Ani's wonderful teacher gave us a copy of a great book at our visit yesterday..."You Are Your Child's First Teacher" by Rahima Baldwin Dancy. I really love how Waldorf education values the stage of a child's life when their imagination is over flowing. They acknowledge that make believe and fantasy play is not only beneficial but necessary in a child's development. I read the chapter about how to make your child's room welcoming to this type of play...get rid of toys that think for your child or direct them (play should be with no goal or direction...just imagination and tools), create play areas that are inviting (don't stuff the toys in cubbies), give them dolls that don't have defined features so they can create their own in their mind's eye, etc. We already had her room pretty close but we went through and boxed up a bunch of her babies that she doesn't play with. Got rid of a bunch of "junk"...you know the plastic, rubbery things that just seem to collect. Made a bunch of beds and blankets for her babies...we used odd baskets that we just had lying around and little pieces of material I had in a sewing box.
But, the best part was we made her a playhouse. I wanted her to have a little private area where she could do whatever she could play house, stage for a play, etc. I rummaged in our garage and found her old changing table...took the shelves off, ran an old window panel through a front rod and draped one over the top and WA LAH...it's not Martha but it's a playhouse that was free, fun to make and even more fun to play in :) Trust me, I'm not a crafty girl nor do I have a lot stuff lying around but I had enough to put this together so if I can do it, so can you...a great way to move a baby item into a kid item!
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