She Claps!

I Won the Sandbox!

Not true.
But I have fond memories of that hilarious Ernie and Bert sketch from Sesame Street circa 1970. Check it out here.
So, we didn't win it. Nor did we eat it. But, we did buy one from Target with Ben's birthday moolah from Grandma & Papa, Great-Grandmo and the McCollums. Thanks guys!

Putting it together was ridiculously easy. Allen wrenches and those little internal nuts you just pop into the predrilled holes are brilliant. Ben and Will were very into helping build the sandbox. "I'm a worker!" Ben makes sure you know his role when he's pretending. We're used to "workers" around here with all the new construction going on. There is a new house going up (well, it's up, they are currently roofing) in the lot that aligns with our backyard. So, this was a great project for us right now. The best part was when upon opening the box, we found TRUSSES! Watching the crane lift and place the trusses on the new houses is the most exciting part of the building process for the boys. So, it was ultra cool to have our own to lift and place. "I'm a crane!"

Now that it's placed and filled, it's been non-stop sand play here. As the ultimate open-ended play material, I am happily observing and enjoying the boys' interactions with both the sand and each other.

Oh, be still my constructivist heart!

"Long Live Play"

I stole this title from our good friend, and my former early childhood colleague, Kiersten (aka Kiki). She left a comment on my other blog referring to this photo of Will. You can go read it here.

She didn't know the story, per se, but she knows me and how I roll, so (did you catch that hip phrase "how I roll"? I am so cool.) she understood the significance of the photo and that there was probably a story behind it.

It's a short story, with a smallish plot, but it has a happy ending. It goes like this:
Will likes to use blocks, beads, cars, green beans, etc. to line up and make trains. Here he is playing with the blocks from our Music Blocks machine.
While making trains and crashing them, and making them again, Will made a marvelous discovery--he could make a square. Very very exciting news that caused him to jump up and shout "h'ray!" and also, inadvertently, knock awry his creation.

This made Will a bit sad and he commented, "My 'quare is gone!" With a bit of encouragement, he spent several concentrated moments on the task of reconstruction.

Until, success! A more cautiously reserved "h'ray!" was expressed and properly caught on 'film'. This was a very proud moment, indeed. And one of a million moments that I am so privileged to witness as a stay-at-home-mama. So blessed am I.

ADDENDUM:

Oops! Got all misty-eyed there and lost the initial intent of this post.

So, you see, I did not ever sit Will down and introduce the concept of 'a square'. He's two. He's spent the better part of his life figuring out the world and how to communicate about it. Descriptors like colors and shapes tend to be a big part of that.

Being a human being, Will was born with the drive to connect with others. It starts with baby goo-goo eyes, watching our every move. Then the coos and cries and body language that develop while learning to interpret how best to get needs met. Smiles, giggles, and squeals bring delightful results, while cries, grunts, and wails prompt the offering of comfort. Being surrounded by speech, Will observed and imitated. He started with labels for objects. Added labels for actions. And on and on.

And he did this, learning how to talk thing, all without anyone showing him how. It is fairly well accepted that babies learn this very complex idea of language all on their own. Nobody teaches a baby how to do that. Is it too far-reaching to expect that learning adjectives (shapes, colors, etc.), in order to describe something to another person (mama, perhaps), is just another natural occurrence? I don't think so.

But the story above is about more than the fact that Will can name a shape. If I were more in 'teacher mode' I could spout off the developmental milestones, cognitive objectives, and geometric principles displayed. I'd wow you with my professional jargon and maybe throw in a few educator acronyms for good measure.

Basically, though, it boils down to this: play is how we learn. Just how babies 'play' with language (volume and pitch of cries, babbling, facial expressions) in order to master it, kids 'play' with concepts (um, let's say geometry) to gain mastery.

In fact, play is how I learn best. I got a new camera for my birthday last year. How did I learn how to take nice pictures? No, it wasn't the instruction manual. Nope, didn't take a class. I played around with it. Tried different settings. Did something cool. Couldn't figure out which buttons made it do that (My 'quare is gone!) So, I messed around with it some more until I figured it out.

And isn't this how we all learn new things--cooking a new recipe, trying a new software program, sampling a new craft? Can you think of a better way to pick up a new instrument? a sport?

Me neither.

So, Long Live Play! H'ray!