But that is exactly what the author wrote, "Your children won't be able to replicate the Star Wars space ship. But, without a roadmap, they may find a way to build a better one." And I realized that that's exactly what my boys do. They love building their Legos to form the licensed set but after a few days, they take them apart and make new creations. Sometimes it drives me nuts just thinking of all the lost parts of their Lego set because they assemble and disassemble the original set over and over. But it's when they do this that they create the most unique, most imaginative creations. They should have the freehand to build whatever they want. This is when their creativity and resourcefulness are born.
1. Lego
Lego encourages creativity, especially the big tub of loose Lego pieces. The kids have to use their imagination to start their creation from scratch. My kids would first build their Lego with the instructions on hand but a few days after, they would build totally new creations using their imagination.
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| Some of their own playsets! Can you see the slide that goes from building to another? cool right? |
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| The boys' version of The Batmobile |
They have all sorts of lego sets but the automobiles or the playsets they come up with on their own are the ones that really wow me. One of the dream jobs of both my sons is to be a Lego Builder. They said that it would be quite like heaven to sit down in a room full of all sorts of Legos and tinker with them and build new structures the whole day.
2. Zoob
Zoob is a building set with a difference—the pieces move after kids put them together. So kids can play with their ZOOB creations, instead of just looking at them. ZOOB pieces snap, click, and pop together to form joints that rotate, limbs that extend, axles that spin, and lots more. Kids can create simple models in minutes, or get absorbed and spend hours at a time. There's no limit to what they can build: from animals to aliens, from dinosaurs to DNA. (from http://www.infinitoy.com/zoob/zoob125.shtml)
The pieces come in a small plastic box like the picture below for easy clean-up. You can build anything as far as where your imagination can take you.
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| Zoob Dude |
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| Zoob Giraffe |
3. Tinkertoy
The construction toy that's been a favorite for generations! This TINKERTOY set features easy-fitting, durable, real wood and plastic pieces for creating all kinds of great designs! Build structures using the enclosed design guide or use your imagination to make lots of new and different creations! Includes 48 rods, 20 spools, 8 connector clips, 2 flags, 10 end caps, 6 couplings, 2 tubes, 1 length of string, face plate, 2 robot arms, 2 rail holders and design guide. (from http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/en_US/shop/details.cfm?R=8EC3F54A-6D40-1014-8BF0-9EFBF894F9D4:en_US)
I remember when my kids had a playdate with my friend's son and they had so much fun playing and building for hours. My son Lucas especially enjoyed it because he liked that there were screws and tubes and couplings and all sorts of construction things.
*images from http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/en_US/shop/details.cfm?R=8EC3F54A-6D40-1014-8BF0-9EFBF894F9D4:en_US
4. Melissa & Doug Wooden Blocks
I remember when my boys were younger and I would pick them up from school. They would take so long coming out from their classroom because the teachers said that they were still busy playing. They loved these wooden blocks. I'm not sure if the ones they used in their school was this brand, but it kinda looked like this.
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| Wooden Architecture (the boys in the picture aren't my kids FYI...hehe!) |
I remember I would leave them for a bit to play with these blocks and when I would come back, they would have great structures like the picture above. It would leave me in awe, seeing their massive creations. But I realized that with the right things to play with, or right art materials, or right tools, or even the right ingredients, you can help your kids unleash their creativity and resourcefulness.
5. Play-Doh or other Clay Art
Clay is something my kids never tire of. Even as toddlers, my boys would spend hours and hours creating things to play with. I remember I got them the different food sets from Play-Doh and that was when they first got into food and cooking/baking. They "put up" a mini restaurant in our den. They even made a menu, an order form, and an open/closed sign. Everything in the menu would be made by them from scratch using clay. I was their biggest customer. We even had a cash register and play money to make it seem like a real restaurant.
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| The Play-Doh set that started it all |
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| Play-Doh Barbeque Playset |
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| This was Tali's first Play-Doh Cake Making set |
*images from:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/prodpop.jsp?LargeImageURL=http%3A//TRUS.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-2789401dt.jpg&displayTab=enh&productId=2264867&totCount=0
http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh2/en_US/shop/browse/Play-Doh/_/N-1rZ77Zgt/No-20
http://www.littlewhiz.com/pd-play-doh-barbecue-playset.cfm
Now, it's my little girl's turn. Her godmother gave her a Little Cake Dough set for her birthday and she hasn't stopped creating cakes for everyone.
My kids used to ask me for any new toy they see in any toy store. They have A LOT of toys, sad to say. I realized that a lot of money was spent buying toys that were disposable. A disposable toy for me is something that can't be played with or used over and over. Now I'm more conscious of only getting them toys, even if they're a bit pricey, that will enhance their creativity and will not limit their play. I agree very much with what Steve Vassallo said about imagination.
What we need, above all, is the spark of imagination. The passion for tinkering. The hunger for exploration. The realization, even at age 10, that you can create real, tangible things if you think about it long enough, and work at it hard enough. Albert Einstein once said that he was “enough of an artist to draw freely on [his] imagination” which he valued even above knowledge. “Knowledge is limited,” he explained. “Imagination encircles the world.”
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| My son Lucas' favorite quote (especially when he's being reminded to do homework first before playing Lego) |
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