We had the pleasure of Bobby’s company Saturday evening while his Mom and Dad  had a big night out on the town.  This was to be the longest visit sans parents, so we wanted to be prepared and keep him happily occupied for as long as possible. 

I knew this meant extending the repertoire of activities beyond the toys in his little  basket at our home.  I did NOT run out to the lovely little toy shop in our town or hop on the highway and head for the nearest Toys R Us.

I spent five minutes after Bobby arrived opening cabinets and drawers to find objects which were:

       -Large enough that he would not ingest them

       -Not too pointy so he wouldn’t puncture his eye or  throat 

        when he mouthed it (a certainty that he would do this)

       -Varied in shapes and sizes, colors and textures.

       -Non-toxic ( I suppose the jury is still out on those plastics)

       -Non-breakable

The biggest hit was the mustard bottle.  Bright yellow and an unusual shape, this kept him occupied for at least  twenty minutes.  Later in the evening, Bobby returned to explore all the aspects of this again.

The most thrilling object was a small cylindrical cookie tin.  The motion differed slightly from a ball rolling and made an unusual sound.  

Bobby really didn’t quite know what to make of this.  Initially he simply stared at the can rolling across the room.  Eventually he followed it, but became a little overwhelmed by the strange action of this object.  Later, he returned to it when he bucked up the courage and began pushing and following it on his own.

A hand woven basket from Africa provided an interesting texture and yet another shape to explore.  It was slightly large when placed on his head as a hat but he tolerated this with a sense of humor if not complete enjoyment.   He did find it quite acceptable as a drum to beat.  This basket was made by an artisan for Vital Voices.  But any basket will suffice - you don’t need to make a trip to Africa.

Toys were placed in the Trader Joe bag because it made an interesting sound as he pulled them out.  The canvas bag made a great peek-a-boo shield and Bobby seemed to be quite enthralled with this activity.  I stopped out of fatigue before he was ready to quit that game.  By shifting the bag to the right, left, up or down,  he discovered my face in new locations.  This added a spatial dimension to peek-a-boo and helped reinforce his sense of object permanence (I still existed even though he could not see my face).  The  fold up bag was of no interest at this time.  His ability to construct and change things has not developed yet as Bobby is still working on a very basic sense of what objects are to begin with.  Transforming objects will follow later.

My tried and true “piece of equipment” for hand therapy is a water sprayer.  Obviously I was not working on hand strengthening with Bobby.

BUT this shape was quite interesting to him.  The spout reminded him of a nipple and guess what ... he was quite content to suck on it for quite some time.

Finally,  his grandfather cooked dinner  while listening to  the Temptation’s Greatest Hits.  I danced.  Bobby sat on the floor slack jawed as he watched.  Soon he was laughing (imagine that!?) and then he began rocking to the music.  This went on for quite a long time.  (You do NOT want to see this picture).  Rhythm and imitation occurred.

And the point of this posting?  Play can be simple.  Bobby spent a much longer time playing with each of these items than he has played with any of the lovely toys in his basket.

Play is important.  More is more.  When it comes to HOW to play, sometimes less is more.

                                                      What’s this about?