Letter Fun/Play

Oodles of thanks to my father in law/grampy for making us these pieces to create letters.  They're similar to those that come with a popular writing program.  So happy to have them. 
My approach to 'teaching' letters is not teaching at all. I honestly don't care if they know their letters or not at their ages, but if they want to learn, I'll play along. I try to set up a 'literacy rich' environment, with books, of course, but also various letter type games.  They can play if they want, do something else if they'd rather.  Most often, since I hide things and pull them back out periodically, they tend to gravitate towards that which hasn't been available recently.  They have been loving doing letters lately.
Which is exactly the type of fun I love catching them having.
On the other hand, I have mixed feelings about this type of play that I caught them doing.  Come and see what I mean.
 He calls it 'the dump'.  How you play is combining every.single.puzzle piece with dollhouse furniture and whatever toy you can find.  Let me tell you, this picture is just the beginning of what they did.  Creative, yes.  Were they getting along? Yes.  Gave mama heart papalations?  Absolutely.  I tried to tell them the transfer station is ORGANIZED.  Paper here.  Metal here.  Trashbags here.  Compost here.  ORGANIZED dump play is good, don't you think? Maybe this could be the paper section and you could pretend all the stacking rings are paper...and over here could be the plastics... No, I was the only one who thought organized play was a good idea.

I had to tell myself to look away.  I couldn't watch. Couldn't look at the disorganized mess.

But...they were having fun.  They were being good.  They were getting along.  They were working together.  Listening from the next room made me smile.  Memories in the making.  I let them play dump.  And wow, they had a dump that was larger than our town's.
I guess I'm just lucky all that mess got there via a steer and a wagon. Just think of how much bigger the mess would have been if he used a tractor trailer to do the hauling.
I I managed to make a game out of the cleaning up....and they did help.  Turns out, I had no reason to worry.  Playing dump isn't so bad after all.

7 comments:

  1. Ha! A momma after my own heart. I'm chronically organized, so I understand your pain. Looks like they are working on social skills, using their imaginations and creating their own fun. Can't beat that!

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  2. Oh my Grandpa used to say if your house is too clean and organized you are not spending enough time with your children. I think he was right. Love the letter their Grampy made what a great idea. Oh playing dump is fun. B

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  3. Great idea with the letters and lovely photos of the children.
    Greetings, RW & SK

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  4. Haha I think I would have freaked out at the sight. I like things clean and organized so that may have made me a little uncomfortable. But with kids I guess you learn to roll with the punches!

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  5. I saw the letter pieces and immediately thought "Handwriting Without Tears". You're so fortunate to have a set made for you.

    We had a game of "dump" happening this week too... except it was called "trick or treat". Bags of toys all mixed up. Fun (I'm just being a wee bit sarcastic).

    Wishing you a lovely day.
    xoxo

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  6. How cute! Dump sounds fun! I loved playing with my niece and nephew when they were that age. They came up with the funniest stuff.

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  7. ha ha....I'm laughing out loud about "the dump". That's too much!! How fantastic that they can learn at their own pace with nice, big, letters.

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