When my siblings and I were younger, one of our favorite pastimes was playing with the Fisher Price Little People. You remember the old barn set, school, garage ramp, and house along with the wooden stick people? We had it all (and my mom still does)!
Well, the four of us used to take every inch of the family room and build farms and ranches. We would take turns choosing a toy to divide them up evenly for play. Then we added the Ertl farm play toys with animals and tractors. We also stacked up our wooden blocks for fencing and property markers. Finally, we would take turns offering city services like school, police, and fire. We imitated every part of life.
Judah is starting to get into the age of pretend. The plastic Fisher Price toys are a little different from years ago, but the play resembles the same idea.
He sets up his barn with his tractors. He is careful to line up his animals together, telling me what they are as he does. He even has gotten out his wooden blocks for troughs, fencing, and houses. He drives his tractors around and even has named "Papa," "Gigi," and "Uncle Matt" among his little people. Oh and the bus driver is "Papa," too. The dog is "Rover."
What memories this brings back. My siblings would sit for hours at a time with this kind of play. The floor was covered in people, animals, cars, and blocks. Each time we discovered something new...the flat rectangle blocks made excellent beds in the house for our family of people.
Encourage this play with your kids. Boys and girls both will have fun mimicking life. Such building of farms and towns stimulates cognitive and motor skills. Pretend enhances creativity. Social play benefits sharing.
The Little Fisher Price People have added to their antique collection with lego-type stacking blocks. You can also race cars down a ramp or be Noah on the ark. Pretend you are a knight in a castle or Santa in your sled. The possibilities are endless and play so much fun!
And if you dare, sit down and build too. You might like it as much as you did when you were younger.
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