Using your imagination sure rocks

I remember when I was young and had no toys and I used to use my imagination to make up toys or add new dimensions to the toys I made to keep myself entertained. So these days I find it rather amazing that we spend a fortune filling our houses with expensive toy after toy for our kids stifling their imaginative abilities in the process? I am guilty of it. I used to fill T’s bath with lots of soft ducks and all the likes only to see him flick them out one by one, grab the empty shampoo bottle and start playing with it while giggling away. It made me think of all the other ways he could be expressing himself imaginatively had I not crammed two crates full of noisy electronic battery consuming toys that he hardly ever plays with under the chairs in the living room.

Now I am certainly not Martha Stewart but these days instead of buying expensive toy after toy, donating my money to China and ToysRUs, I often rely on my childhood experience to cook up cheap and cheerful ideas. For instance T was really into his shaker at his playgroup today so afterwards I took him to the shop and we brought a pack of 6 giant balloons for a less than a pound. When we got home I dropped a few grains of rice and lentils into the balloon for the extra sound effect, tied it and... voila we had a shaker for the fraction of the price we would have paid for one in the shop. He is running around playing excitedly with it now <you can hear him screaming with delight in the video below>. The added bonus is this shaker not only makes acoustic noise, he can find lots of imaginative was to play with it- bounce, throw, kick, box, pound it against furniture- without fear of injury or damage unlike a real sturdy shaker.