Hopscotch Bowling

Ever since Chris and Noah developed their own little outdoor sport called FootBASEketball, Noah has really been into combining sports/activities to create new ones.  He calls this one Hopscotch Bowling:   

So, while we started out with a simple little number line addition game:

It was quickly abandoned for a round of "counting hopscotch":

 Which developed into setting up cones and chucking various sized balls at them:

And when that become old, he decided abandoning the ball and just kicking them over when he reached the end of the number line was the best method for playing (since it yields the best results):

Total boy thing to do.

After witnessing him pull together a creative alternative to some of his favorite games, I think I'm going practice this approach a little more often and see where his imagination takes him.  This was my childhood - days often spent in the woods behind our house with nothing more than sticks, mud, trees, streams, a rope, and a few rocks to entertain us.  It reminds me of this book:

And of this one:

In this day and age, I think we are far too technology dependent (Guilty!) and I want to have Noah continue to discover the wonderful magic in simple, random objects and sometimes toss aside the motorized toys and computer games for a day (or longer) in favor of those things that actually inspire creative and imaginative play.  By design, high tech toys are meant to distract kids and are often waaay overstimulating - as proven by the massive temper tantrum Noah thew yesterday when his video game didn't work as he wanted it to.  Don't get me wrong...we definitely won't be pulling out the garbage bags and taking all our battery operated toys to Goodwill.  But I do think our children are forgetting how to be creative and use their imagination because of the sheer number of toys that involve the "you push a button - the toy does THAT" phenomenon. 

So, I think our household is going to try and focus on a more "unplugged" approach more often.  I think one of my goals over deployment will be if I can survive a day without distracting Noah with the TV, the phone, the computer, or even his battery operated trains.  A whole day of paint and paper towel rolls...blankets and clothespins.  And afterwards, if I need to unwind with a nice glass (or two) of Riesling, at least I know it was a day well spent. :)