movies and everything they made those paper bag puppets out of? I LOVED THEM!))
We put on puppet shows for the other neighbor kids and made up the stories as we went. What wonderful memories!
Pinkie ran and got us a couple of her puppets to see! These are cone puppets..and yep…the base is a cardboard thread cone! The dowel pushes the puppet up from inside the cone, and they can twist and dance and wave their arms…SO CUTE! They sold these as toys at craft fairs --- can you imagine the thousands of children who were encouraged to PRETEND and IMAGINE by the use of these puppets?
Could you resist these little faces? Adorable! So when you walk down the toy aisle at your local store --- are you seeing things that encourage imagination and play time --- or is everything digital and battery operated? I think it’s sad in a way. I love computers…don’t get me wrong, I’m on one several times in a day…..but I think we need more un-plugged play time! And so do our children.
And that play time is just what we got in our Happy Scrappy Houses class! We threw out the rules, we threw away the “you can’t use this with that” mentality of “matchy matchy” And we allowed our inner child to come out and we PLAYED!
If you want playful houses out of every kind of polka dot fabric, you can do that! If you want Halloween houses with ghosts and cats in the windows, you can do that! If you want to combine calicoes that you’ve saved since 1974 and combine them with a jelly roll from NOW – you can do that! If you want to put a flamingo in the window -- ((After all, it IS Florida!)) You can do that!
We had a great time as you can tell by the many whimsical house blocks above! Where would your imagination take you? You can make any house you want --- just use your imagination!
Come with me back to MY childhood…..oh how I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory --- and how my imagination ran wild the first time I saw this movie!
Today is a My Blue Heaven workshop – and we’ll be making a creative mess again --- ALL. DAY. LONG!
Happy Wendesday, Everyone!
My four year old pretends all the time. Literally, just about all the time. With her toys at home. With her mittened hands when we're walking. With the silverware, salt & pepper shakers & ketchup bottles when we're at a restaurant. It's fun to watch and sure keeps her occupied!
ReplyDeleteMy dear friend's grade school age niece and nephew were so scheduled that there was no imaginative playtime--tons of homework (private schools), controlled reading, dance or instrument classes, group sports, etc. They were a very stressed family 'cuz they had no downtime, ever, not even for vacations. Made me sad for them. No wonder businesses are complaining that college grads lack problem-solving skills. I believe I learned most of my critical thinking when I was young while making game and art/craft project work-arounds!
ReplyDelete~Jillian in North Dakota
Children need the free time necessary to be just that ... children. Parents "over schedule" their kids because they are also so busy living THEIR lives that they can't take the time to be involved in their kids lives. Both the parents and children are missing so much. So very, very sad.
ReplyDeleteBONNIE - how right you all are. Children's imagination needs to be fed and have time to mull over ideas. Then see what they can do with that idea. reading books is wonderful ... yo make up the faces of the characters, places etc. HDOLLHOUSE was my favorite, ven without a real dollhouse. Sewing on my Mom's very old treadle machine little clothes like Peasant Blouses and elestic wasit shorts (lived in South FL per a/c, playing in the lawn prinkler with the other kids just before having to go in and relax before eating lunch. Laying on a cool tile floor after lunch and coloring in my color book etc etc. PLAYING WITH MY DOG ... we both ran until we dropped lolol.
ReplyDeleteThese kids NEED a REAL RELEASE that can not be found on a computer, or on tv etc.
Sad but true, imagination is dyingout.
JulieinTN
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" Albert Einstein.
ReplyDeleteThis is ever so true.
DeleteI understand what you mean. With my 5 grandchildren at some point in time we have made forts out of blankets and chairs, gone hunting in the park, etc. Just trying to get their imagination going. A couple weeks ago we took the 2 1/2 year granddaughter on a walk with the dogs. She picked up a stick and said "Abra-Cadabra disappear" When asked what she was making disappear she laughed and ran after the dogs. It was great! Her abra-cadabra stick is still in the car for next time right where she wanted it left.
ReplyDeleteSherry, NY
My son, 22 now, asked for a puppet theater every year for many, many years. He never got it due to storage limitations in our old living space, but he did manage to make several out of cardboard boxes, some had curtains that opperated with pulleys and gears.
ReplyDeleteSome theaters had curtains that pulled up from the bottom and gathered as they went up. He made some puppet stages from kinex and legos too. His biggest theater was made from a gas grill box. He and his friends could stand inside the box and work the puppets. His first sewing experiences were making curtains from his puppet stages. Then he started building remote controlled and life sized puppets (think Little Shop of Horrors or Lion King).
At age 22, he is now a mechanical engineering major with only a few classes left to go. But he is also majoring in technical theater. And next fall the college is doing Avenue Q (more puppets!).
My kids are young and I see too many parents running their kids from activity to activity. They do not know what to do with themselves when they are home with free time. I'm just wondering how they can afford all of these activities and lessons. My kids have computer time but also have their imaginations still (thank goodness!) I love those happy scrappy houses, they are just so happy!
ReplyDeleteWild! Love those houses. My favorites are the ones with the flamingoes in the windows. As to childhood imaginations .... we had a trunk at my mom & dad's house full of scarves and hats and interesting things from the Goodwill. When we'd take the kids to visit Gramma and Grampa they'd make a beeline for the trunk and haul stuff out to put on and become some other person.
ReplyDeleteHi Bonnie! I totally agree about children and my grandchildren now; we had a HUGE, old appletree in our neighborhood and each really large limb was a country--like "I'm going to France today--la-di-dah" and "En boca serrada non entran mosquas" in Mexico--it was pure imagination--that and we had a code we made up and hid messages to be de-coded in various holes in that old tree. What fun we had....
ReplyDeleteAs for those scrappy houses--they are wonderful--glad to see you are playing and having fun Julierose
I am blessed with a DIL who allows my 5 year-old granddaughter to be herself. There are no TV's to wile away the hours. Yes, she has movies to watch, in small doses. However, she also has a room filled with toys for the imagination: a building made from a box which becomes anything she is thinking of at the time - a house, a store, a telephone booth. We bought 13 horses over the course of last summer at yard sales; Mom and Emma built a barn from a huge box which contained stables for the horses, a loft with hay and cats looking or mice, tools on the wall, ropes which Dad made. Additionally Emma is blessed with a room filled with books, where she is allowed to read and pretend. She has a music room with the new keyboard we got her for Christmas, the guitar Gramma Judy bought along with lessons, the maracas, the cymbals, the 'noise' makers which allow for so much play time. This is the same room which has maps on the walls, a kitchen set up with a cardboard refrigerator and stove. Is Emma spoiled? Not really, as many of these items were hand made by Mom, or Dad, or one of us with Emma's help. Her imagination runs rampant and we are so blessed that it does, for this 5 year old can take us any where, any time her imagination will spin. It is a joy to talk with her.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Florida Bonnie, the houses look "imaginative" and soooo much fun.
Faye in Maine
I hear you on the lack of imagination. I teach middle school physical education, and occasionally we give the kids a "free choice" play day - usually outside on the football field. We put out all the toys and tell them to go for it. Many of them have no idea what to do. They stand 3 feet away from each other and toss a ball back and forth. They have all that room and all that stuff to play with, and they do nothing. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteMy 9-yr-old daughter and the two boys next door have put on fashions shows for me. When she gets together with a friend, they train their iPod touches on the cat and make documentaries about Sammy-World (Sammy being the cat). She has a Wii and a DS and the above-mentioned iPod touch, but I'm more likely to find her playing with her Littlest Pet Shop animals than them, and still more likely to find her playing with the neighborhood kids. All is not lost.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the change also has to do with the stability of family life. When I was in Elementary School I knew one kid who did not have a father at home. By the time I was in HS I knew more, but the total figure was still well south of 10%. Today, this is much different. I coached a soccer team last year and 40% of my team were kids whose parents were no longer together.
ReplyDeleteThat is sad, but I think it has a lot to do with the demise of creativity. In order to be creative, we must feel free to do the unusual, the odd, or the flat out crazy things. To be creative is to disrupt stability. In a stable environment, this is OK because when we are done being creative, we have that stability to return to. "Pretend" can give way to a "Positive Reality".
In an unstable environment, being creative still disrupts what little stability is there, and without a solid stable foundation, children learn to stifle their creative desires in order to maintain stability.
When you and I were growing up that stability was provided by our Parents and we were free to experiment, dream, pretend and create. Unfortunately, today, many kids don't have that freedom because they don't have a stable foundation at home.
Some kids use "Pretend" to escape their reality because their "Fantasy World" is better than their real one. While it is still pretending, it is done for an entirely different reason which does not lend itself to creativity, but rather to seclusion.
Paul
www.OutnumberedQuilter.com
Taking this one step farther......with no immagination as a child we have no immagination as an adult. Far to many retired citizens sit in front of a TV day after day getting no exercise of either body or mind. There seem to be more and more instances of one form of dementia or another just from the lack of using the brain. I thank my lucky stars my children used their immaginations and taught their children how to use theirs also. Yes they participated in organized sports but as they have grown up there were camping trips and walks through the city with Mom and trips to the local botanical garden with us, their grandparents, to see the butterflies and the "Big Horse" and walking through the childrens garden and playing with the boats in the "Great Lakes". We walked the trails at the park and at Christmas checked out the "Polar Express" set up at the garden and checked out all the beautiful Christmas trees that represent other countries. They learned about the world outside of the computer and TV. Only time will tell what they will become in the future but I don't see any of them not knowing what to do with all that equipment in the middle of a football field!
ReplyDeleteWe went to a fast food restaurant with the grand kids last week and they each got a toy. The older one said "How do you turn it on?". The little one took hers and began a game that required no batteries and was imagination powered. It is learned behavior and we have to work to make sure that computer games and television aren't all they know.
ReplyDeleteAfter moving around, we finally ended up in a place that they do! I can kick my kids out of the house (moaning and groaning), then when I need them to come in they moan and groan because they are having too much fun. We have a good group of 8-10 kids that are always out. If not, they'll go bug the neighbors and ask if their friends can come out...love it! Maybe it is a UT thing, but definitely not a FL(where I'm from) thing
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful and thoughtful topic. I have loved reading all the comments. Judy C
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ReplyDeleteThe other thing I've noticed about kids today is that they don't want to work. Trying to find a kid willing to rake the lawn, shovel snow, mow the grass, is almost impossible. They aren't interested in earning any money because Mom and Pop just give them everything they want. When I was a kid and wanted a new pair of jeans, Mom gave me $5.00. If they cost more than that I had to earn the money to pay for them. Times have really changed!
ReplyDeleteI *loved* dress-up when I was a kid. We had a television, but it was a B&W console and only came on in the morning (for 'Captain Kangaroo', 'Howdy-Doody' and 'The Friendly Giant') and evening (news, and "Bonanza" and "The Ed Sullivan Show"). My mother watched "As the World Turns" in the afternoon while ironing my step-dad's shirts (remember ironing dress shirts?) We had to be outside to play -- on our swing set or on our bikes (no gears, no helmets, no two-wheelers before age 9 or 10) or skating (rink in back yard or down the road -- we walked -- *real* ice, no helmets).
ReplyDeleteToday's parents have let *fear* overcome *imagination*. Streets are empty and play is organized because unless you supervise your children *at all times* the (alas too real) Bogey Man will get them. My children (now 31 and 27) arrived in between Sesame Street and Nintendo. My daughter rarely plays computer games but my son is an avid player. He also has a BFA in Dramatic Arts and is a skilled improvisationalist. She has an M. Ed in General Special Education and works with children who have developmental disabilities. Both require their imaginations on the job, so their work is also, happily, their play (and ours). I am blessed to have them in my life -- and blessed that they turned out so well, and blessed that I was able to instill the values of reading and imagination so they could use technology to *advance* their own, rather than *replace* it.
Such wonderful comments you have inspired, Bonnie. Your post was indeed a thought-provoking one. We're fortunate that our two grandchildren are raised by parents who promote imagination every chance they can.
ReplyDeleteI have a proposition for you. If you ever are traveling near Mason City, Iowa, hopefully you can do three things: (1) lead a workshop for local quilters; (2) visit the newly restored Park Inn Hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; and (3) visit the local museum where the original puppets from the Sound of Music movie are on display (donated by the family of Bill Baird, a Mason City native and designer/builder of the puppets). I'm nearing senior citizen status, and I still have a flutter of excitement in my stomach every time I visit the museum and see the actual puppets.
Thank you for sharing this. I am putting Mason City on our list of stops for the road trip we are planning in 2013. I want to see the puppets and the Inn.
DeleteThankfully I still see a lot of creative play with my grandkids. In fact, we just did a puppet show when I was tending on Monday--their idea. But I know what you mean. Electronic gadgets are a major player but I also think one of the factors is that parents aren't as comfortable letting their kids be out and about and on their own in the neighborhood. It isn't as safe to be a kid on the loose anymore. As I recall it was on those long afternoons together that we would come up with the plans to put on a show, or build a clubhouse or make blanket forts in the bushes around someone's house, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteBTW, you were ahead of your time when you scheduled the Happy Scrappy Houses workshop. How could you have known that "house" blocks would be all the rage now? : )
P.S. Willy sings, most poignantly, "Living [in the world of your imagination] you'll be free if you truly want to be." -- and that's the 30 Million Dollar Question: "Do you really want to be?"
ReplyDeleteI'm a parent of young kids (7 and 4). My older child, in particular, needs unstructured free time to stare at the clouds, make up comic books, play outside, etc. I think he would be terribly unhappy being shuttled around from activity to activity on a nightly basis.
ReplyDeleteWe also let our older one roam the neighborhood. The other kids in the neighborhood live very close, and their houses can clearly be seen from our house. Our older child does not abuse this privilege.
It makes me sad to see that our city parks are virtually empty during the day, even in the summers.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I have felt badly b/c my children missed out on a lot of the "normal" experiences most kids seem to have had growing up--mostly for financial reasons. They never went to Disney World. They never played competitive sports. They didn't have a dog. But when I shake off the pity party, I realize that we gave them things that were much, much more important---they had blocks, crayons, paint, paper, dolls, dress-up clothes, building toys, and books, books and more books. They are indignant at the thought that they were deprived. They didn't go to Disney, but they built a ferris wheel and a merry-go-round. They made up their own games and ran, jumped, and started digging a tunnel to China (or the neighbor's--whichever came first). They took turns being the dog. Today, one is musician, and the other is about to start teaching school....pretty cool, huh? (One critical thing, according to my kids---we disconnected cable and had no television from the time the youngest was 3.)
ReplyDeleteYep - I vote for an unplugged childhood! Our kidlets are now 21 and 18, but they didn't have access to any of the 'new' technology while growing up. We didn't allow video games or anything electronic in their rooms. They put on variety shows and spent their days outside exploring. Granted, we live in a remote area and ranch for a living so their imagination swept them on adventures to everything from pirate ships to the rain forests of Costa Rica. THAT takes imagination when you live in the desert! LOL!
ReplyDeleteBonnie, my sons are grown now, but when they were small one of them had an imaginary friend. "Mr. Johnson" went everywhere with us for several years.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my brother married a German and lived the remainder of his life in Germany. When his children were small, I noticed that they played like we did when we were young (I am now 63). The difference was thay they did not watch television. Also, they were not aggressive like American children. Just saying.
Judy
My two young nephews have quite the imagination - more than I ever did. They had the best fun with a water heater box which I would have fit into. They do watch a little tv and both got Nintendo DS' for Christmas but they don't "over use" their tech toys. I think one of the problems, at least in our small town, is the lack of young kids in the neighborhood. My street has 1 family with kids older than 10 or 12 and my brother's house 2 streets over has only 1 set of young kids about 2 blocks away.
ReplyDeleteThose little houses are so wonderful! I'm in the mood now to make some out of my scraps! As for imagination, I'm happy to say that my 6 year old granddaughter's is alive and working. Whenever we have a sleepover or a Grandma and Jamie day, we're usually outside somewhere. Or, if the weather is bad, we're reading books or building castles with blocks and her mini-dolls. One Christmas she received almost nothing but electronic toys, happily, she ignored most of them to play with games and such. Her imagination keeps MINE active and motivated. Great subject!
ReplyDeleteMy kids still have great imaginations...even the ones who are adults. I think homeschooling helped with that, as they were allowed and encouraged to use their imaginations daily.
ReplyDeleteOne daughter has gone into theater/costume design.
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ReplyDeleteMy grands are encouraged by their parents to TURN OFF the TV and the electronics. They read, and they write and illustrate their own books. Their favorite spot in my house is the craft station, where they have their own supplies. They love the outdoors, can't keep them inside if it's nice! They also play school, raid my closet for dressup clothes, and direct the actions and conversations of their dolls and stuffed animals. Right now the girls are into tea parties and dinosaurs, sometimes at the same time. The boy is into dinosaurs and monster trucks. The oldest girl has done amazing artwork with my scrap-bag, is learning to sew and has her own stash. Scouting has helped too. Hurray for Scout leaders!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how different the 'houses' are when made in different fabrics? Looks like everyone had a fabby time! :-) x
ReplyDeleteI find myself responding with mixed feelings about both your post and the comments people have posted. I'm a mom to 3 kids ranging in age from 6-9. We moved this last year to a place where they can play outside without fear, and go to school with no bullies. The tv, computer and wii are all privileged they get to use when they have done their chores and homework. I really don't think removing technology from the lives of kids are going to do them any favors in both school and after. Learning to use technology and not letting it engulf your mind is something that is important to learn. My kids have played for hours pretending they are Wizards like Harry Potter. Also, self control - is much easier learned when you are young. Yes, you can watch tv for 1/2 hour. then turn it off, no excuses. As an adult I find it harder to learn to self schedule. (My childhood was very scheduled) So, basically I agree with your thoughts, BUT some of the comments I read have a "I'm better than you" tone. - I'm not walking in another parent's shoes, so I find it very hard to judge her choices and tell her how best to raise her children. Regardless of how we parent, the majority of parents struggle on a daily basis to make the correct choices for their children. So I guess my response is more toward the commenters than the original post. :)
ReplyDeleteI wanted those puppets and staging too! I also want to live in the chocolate factory and sleep under those creme filled mushrooms. My 7 siblings I grew up on a farm and worked and played outside non stop. As for our imaginations, we used to dress up our kittens in our doll clothes and sit in the car going no where and everywhere.
ReplyDeleteHi Bonnie,
ReplyDeletethis is funny. There are about 1500 quilters here in Europe just sewing houses, too. Look here: http://buildinghousesfromscraps.blogspot.com/
And I still have to say: Happy B-Day, Dear Bonnie.
Hugs Doris
Bonnie, you and I are really on the same wavelength, no wonder I enjoy your blog so much! I also coveted those wonderful puppets from "Sound of Music", and built toy theatres for fun, inspired by the magical English Toy Theatre engravings, and now I work as a set and costume designer. Don't have any kids myself, and won't be starting now I'm 50, but many of my friends do seem to have kids with lively imaginations, so all is not lost!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great topic to write on, Bonnie. I will say that we encourage imaginative play in school. During choice time and recess, many of the kids' imaginations run wild. The games they create at recess are wonderful! It really surprised me when I discovered what the most sought after "toy" is for choice time...Jenga blocks, but not for playing the game Jenga, for building and creating anything those little minds can think of! If you don't know the game Jenga, it is played with rectangular wooden blocks. My students have a ball with them! As a teacher, I think it is important to give the kids this time to play, because so many of them are totally over-scheduled at home!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure we had imagination play a lot when I was a kid, but we sure did play! Go outside! We had bikes and wagons outside. Sporting equipment. Balls, jacks, jump rope, pick up sticks. And about 15 kids in the neighborhood. There was always someone to play with or hang out with, even when we were spatting with one of the others.
ReplyDeleteIn the winter we had coloring books, checkers, building games. My brothers had trucks and hot wheels.
I guess the closest we came to pretend was who was going to be the engineer and who was going to run the construction site.
I am 60 and still think differently from my friends. My quilting is a love of math and geometry. I have someone pick out the fabrics for me often. I have very little use for music or the arts. My fave toys as a child were my microscope and chemistry set. And books, books, books.
None of the kids in my neighborhood dropped out of school, most had professional careers. Only one kid got into trouble as an adult. Our neighborhood was in a mill town where there were less than 2 thousand people. Our dads all were involved in the lumber industry.
My o my ... times have changed.
When my oldest started preschool, two years ago, the teacher made a point to tell me how impressed she was that my daughter new how to play, pretend, imagine, by herself. That really stopped me in my tracks, as I thought, "What kid doesn't know how do to that?" Sure, she still is just learning to read, add, etc., but she can play by herself or with her siblings for hours... without electronics!
ReplyDeleteDo I dare say outloud that I had two imaginary friends when I was growing up?? The boys are always telling me how weird I am and I remind them that they came from ME!
ReplyDeleteMy daughters are 8 and 4 and love to play, dance, craft, pretend, dress- up and use their imagination. When my older daughter has friends over, I've noticed they don't know how to be creative anymore. I don't allow technology during playdates and some kids are at a lost of what to do without a TV or electronic games. We limit time on the TV or computer. When driving to Brownies one week, my daughter pretended she was somewhere else and described it to her friend. When it was her friends turn, she pretended she was watching TV. Very Sad. I am fortunate to be a stay at home Mom and my girls have an "old fashioned" upbringing. They garden, bake, have friends over and play as a regular part of their day. I can set up my 4 year old daughter with crafts and then do my chores or make dinner and she entertains herself, with a little time to show me what she's making. With two parents working out of the home, it is very challenging to give them free time, because during that time they will want their parents who are busy getting things done. I think it would be very hard to find balance.
ReplyDeleteI'm proud to say my 8 year old sews - she's made doll quilts, lap blankets and at the start of the year she made book bags for her closest friends. Her idea! She asked for a sewing machine for her BD at 7 and has her own stash!
Thanks for a great post, Bonnie.
I think imagination play has changed for kids, but its still there!!
Your blog post inspired me to write one entitled "Reflections on Imagination." http://worms-wonderings.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI saw many changes in students and their use of imagination over my nearly 30 years of teaching, and it was sad that their imaginations seemed to be lost. We need to cultivate the imaginations of the young, and inspire them to be creative and play. It is wonderful that so many here responded with positive comments on imaginative play still being alive.
How I enjoyed watching and re-watching your slide show on Happy Scrappy Houses! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little (way back when) I had the snap, crackle & pop puppets from Rice Krispies. I really thought I was lucky because my parents never sent for anything like that before. Now I get laughed at by my grandsons because of the things I tell them I did for fun. They can't fathom that we did not have a TV until I was in the 7th grade let alone one in my room.
ReplyDeleteJudy