I firmly believe kids need time to play freely outside. Yes it’s nice to have tons of toys, but too many can be a bad thing. Sometimes when I look around our yard, I think we don’t have enough playthings for our kids. But it doesn’t really seem to bother them. They get to use their imaginations, which I think is so much better than being confined to crappy plastic toys.
- Here are some of their favorite things to do in our backyard:
- Sword fighting with fallen tree branches
- Digging holes in search of buried treasure
- Filling those holes with water and making mud pits
- Pretending the swing set is a pirate ship
- Making things out of leaves, grass, dirt, and flowers
- Making concoctions using our home-grown herbs
- Climbing our trees and sometimes getting stuck
- Playing Hide and Seek
- Building fairy and gnome houses
Yes, they get dirty. Yes, sometimes they get hurt and scraped. Yes, our yard is full of holes. But I LOVE seeing their smiling, mud-streaked faces when they invent a new game.
I have to admit: I’m lucky my kids are imaginative, silly, and play well together.
