Sunday, November 22, 2009

imaginations home grown (closed)

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Duplo




I see them here

I see them there

I see those LEGO® bricks

everywhere.



Under couches

in the hall

beneath the table

near the wall.



Red, yellow

green and blue

LEGO®bricks come

in every hue.


600 LEGO® bricks

the box said

But at least half of those

are beneath my bed.


LEGO® bricks

seem to repleat

Mostly

underneath my feet!



I see them here

I see them there

I see those LEGO® bricks

everywhere.



I wrote this poem a year or so ago when my little guys were having issues cleaning up after their toys. Since then, we actually had to take all the toys out of my 7 year-old’s room because he was so bad about not putting things away. He’s slowly earned them all back, and things have gotten much better.



I was thinking though, how I wouldn’t have these itty bitty surprises underneath my feet as much if my kids just stuck to the larger LEGO® DUPLO® bricks. Have you seen these? They’re kind of the middle-man between the little LEGO® bricks and the larger meatier can-fit-one-in-the-palm-of-your-hand variety. My sweeties have been playing with this set this past week and have been having so much fun with them—and bonus, I haven’t found any little pieces beneath my couch!



I love catching them so deep and into their pretend play. Whether it’s the DUPLOs®, their trains, cars, or whatever, they get so wrapped up in their make-believe world and it does my heart good to see them using their creativity and imaginations. They usually get along better when they’re using their minds too. There’s something to be said about taking away all the bells and whistles and electronic items and just having good raw Imagination Play. In their made up world they are pilots and firefighters, presidents and artists. They scale 10 story buildings and shoot off into outerspace, drive big trucks and dig big holes. They fly and fall and become superheroes.



A couple of days ago, my 5 year old came up to me and said, “I know what I want to be when I grow up.” When I asked him about it, he said, “a creator.”


“A creator?” I asked. “What kind of creator?”


“Any kind…whatever I want,” he confidently answered.


And I thought, yes, yes you can.


Check out other bloggers' reviews and giveaways at BlogHer.com's special offers page.


To enter to win a $20 LEGO® DUPLO® gift card, leave me a comment below and tell me how you get creative and stimulate development in your kids. The contest will begin at 9:00 a.m. (PST) November 23, 2009 and will end 8:59 a.m. (PST) November 30, 2009. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:

  • No duplicate comments.
  • You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
  • You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
  • This giveaway is open to US Residents, aged 18 and older.
  • Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
  • You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
  • Please see the official rules here: Official rules



Please check out my webpage Life with the Boys.

58 comments:

Mami2jcn said...

I play a lot of games with my kids, read to them, tell stories, use playdoh, crayons, and paints to stimulate creativity.

mami2jcn at gmail dot com

Mami2jcn said...

I blogged about this:

http://grand-giveaways.blogspot.com/2009/11/lego-giveaway_23.html

mami2jcn at gmail dot com

Keeslermom said...

I'm a big fan of art supplies to encourage creativity. My girls love to paint, glue, cut, draw and create. My son likes to make a mess!

Anonymous said...

My husband is a woodworker.
My six-year-old grandson likes to draw a design, then he takes it out to the garage with his papa, and they 'build' it together out of scrap wood.
Janet Dreher

Anonymous said...

My e-mail address is:
eddreher@yahoo.com
Janet Dreher

Jenna said...

Cyrena loves to use her imagination! We like to create with a lot of art supplies and writing utensils. ANd of course dry erase markers and blocks!

Elizabeth said...

I let the kids play with my scrapbook tools. The collages they make with hearts, starts, circles, squares, etc... are pretty cool. Throw in a bag of googly eyes and they're doing great.

Elizabeth said...

Elizabeth
eormiston@juno.com

hcfischer1 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hcfischer1 said...

We love to play with these awesome animal hand tattoos (think Oobi) and out on a show for our family. hcdolbear at liberty dot edu

j said...

We gather together at bed time and I start a made up story, then each child in turn will continue and make up the next part of the story. Iam amazed at the imagative tale they come up with.

Carrie said...

I allow free reign in the art supplies department. And the recycling bin. A great way to practice hand skills and stretch the brain and make toys at the same time.

carrieplant AT gmail

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I build things at night and leave them in their legos bin. It provides ideas & inspirations the next day.

abeauparlant AT gmail

Unknown said...

Cute poem. We read a lot of books and play a lot of games with instructions (head shoulders knees and toes, ring around the rosie, etc)

Tara said...

We provide our boys with scrap wood, paint, hammer and nails. The youngest can use my stamping supplies and the tub filled with fabric scraps, feathers, wiggly eyes, glitter glue, etc. And yes we have Legos everywhere also.

joelle said...

My husband is in the AC business so PVC pipe and elbow fittings are a regular part of our world. Besides our beloved LEGO collection, PVC building is one of our favorite activities. They can grab a backpack, a box full of rocks, a batting helmet and their current PVC creation, head out to their jungle gym and be heading to the moon on their "rocket ship" to find even more "moon rocks"! I love to watch their imagination soar!

AZ HS Spotlight said...

My kids are super good at using their imagination. I suppose not throwing away the empty shampoo bottles that are a "family" in the bathtub and other things they use to make up stories is a way I help stimulate their imagination LOL

leaner said...

To help my kids be more creative, we've done two things. One, turning off the tv. When they watch it all of their play revolves around whatever show they watched. Two, we got rid of most of the toys that only have one specific purpose. If there is only one way to play with it, we don't need it.

Liz said...

Pretty much played games with her.
Mostly things that did counting and abc's type things to help her.
Then of course We use to stamp She loves to make cards I wish I'd taken pictures of the cute things she'd made but didn't scrappy then.

Teri said...

My kids are so busy.. like yours.. boys will be boys.. We are kind of super fans of Legos, we have a Lego table we had specially made. They kids build and build... They make large versions of people, places and things! They have mini Lego wars and make scenes too! When I was recovering from surgery I told them who ever made the best "Lego mom" won! They scrambled to the Lego table and built for hours! They take pictures of their creations as well so we can take them apart and not be sad :)

Brandy Davis said...

We take everyday items such as newspapers and see what we can make (jewelry, hats...). We love LEGOS! branandmike at hotmail

claudine@orphanscry.com said...

Legos and Playmobil were (and even still are) favorites of my 3 boys, now 15, 12, and 10. My 5 year old daughter jumped on the bandwagon as soon as she could manage to hold those little pieces (supervised of course).

We have more dress up stuff than I think the stores do. Whatever they've been imagining...they can look like...and act out.

As the boys grew, I introduced them to adventurous boyhood...survival...outdoor adventure stuff.

We've read to the kids daily and nightly. As each grew and another little came along who needed more "readin' to" the older ones just continued reading...a lot! So they read how to build forts, forge metal (really), build fire pits (on which to forge metal), make teepees, make things with wood, leather, EVERYTHING.

If I'm ever stranded somewhere, I want "my men" with me!!! :)

Art supplies of absolutely every kind. For those who don't think they have a creative bone in them, a few helpful books were Usborne's Art Treasury and their big book of things to Draw...and their book of Experiments.

Some people think they're not creative or imaginative [not true: You're ALL created in the image of God who is FULL of amazing creativity and imagination...so YOU are too -- just find it :)]

Experiment. Introduce things. Go to art stores, craft shops, even Home Depot type places. You'll be amazed at how much creativity is locked inside :)

Finally, coming from a mom who just cringes when I hear, "electric, battery-operated..." -- yeah, I've given in some too. Now my boys are older and they love to make movies with their digital cameras and then add special effects with their computer graphic programs. New world for me...but...wow!

Oh, how could I forget??? MUSIC!!! Listening to various styles, experimenting with various instruments. If money is tight, who needs lessons? So many wonderful teaching dvds. And, my nephews, who didn't have money for even dvds, learned everything for free on the computer -- and they are amazing guitarists!

Yes, I LOVE creativity...and kids...and...words.

Unknown said...

We love to take Play Doh and mold different things, like a snowman, or a bananna-anything really!! It is fun to think up something else to create and hilarious guessing what a five year old comes up with. You may guess one thing and he thinks it's something totally different!

Unknown said...

I tweeted your giveaway:
http://twitter.com/SCMOMOF2BOYS/status/6055244046

now its trash said...

Legos are our creative outlet of choice. Besides building by instruction or just randomly, I sometimes challenge my boys to each build a car or building or a creation to complete a certain task. (Ex: This Lego man is stuck on the stairs, build me a way to rescue him.)
Hours of brain-building entertainment!

Anonymous said...

My 8 year old LOVES legos and bionicles (which are also made by lego) Lego products help us be imaginitive by recreating and discovering new things to build. My son loves to build the legos as ninjas and have wars between the bionicles and ninja legos. There are endless hours of play from a tub full of bricks! We challenge him to build dinosuars and complex creatures and to our amazement he does!
Kelley Wood wood57495@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I tweeted your giveaway.
http://twitter.com/mysweetcarolina

Anonymous said...

I tweeted your contest.
http://twitter.com/mysweetcarolina/status/6068336508

kelley wood
wood57495@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

My boys love to pretend. My husband turned the shower into a submarine and we now have nightly adventures under the sea. It makes the night time routine much more fun and filled with laughter.

Unknown said...

We play with Legos every day. My daughter’s favorite things to build are cars. We also love music, because this is something that our 9 month old can be involved with. We play music and dance and sing, letting my daughter make up the words to the songs. We also color, paint, and play with Play Doh, but I must say that my daughter’s favorite creative activity is decorating cookies, perhaps that is because she gets to eat them once we are done :)

CAjohnsonfamily said...

My kids love legos! We also have playmobil. We set up the garage as a playroom, so I don't have to worry about the baby eating all the little pieces.

Susan said...

I completely understand the lego craze. My son has always been a lego fanatic and all he wants for his birthday is to visit a lego store and get a few minutes with the pick-a-brick wall!! He loves to build with legos so much we turned his closet into his lego room with a table and chair and bins. Lego Designer is right after scientist on his list of jobs when he grows up! He loves creating. We do a lot of paper crafts - including making our own paper - and using model magic. He especially likes making "sets" of things and selling them to kids in class like using the eraser clay to make animal erasers and matching that with handmade corner bookmarks and little handmade journals.

allison said...

We try to buy and encourage open ended toys for him. He loves blocks, art supplies, puppets, you name it! He has a couple of toys that light up and do specific things, but he really gravitates towards the more "creative" toys anyway.

alianora@gmail.com

Melissa said...

My boys have BIG imaginations and love their LEGOS! They get a set, build it once following the directions, then take it apart and build it using their own creativity. They have learned that any LEGO set they want they can usually make on their own with the LEGOs they already have!
melissahoyal@gmail.com

GB said...

My son loves LEGOs. He can sit for hours and create; he will also play with his other blocks and construction toys. I encourage it by keeping his blocks (legos, and others)within reach- he does'nt need my help to get them ( space is limited for us, and a lot of toys are stacked away in the bookshelf and thw upper shelves in his cupboard).

He has recently started taking a keen interest in coloring and crafts. I keep craft boxes stocked with crayons,pencils, glue sticks, scissors and glitter tubes in his room, and in the family room so he has easy access to his art supplies.

I also let him run wild in the backyard- he loves digging in the dirt- it does encourage creativity in my opinion- he made a playground for the ants with twigs and stuff once.

Unknown said...

My son, like most loves LEGOs, and we have them all over the house as well. He is also starting to get more in touch with his artistic side. He has been doing a lot of Origami as well as abstract drawings with oil sticks. He is also beginning to focus on space and exploring what is out there.
To help stimulate him, I take him to the art museum, the science center, Kennedy Space Center, local art galleries and shows, just so he can see that if it looks "good" to him, then it is art.

Unknown said...

I get creative with my 4-year old by cooking with her, playing playdough, painting, building with blocks and playing legos with her. She loves building cars and houses with the original blocks from my childhood (my brother managed to save about half of the ones we all had growing up---LOL). I would be great to have her own to add!!!

The Mad Reader said...

We leave the tv off and the art supplies out. Messes are fine as long as our daughter is enjoying herself, and helps to clean up at the end.
We have also always taken 'stuff' and turned it into people (hair clips become ballet dancers, for example). DUPLO blocks have become people, towers, everything.

James said...

I like to have things around that encourage pretend play. For Christmas, I'm making a postman bag and envelopes out of felt. I've already saved the orange juice cartons to craft into mailboxes afterward!!

James said...

James (really Brittany :)
stuff dot hall at gmail dot com

Anonymous said...

my son has always been so creative and imaginative, and plays especially well in the bathtub...so we keep a big container of toys near the tub so he can play until his toes are all wrinkly :)
Thanks!
sarah
smatti78@yahoo.com

Whitney Schmale said...

My brother had an enormous collection of Legos. We lost Ian 6 years ago, but my sons, 8 and 4, have carried on the love of Legos and building or "creating" wonderful creations!! I think of Ian everytime they play with them!

km said...

We are BIG on LEGOS. But, even with kids 8, 6, & 4 we don't have many on the floor. I have an old flat file as a coffee table (think file cabinet for 24 x 36 in paper). The bottom drawer has rubbermaid dividers for the different color LEGOS. The kids like that they can always find the piece they're looking for to build their creation. Red/White/Wheels/Black/Orange/Blue/Yellow/Lights/People. That motivates them to keep it organized. The bottom drawer pulls out easy and then closes in a hurry when I want my living room back as an adult space. You can never have enough legos.

Heike said...

LEGO's are my sanity saver. My kids are 7 and 12, and the ONLY thing they can do together it play with LEGO's :). I am amazed at their creations, and do not give them any kind of format. We read a history story, and instead of narrating or coloring, my kids "build" the story in LEGO's. Love 'em...enough said.

Heather said...

Both of my boys are Lego lovers. We have Legos everywhere. I get mad when I step on one in the middle of the night but when they show me their latest creation, all is forgiven.

tokay1313 at hotmail .com

Katherine said...

My 8 month old has some of the lego Mega blocks and loves them. I can only imagine how much fun he will have when he can actually use them to build creations. I allow my son to explore and talk to him and read to him a lot to stimulate his little mind!

Lizz said...

My Max is only 18 months old, but I can't wait to give him his first Duplos for Christmas this year!
He loves to draw now, and I'm looking forward to watching his imagination grow as he does!
imlibis at gmail dot come
Thanks!

Gloria Walshver said...

Lego is a great toy for kids who like to create things with their minds.
GloriaDeal@aol.com

Teresa Young said...

With my grandkids I save all kind of materials such as paper towel tubes, ribbon, bottons, etc, and just let them create whatever they want.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled accross this blog via someone elses. Wow your place looks like mine with the legos and mega blocks everywhere. I am teaching my 2 year old to pack his toys away. I love sitting down on the floor with him making all types of things. Hes into drawing in a big way at the moment too. They are so creative at such a young age. I am going to follow this blog as I can relate to this so much!

MomOnTheEdge said...

We love to use random art supplies to create fun gifts, cards, and toys! I have a box of "stuff" that we pull out whenever they're bored or have to send a "thank you", "birthday" or other holiday card.

MomOnTheEdge said...

http://twitter.com/rmgm/status/6190570366 Tweeted!

Jana said...

Read, read, read!

Hope said...

Whenever we play or bring out legos, play dough, etc. I let them start with whatever they are going to make and then ask them about it. Try to build on what they have started. Let them us their imagination, it's usually wayyy better than anything I can think up.

Amelia Sprout said...

We love Lego, and I may have been what you would call and addict when I was a kid. I would love to keep trying to pass that addiction down. As opposed to the coffee addiction.

Hope said...

Blogged about it here:

http://threeboogers.blogspot.com/2009/11/win-20-lego-gift-card-over-on-amis-site.html

Unknown said...

what a great and fun looking set!!!

I like giving my son (4 years) the opportunity to hold over elaborate set-ups he does (ie - not clean them up at the end of the day) so that he can resume the story/imaginative play right when he gets up in the morning.

thanks for the opportunity!

campkk said...

We love to draw. My two year old follows her four year old sister's lead. And we do play a lot of Lego too. One other thing we love to play with are animals. My four year old sets up stables for them out of anything she can find! Lots of imagination going on here.
Thanks for the opportunity to win!