Our vacation to the beach was wonderful and relaxing. For our family, it was the perfect way to recharge batteries and gear up for the busy year ahead. (My sons start kindergarten next week!) As promised, I spent much of my time listening to them play.
One day, my son was walking down the steep steps to where I was on the beach. As he descended the stairs, he noticed that the small yellow shovel in his hand was being moved by the wind. He became fascinated. He stopped, loosened his grip on the handle and watched the shovel dance in the breeze. After a few moments, a strong gust launched the shovel from his hand. To his delight, it then slid down the steep rock wall and landed on the beach about 15 feet below. It was a great (an unexpected) treat. He had to try it again.
After scampering down the steps to retrieve the shovel, he quickly bounded back up to purposefully drop the shovel and watch it slalom down the rock face. Next he tried standing on the beach and tossing the shovel into the air. He watched the wind blow the shovel into the wall, where it would slide and bounce back down. After a few replays, another unexpected thing happened. The shovel got stuck about halfway down the rock wall. Immediately my son tried to scale the rock wall to retrieve the shovel. His brother joined in the efforts, but to no avail.
“Wonderful,” I thought. “Now the boys have a real problem to solve, and this will be great to watch.” Wonderful problems happen all the time with open-ended toys and unscripted experiences – and this is where creative thinking gets a workout.
After a few tries at unsuccessful rock climbing, one of the boys decided to try tossing up another plastic shovel in an effort to dislodge the first one. This second shovel was much bigger and heavier than the first, so the method seemed promising. Alas, no luck. The boys needed a new plan. “Oh, I have an idea!” exclaimed one boy. (You might know from previous posts that those are some of my favorite words!) With the larger shovel in hand, he scrambled back up the stairs to the top of the rock wall. He positioned himself above the lodged shovel, aimed, and slid the big shovel down. It took a few more tries, but eventually the little shovel was successfully dislodged! Both boys were delighted. (And I was too!)
Now, there was a new problem: How to throw the little shovel at the rock wall to purposefully get it stuck?! Excellent. The boys had so much fun solving their problem, they wanted to try it again. And again. The game resurfaced the following day, as the boys continued to experiment with cause and effect, force, velocity, wind speed, and more. I write this post in an effort to celebrate and honor unstructured play and its link to creative problem-solving. Often grown-ups forget to give children time and opportunities to create and solve their own problems. The value of these moments are immeasurable.
[...] A day at the beach – playing with the wind and other wonderful problems and [...]