The kids come up with lots of gems which I have a tough time remembering. But I still remember this one...

We are trying to find a class that my step-son can take to run off some of his excess energy. So we were thinking swimming (he needs to learn) or maybe soccer. While looking for a class like this, I ran into a drawing class for 5-6 year olds. My step-son loves to draw to the point that we are thinking about buying stock in a copy paper company. So I asked my son if he would like to take a drawing class because he likes drawing so much. His response?

"I don't think so. I already draw really good"

He totally didn't get the concept that this class could help him learn different things. He just knew that he didn't need any help to be a good drawer.

Baby boy just turned three and has always been a picky eater. Shortly before his birthday, my mom asked him if he wanted something, he did his typical "I no like it," and she said, "that's ok, you're just two; when you're three, you'll like it." Fast-forward a few weeks: he turns three, I start in with, "you're three now, you'll like it" -- and lo and behold, he actually tasted a few things. Didn't actually like much, but hey, it's progress.

So a week after his birthday, I made pumpkin bread to use up the rest of the cream cheese frosting from his birthday cake (I mean, you can't waste cream cheese frosting, right?). He wanted a slice, I asked him if he wanted frosting, he said yes. As I handed him the bread, he straightened up, looked me in the eye, and proudly proclaimed, "I three now, I like frosting!"

Although my three kids (13, 10 & 8) are involved sports which involve at least one evening practice and one game a week, I still make sure that they have plenty of free time to just do "whatever."

Usually this involves hanging out at the next door neighbor's driveway to play basketball, ghost in the graveyard, octupus tag or some other game they make up. Legos are also big in our house.

I think it's important for kids of all ages to have unstructured AND unsupervised time.

I like to channel my inner grandmother when they say they're "bored."...."If you can't find anyting to do, I'll find somehting for you!"

My girls have all had imaginary friends. My 4 year old twins currently have one named pretzel who dresses with underwear on his head, pants on his arms and a shirt on his legs. They have made up a land where he lives and created a whole cast of characters from his world. I love to listen to them play.

It's not just children who need unstructured play time. We all need some time to be free.

My almost 22 month old has just started creative play. She's very big into playing sleep, with us or her dolls. She also likes to march around the house and sing songs about all the people in her life. Those are our favorite moments with her, watching her little brain develop.

in the beginning of the school year my son made up a game called puffles which was a combination pokemon & military war game. basically, it involved them running around pretending to shoot each other.
currently, my son & some of his friends are digging an "escape tunnel" under the school fence so they can get away at recess. my son told me that if the school calls the police after they've made their escape & the police call in the tanks (!) he plans on climbing up the tank & riding its gun barrel like a horse.

My almost 5 year old niece doesn't seem know how to pretend. She's a very literal little girl and it's concerning. She has some unstructured play time, in which she'll just run around or maybe do a puzzle, but she doesn't seem to show much imagination. If you give her a stuffed bear, she'll name it "Bear", etc. Is there a way to draw it out of her?

A grassy field, patch of woods, a friend and a ball. These are the ingredience of a little boy's recipe to happiness.

Throw in a puppy for the ultimate seasoning!

Ally, few items bring out the creative juices in a child than a dishwasher sized cardboard box. Have the cam ready, battery charged.

(Apologies for the food references, but the mention of Thanksgiving did it to me. Lunch anybody?)

My 9 year old will do some origami or quilling (paper twirling), or will play around on the piano. The seven year old is happiest outside on her bike or scooter, but also draws and writes letters to me proclaiming her love to me. They both like to make anything. I unfortunately am getting old and can't remember the many funny things they say these days.

My daughter uses her "magic wand" (a stirrer stick from Starbucks) to conjure dragons for herself to play with. One of them apparently lives in the car now. She also loves having dance parties and likes to pretend she's me and I'm her.

The "I'm the mommy, you're the baby" game is my favorite, because it gives me a chance to see how she's filtering the things I say to her.

ally75, if your neice is very literal then the best play things for her might be the things she sees in real life; a play kitchen for example. play shopping cart or play tools. when she goes to a playground does she run around & climb things or is she not very physical?

I loved overhearing my daughters' Barbies struggle their way up to Nome to deliver serum not long after we read about the Iditarod.

I have never agreed with the fact that there is a loss of early childhood playtime. I have a 4 yo and a 2.5 yo and that is all they do. Their lofe revolves around unstructured playtime. Even thier preschool is a play-based school. It is run on the philosophy that kids learn through play. At home they play with each other, do tricks (jump around and dance) play tons of dress-up, turn boxes into a train and all sorts of other stuff. So if kids today have less time to play and less imagination i sure don't see it.

Thanks, quark2. Yes, she does like to climb - monkey bars are a favorite of hers. She really likes to run, though. One of her favorite things is to just run and be chased.

My 4 yr old twins take what they hear from me, their teacher, or characters on tv and will play for hours using that theme. Right now they are really into magnets thanks to a recent episode of Cailou (sp?). They take all of the magnets off of the fridge and find what they can stick to. They also love to hang up pictures and other "artwork" using as many magnets as possible!

The girls also play "I'm the baby, you're the mommy" and "I'm the princess and you're the prince" ALL THE TIME!!! They love to stage weddings and plan trips to the pediatrician for flu shots (love that Fisher Price doctor kit we have!)

And a favorite activty of our whole family is to crank up the stereo or iTunes and dance to our favorite songs.

My kids are older, so there's a lot less of the little kid imaginary play these days.

Yesterday's highlight when I got home - DH had found one of his old piano books that had the score of "Peter and the Wolf" (that's the symphony both boys have picked for this year's family holiday outing - I tried for something new because we've been to this one before, but got out-voted because this year's celebrity guest narrator is Leonard Nimoy, and the boys are even more hopeless trekkies than their parents).

Older son was at the piano figuring out how to play it, and younger son was clowning the actions of the story.

ally, we got my son a train set but he really didn't start playing with it until he watched the thomas videos. first he did the shows over & over. after a while he branched out and changed the stories around. now (he's 8) it's totally imaginary play with the trains. very little thomas story except that we do use the character name but now it's more like "thomas, percy & gordon vs pokemon".

the fact that she runs around & plays on monkey bars is fine. she's active & that's what matters. maybe you could have her dance around & be a butterfly or a secret agent escaping from bad guys.

Don't worry; the free play continues and even branches out when they get older.

12-year old loves to play "sneak into big sisters' rooms and steal their clothes. Especially their underwear." Big sisters love to play "chase little sis around the house screaming and threatening bodily harm."

They also like to play "hide the iPod" and "send a text message to your phone after changing the ringtone."

Other fun games include "cause $2,000 damage to the car by swatting at a bug with both hands while driving on the interstate" and "hide softball bats under the car right before Mom leaves."

Sing-alongs never stop - they know all the words to "Rehab", "I Kissed a Girl", "So What?" and lots of other fun songs. Some even have lyrics that DON'T cause Grandma to faint. :-)

ArmyBrat1: Hilarious!

LBH219: what can I say? It's either laugh or cry. And when a 19 year old chases a 12 year old into the office screaming "she's wearing my new bra! And she doesn't even have boobs yet!" laughing just seems preferable. (The car thing, on the other hand...)

fr annenh:

>I loved overhearing my daughters' Barbies struggle their way up to Nome to deliver serum not long after we read about the Iditarod.

What a GREAT story! Let's leave Ken at the base camp to cook and clean, and the Barbies have the glory!

I agree with "ishgebibble" that we all benefit from creative play and free time!

Since the Olympics my daughter, aged 7, has been obsessed with gymnastics. Although she's never taken a class, she recently completed 500 cartwheels in one day. She also taught herself a walkover and backbend-- all from free play at her school's recess.

I work full time so it's vital that my daughter and I have some special evening play/relaxing rituals before bed.

We will either play cards-- Go Fish, Casino, Speed or Poker and/or read from the following faves:

-Abbeville Anthology -- Mother and Daughter Tales, Retold by Josephine Evetts-Secker

-BabyMouse!

-The Little Prince

-Eloise

-Judy Moody or Junie B.

-Poems for the Very Young

-Shel Silverstein Poems

-Wayne Dyer's Incredible You

Thanks for the story, Stacey!

My 2.5 year-old has some SERIOUS conversations on the "phone" (usually a remote control, or anything else to hand), usually involving a train driver (we can see trains from our house), and whether he's coming for dinner, or whether he's too busy to join us. We often have to really struggle not to laugh when she's talking - last weekend she had a real conversation with grandma in which she explained that she played with goop and playdough at school, but didn't have seeds on her porridge... No idea where that came from..