Roll roll rolling!

It was a whole morning of rolling fun with our make shift cushion slide, from his toy cars, to his Duplo tiles and even his whole clan of soft toys. When we finally ran out of stuffs to roll down the slide, we decided to make some rolling wheels with cardboard and straws.

I love how children appreciate the simplest things in life. Just some simple DIY toys and they were enough to make little buddy a happy boy. I share a lot about the academic activities we do at home, but the truth is, we spend most of our time just playing like this. There is this famous saying that 'Playing is the work of childhood' which describes the important relationship between young children and play. Young children learn so much more about themselves, the environment and others and more than we can imagine through just simple playing. Of course as an anxious (read:ks) parent, it's always at the back of my mind to teach all the ABCs, numbers, shapes etc at every possible opportunity but what children need is really, something spontaneous, unscheduled, engaging or what they call 'true play'. And I must confess that it's so tempting to sneak off to do my own stuffs (anyone with me on this?) whenever he is playing on his own but it's good to know that adult involvement during playtime is important too. As we engage in their play and model ways to play, adults can bring children to higher and more engaging level of play. We have protected blocks of time now, usually after breakfast and after his afternoon nap, and I will put down everything, no phone, no sneaking off and just spend the time playing with Xue. For myself, I am starting to appreciate these blocks of time to enter his simple world, learn to slow down, catch a breath, have fun and appreciate simplicity of life.