The Girl plays with her plastic figurines, some wheels, and a construction hat. These are her friends for the next few days as things get packed.
We remarked on it when we first started packing.
It all came down to a few tiny boxes. That’s all she had left.
She had a small tin box of plastic toys.
She had a few puzzles.
She had a box of dress-up clothes and costumes.
She had the art supplies.
It was that small tin box sitting in the middle of the floor that made it seem so sad.
Her whole room is now packed into one suitcase, two art supply boxes, and that small box of toys.
She now likes to find things to play in her fantastical world.
Today she said the following things when she was immersed:
repeat in tiny girly princess play voice
Pink Unicorn Pony – I like Obama! Do you like Obama!
Blueberry Muffin – I like Obama, too! Yeah! Ooooh!
Pink Unicorn Pony – You be the mommy!
Blueberry Muffin – Okay, but I don’t want to be the mommy! I’ll be the daddy!
Pink Unicorn Pony – Okay, Yeah!!!!
This was all while Pinkie and Blue were riding caster wheels from the bottom of a laundry rack.
She’s left to play with a construction hard-hat, four caster wheels, found objects like rolls of tape, and remote controls. These become modes of transportation, magic castles, forts, and ramps.
There’s something wonderful watching a child create play out of random objects in the house. There’s something wonderful in knowing that she is so pleased with so little.
Appa hopes that soon, in our new home, I’ll be able to give her more.
sohnsaengnim 
willgoh2
August 1, 2011
It may seem a little sad that that’s all The Girl had left. But when I read about her imagination in using what was available, I couldn’t help but to smile some -it’s so wonderful that she’s got that imagination, that is a gift that is natural but nurtured. I believe so many kids these days no longer have a healthy, active imagination because they aren’t encouraged to explore their imaginations. They can think high tech, but get bored with low tech. They can figure out a game on a computer easily, but don’t know how to figure out how to enjoy using their imaginations to come up with a game
I bet in The Girl’s imagination is much more vivid and more robust than many of her peers. I’d like to believe it at least since that’s how it was in my head growing up, I had so much fun making and constructing the items that I thought my toys needed for play. I suspect i spent more time concocting things than actually traditionally playing them. As a kid I got some toys, but I didn’t get a lot, just a few things that would tide me over. So I created. A Kleenex box was a comfy bed for my Bar-B. Fabric scraps and napkins were different bed sheets/ coverings. The lace up shoe one day was a sedan, a wagon another day, and the sandal was a convertible. My mom’s high heeled patent leather shoe was the fancy car that she’d take out on the weekend to a fancy dinner or party. It was great b/c I could make it be whatever, whenever I wanted and it was perfect in my head. Bar-B didn’t have much by way of house wares so I made them for her out of aluminum foil- a whole set of silver ware (fork tongs and all), plates, platters, soup bowls, tureens, goblets, mugs, pots and pans. I stole thread spools from my g’ma’s sewing drawer and they became bar stools around a fancy round shaped (Quaker Oats) bar. It may not have looked shiny and pink like what the Bar-B houses were supposed to look like, but in my vision, they were better than shiny and pink -they were exactly as I had imagined them, just perfect.
The Girl has a great gift in this all, she is truly the designer of her own play, and that gift of imagination…well, maybe because I’m an art teacher, but I’m so glad to see there are still some kids out there who aren’t afraid to use their imagination. i hope she never loses it.
christina
sorry this is so long