Fun With Yarn and Dishes

I hate it when my boys tell me they don't know what to do.

There is always something to do.

I don't really give them a lot of direct help in this area, because I strongly believe they need to figure it out for themselves. One of the best gifts I can give them is to learn how to entertain themselves. And I do mean without the help of any electronic devices.

I'm so old fashioned.

So last week when William found the yarn in the craft closet and asked me to cut him a "supa dupa" long piece, I agreed and wondered what magic he and James would come up with.

They made a crane.

Tie it at the top.
Adjust it at the bottom.

And haul up all sorts of things. Like Lilly's stroller.

They were busy for an hour.

Lilly, meanwhile, has her own version of entertaining herself.

She takes all the dishes out of their cupboard and sets them up on the booth in the kitchen.

She makes neat stacks.

Then she says, "all done," and points to one of the bowls and says, "snack!"

We made popcorn.

On the stove, of course. Because I'm old fashioned.

I have mentioned before that we are following a lot of the educational philosophies set forth by Charlotte Mason, an English educator who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One of her guiding principles was allowing children lots and lots of time to discover their own passions. When we fill their hours with entertainment, they loose the chance to discover for themselves what moves them.

I have found this to be so very, wonderfully true. I am always surprised by the games, inventions, costumes and pretending my kids come up with. Most are things I would never have thought up myself if I had figured out something for them to do.

It is incredibly fun to watch their minds at work.

"But organized games are not play in the sense we have in view. Boys and girls must have time to invent episodes, carry on adventures, live heroic lives, lay sieges and carry forts, even if the fortress be an old armchair; and in these affairs the elders must neither meddle nor make."

Charlotte Mason.