I love it when someone has put into words my incoherent thoughts on why I don’t like something. Quite often I know I dislike something but I can’t quite put my finger on why.

That book I’ve been reading, Toymaking with Children, says this:

“A toy chest into which everything that is lying around is tossed and then covered over with a lid not to be recommended.  Such a toy chest does not help the child develop a sense of order and care for the environment; it simply conceals disorder.”

I don’t like toy boxes but I’ve never really known why. They seem fine in concept, I guess, but they’re such black holes where things get lost and never see the light of day again! Or you have to pull out everything to get at the one thing you want. What a mess! Concealing disorder, indeed.
I’m definitely learning that making things approachable, beautiful and inviting really encourages more thoughtful and diverse play. A big jumble, black hole, or a mess on the floor doesn’t encourage anything but ignoring the inevitable cleanup.

Whew. Glad I got that off my chest :)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 pm and is filed under Parenthood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.