Slow Play. Big Imaginations.

Every once and a while I think that maybe the boys have run out of things to do in the yard.  Then I take a breath and realize that it is only me.  I get tired of the same dirt pit and water play. My inkling is to try to get the boys to do something else; which they will but it isn't their need just mine. 

So,  sometimes I  do a wee bit to encourage them to explore something new by turning off the water,  or rediscovering some props (like sticks) or sometimes I just start to putter in a different part of the yard; harvesting, planting, or weeding.  Then it won't be long and the boys will gravitate to a new area (unless they are totally engulfed in what they are doing--which is the best thing ever!).   Then I try to follow their lead. 

The boys are full of a imagination and it isn't long until a plain stick has turned into:
a seed planter or a plum smoosher
a part of a campfire,
an oar
a stir stick for a large pot

The fluidity of young children's thinking amazes me.
The sound of snapping twigs could be a squirrel (real)
or one of their elephants moving through the brush (imaginary).

The play goes on and on as their worlds are created.   I try to let them extend it until the last moments of daylight,  remembering my own childhood - of getting to play outside until dark.  Their experience of play is something I treasure.  It takes practice: paying attention from the first rays of light until the til the last of the sun has disappeared and we all collapse exhausted.  It takes not signing up for single focus activities, still not exposing them to tv or movies, and choosing raising boys as my primary focus.

With imagination our yard is full of endless adventures for a three year old.  Now it is just a practice for myself to find such richness in a small space; it is surely there.  The boys smiles, joy, and discoveries show me the way.