Play

Since we began this journey of Otherwise Educating, I have noticed that the children play more. It's not just that they play more, but they also play differently. When they play, they're more likely to choose creative play...PlayDoh, clay, Legos, Lincoln Logs, etc. I'm not sure if it's because they simply have more time to play or if the way they learn allows the creative side of their brain to develop more freely. Either way, I'm loving it. I think that play is such an important part of learning for children. I really love when they incorporate what they're learning into their play.

We recently we saw a marching band performance that included a story about the Berlin Wall. (Unless you have a child in marching band, you're probably thinking, "Berlin Wall...marching band?" Marching band performances have changed a lot since I was in high school.) The story was of two sisters on different sides of The Wall. Ever curious, the children wanted to know what the Berlin Wall was, so we took a little detour from our History Timeline and studied a little about it.

A couple of days later, after much begging and pleading on the part of Thing 4, and much dreading and resisting on my part, I gave in and got out the Moon Sand. (I think whoever invented Moon Sand hates mothers.) Thing 4 called me in to look at her creation.

It's the Berlin Wall (and the sisters) in Moon Sand!

If you look closely, you can see an "E" in the above photo. She scratched "Free" on this side of the wall.

So cool. But I still hate Moon Sand.