MoonGirl loves the outdoors. I call her my little wild child because she likes nothing better than to be digging through the dirt. We spend time every day either taking walks, running around our front lawn, or playing in the back yard. The above photo is her box of outdoor toys. I like that they encourage open-ended play.
But most of the time, MoonGirl prefers to just improvise with the random things she finds lying around.
She’ll find empty icecube trays and fill them with dirt, sticks, and rocks based on her own criteria.
Or she’ll line up clothespins in-between the slats of our wooden picnic table.
Or she’ll fill up a sifter with her chosen pebbles.
I find it fascinating to see how her mind works. Aside from the toys, I didn’t give her anything for a specific task or project. She found them herself and improvised her own type of outdoor play. And it keeps her occupied for long periods of time, more than can be said for other more structured play.
It’s also a great way of working all her senses, improving her fine and gross motor skills, improving her focus as well as her imaginative thinking, and giving her the first inklings of quantity and size comparisons. There are other more-structured activities we do together that focus on these, but I find it it more satisfying when she creates for herself.
Most of all, she looks so content playing this way.
It reminds me to find imaginative ways to play and create to enrich my own life and fill it with contentment. Learning doesn’t always have to come from the grind of bookish studies or a specific set of classes. Sometimes, it’s enough to “mess” around and see what happens.