Made-up Games Part 1

Our kids have toys. Not as many as I see in a lot of homes, but they will definitely never be lacking. The toys they have are very open-ended, too. The kind they will be able to play with several years from now. And yet, the things that occupy the vast majority of their time are not their blocks, play ponies, or even toy castle. It's getting ordinary things out from everywhere in the house like the meat thermometer, ketchup, my underwear (yikes!), towels, diaper wipes, and Steve's shoes. It's making up little games that require no stuff at all.

Quite a few times I have become exasperated at how much mess accumulates in such little time with all the stuff they want to take out, and sometimes I also feel annoyed at how little they seem to play with their toys. And yet, when I can get over myself, I see they are doing exactly what I had imagined children free to explore will do.....explore everything! I really do love that they are free to use things in the house in ways other than the ordinary. I love that already they seem so interesting and imaginative people. And I love that I get to see that every single day.




A game they call balance where one takes a turn at bouncing the other one up and down on the edge of the toy box.

Between the shopping cart and the stroller, they love to carry things from room to room playing store.

Just a simple game of putting the steamer on and off the pot.

This game gets played almost every day. They hold each other's hands, run across the living room, fling each other on the couch, and then fall down laughing.

This was a cute one they thought up one day. They'd each get a book from upstairs, bring it down for me to "check out" and then put them in a big pile.