Toy Thursday: What is This Toy?

Vroom....putt putt....zoom...beep beep...shriek...As I was giving birth to my son, he was practically making motor sounds on his way out. Here I thought I would have to teach him how to make car noises. Instead he surprised me one day by imitating vehicle sounds on his own. How did he know how to do that, I wondered? Were these noises already programmed into my son?

My son also showed me how flip all his trikes and bikes to spin wheels. We went through a phase where all his cars were turned upside down to observe wheels rotating...even more than riding them. At our house we wear finger paint and dirt. Our games solely consist of running, chasing, hiding, bouncing, crashing, drumming, driving, screaming, and dancing to this day. We talk about poop and laugh over farts. Yes, my son is a 100 percent boy!

I have a friend that has two little girls and a boy on the way (she is in for it). The pink, frilly toys that litter her house are still foreign to me. The girls play house, do makeup, and where finger nail polish. The girls feature little purses and model their princess dresses and frizzy tu-tus.

Have you ever noticed gender differences during play? This same friend and I compare notes, often laughing when we trade play dates at each other's house. At her house, the plastic pink hair dryer becomes a drill for my son to fix things. At our house, we play ball and drum to music. At her house, a box is a house. At our house, a box is a fort or an airplane.

Even around our house, objects become something related to Judah's gender specific imagination. The pasta spoon is no longer a spoon but a drum stick or even a rake to rake the garden. Cups become blocks to stack or sand box toys for scooping. Pots and pans are cymbals to bang loudly.

What is even more clever is often times kids combine their imaginations. When I was younger my friend and I dressed up to play "Laura Ingalls Wilder" on the prairie. My younger brothers refused to be seen in girls clothes (even though I am sure I dressed them up as an older sister). Soon the boys became the leaders of the wagon train who had to fend off Indians and water down horses in their cowboys boots and hats.

The important thing is that kids are imaginative. Encourage their creativity and fun together. You will be surprised how well they mimic reality.