January 29, 2023
Floor Blocks and Imagination
Uncle Buddy was purging his apartment and there were two truck-loads of stuff he thought we could use. (Yes, we could, not that we knew it before it came) One such item was three packs of floor blocks, you know, those spongy warm mats that you cover hard floors with to have a softer play surface. We already had six squares of it under our swing in the back yard to keep feet from digging a ditch under the swing and nine squares in the playroom to bring out when it was too cold for bare feet on the hard floor.
Lucas has a fantastic imagination and turned said floor cushions into… A house. The original one was 1×2 squares in a perfect rectangle with a “door” panel they sealed behind themselves and “busted” out of with a sharp kick from both feet.
It started in the living room, but there is more space in the playroom! The house became 2×3 squares with a “portal” doorway complete with blanket carpets and pillows so they could sleep in it!
Louis shook his head, “I don’t think they were made for that.” And I shrugged, “no, but they work fine, don’t they?” (Until a rambunctious boy-who-will-remain-unnamed dropped on the ceiling and broke it aka caved in the roof, made Thea cry and Jillian mad, and they had to rebuild said house.)
Soon packing boxes (also from Uncle Buddy) were added to make rooms inside the house and prop up the roof as going bigger than 2×3 meant less stability in the middle. They were finding ways to overcome the structural weakness and still expand their play house! I loved all the problem solving that was going on!
These large blocks also store in their bags when not in use. I don’t know how often this will happen, but what I was saving for play surfaces in our shed while moving and in our future house when we finally get one, is now a house-building toy. Lucas is always building big complex structures in his mega blocks, duplos, and legos. I’m hoping to get him interested in carpentry or construction because once his football career (now he wants to be a football player in high school and college and the NFL – he better pray he gets height from Great-Grandpa Jim and Boompa!) is done, he might enjoy building things. I totally encourage any type of hands-on skill as even though yes, the foam block houses won’t last long, the building and problem solving will present itself in other forms.
What neat things have your kids done with their imagination lately? I love to watch with sonder as they explore new things! Sit back, let them play, and watch a world of wonder explode from their untamed imaginations!
Thank you for reading!
Type at you next time!
~Nancy Tart