The other day, Dylan got a new toy. It isn’t actually a toy like you would find in a toy store. It is something much, much simpler. It was actually free, we paid nothing for it. The funny thing is that all of the money in the world could not buy a toy that has brought the amount of joy that this simple, free gift from Grandpa has brought to Dylan over the past couple of days.
What is this magical item that has somehow inspired Dylan to focus on playing like never before? A box of scrap wood. It is sort of like a set of natural wood blocks, only these “blocks” are left over odds and ends from Grandpa’s carpentry projects. Grandpa has no use for them anymore, but Dylan has been entertaining himself with them in many ways.
First, he built them up one way. Then, he placed them all back in the box and dragged it to another room where he built some more. He makes up stories about the types of building projects that he is doing. He draws on the blocks with pencils. Sometimes, he picks up a block and studies it and tells me what he thinks it looks like – a cell phone, a saw, a mail box, whatever he thinks that it is at that moment.
The blocks are a blank canvas, and they have unlocked something in him that was not really there before. He has opportunities to create things with plastic blocks, crayons and paper, play dough, and other things but none of those things hold his attention the way these blocks do. Even though he is three years old, he had not been interested in independent play all that much. The box of scrap wood blocks has inspired him to play independently for longer periods of time.
Sometimes, the best things for our children are not difficult or expensive to obtain. In this case, a simple box of scrap wood that cost us nothing has given Dylan a medium that he can use to create things in a way that he enjoys creating them. I look forward to seeing what he will create tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.