Right now (meaning 8am) my son and I are playing with modeling clay; an inspired purchase following the dilemma of why our playdough dinosaurs just weren’t really working. Playdough is not the appropriate building material for sculptures — modeling clay is.

We’ve got two “long necks” and one triceratops, one car made out of clay, and two hot wheel cars as accessories. The giant white block (well, giant by the standards of the cars) is the snow plow. It’s only a block because it hasn’t been made into anything yet, but apparently it’s good enough on its own. It’s a snow plow. Works for me.

The other day, we were playing on the bed. I think I was trying to get the child dressed, but what ultimately happened is that first Bunny was being thrown around the room with abandon including much jumping, but then we devolved into playing trains. As you do in this house. We had four coaches — these were the bed pillows. The door stop was his engine. A folded up pair of trousers was my engine.

The point is, anything can be a train to the lad. Very often a string, end pieces of yarn, strips of paper, sticks, truly, anything, is up for a train conversion.

What got me thinking on the topic of creative play is that I see that term bandied about quite a lot, yet I’m not entirely sure I know quite what it means. Mostly I see it on websites and blog entries where people bemoan the loss of “creative play” in modern toys, nevermind the whole “made in China” and toxicity issues. Too often, it seems, the toys generally sold in big box stores do not promote creative play, but tell kids what to do and what to think. There’s too much advertising, commercialism and materialism in our children’s childhoods. At least I think that’s the general objection.

I know a fair number of people who are concerned enough about this epidemic that their kids never watch television or play video games. Their toys are all “natural” and “open ended”, following the lines of Waldorf and Montessori childhood education beliefs. This is, I believe, an effort to encourage “creative play”, which is, again, I believe, supposed to be the building blocks of … what? I’m not sure. Creative, compassionate, thinking-outside-the-box individuals?

I’ve never researched this topic properly (although I’m looking forward to reading The Creative Family book that’s coming out soon as I’m always looking for more creative ways to spend our days). I’ve just read bits and pieces where they come up, which are inevitably negative. I often wonder if I should be worried. After all, television, video games, and other media are definitely a part of our lives. We have way more plastic than wood and definitely have many of those toys that supposedly discourage creative play.

After all, we mostly have Thomas trains for our train table, and I’ve heard stories about kids who will only re-enact the videos. They never make up stories on their own. I’ve heard stories of kids who only build Legos according to the images on the boxes — they never make anything else. I have to admit that I love that the Mr Potato Head packaging shows both the original intent of the outfit, and one that is completely mixed up (and they don’t call it a monster). I recall a playgroup, ages ago, where a mom was lamenting that the “castle blocks” we were playing with were not open ended enough. She didn’t like them. *I* loved them, and in fact am still searching for some, as I can’t find quite the right ones. I’m still not entirely sure what was wrong with them. After all, we were stacking up the hollow ones and dropping cars down them. Not very castle-y.

These are the things that both worry me and blow my mind. Take the blocks — how much more open ended can you get? Apparently a lot. Shows what I know.

But the truth is — MY truth is — I’m not all that worried. I hope it’s enough that I’m aware of the issues and not venturing forth blindly. My above examples are why. I don’t think my child is suffering from a loss of creative play in his toys and every day life, whatever that means. We’ve gained a lot of value from both TV and video games; real, tangible value that means something to us. Clearly he’s not limited in his thinking about what certain objects are capable of being. Even Lego bricks turn into rockets and planes for him. He’s not picky. So what if they’re plastic and brightly colored and have eyeballs already painted on them? He doesn’t care, and I don’t either.

Of course I do realize there are other issues at play here. There are the health issues involved with plastic, but also other “green” and human labour issues, like transport costs, where petroleum is used in the creation and transportation of these toys, work conditions, fair wage, business practices, advertising to children, quality of product, and other things I may not want to support. And I realize that I have a lot of thinking to do in those areas. I like to think we’re judicious, we buy some things used, and I make some of his toys so we’re not doing badly. But still, there are issues worth thinking about.

As far as creative play goes though — I have to admit I sort of just don’t get the concern. I’m sure there are studies I haven’t read, and maybe it’s just because my son in fact isn’t old enough to be subject to the rampant advertising I see around us (although I doubt it). For example, I can see why reading is preferable to a video on letters. However, I don’t think that dimishes the value of those other mediums if you view them for what they are. I like to think our mix of mediums is working for us.

After all — I don’t consider myself to be a hugely creative person (even the stuff I make isn’t original, it’s just the need to craft things with my hands and make changes where necessary) — and my child is way more creative than I ever was as a kid. I really think he’s doing okay. Only time will tell, I suppose, but as long as I don’t see any overt problems, I’m calling it good. Bring on the Legos.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 10:21 am 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.