Adventures in Parenting

I am not big on getting toys for children.

Most of the toys are marketed to the parents. They look cute and pretty that parents think the kids will be entertained with the toys for hours. But frankly, kids don’t play with toys.

What children want is a person to play with. And since adults don’t really know how to play with little children at their level, we need toys to get us into the playing mode.

So I like to buy simple toys to for children to play that also have some entertainment value for me as well. That way, I am not bored out of my mind playing with toys with the label “For Ages 5 and Under”!

Here is one I really like:

Wooden blocks are simple yet challenging for the child, and the game can get harder as they grow. And look how inexpensive they are! They are cheap enough that you can afford to buy two sets.

Simply start by stacking the blocks. Knocking them over always causes a surprise and hilarious laughter. Get your camera ready for those funny expressions.

To keep myself sane while playing this with my children, I stack them by making up words. To my kids, I am just stacking, but to me, I am practicing to win that next game of Scrabble. My children can continue to play with the blocks as they get older to learn the alphabet and numbers, as well as spelling. To express my creativity, I can build bridges, and castles, and robots…at the same time teaching my children to use their imagination.

My children are learning and playing, and so am I.

The possibilities are endless with a set of wooden blocks.