The 2 1/2 Year Old Imagination

I have really taken such delight in watching Jack's imagination develop. In his little mind, anything can be something totally different, and I attribute his creativity to having room time every day.  He has learned to play on his own for an hour and fifteen minutes.  To build things.   To pretend to fix things.  To look at books.  To watch the world outside his window.  To race cars and use his ambulance/fire truck/police vehicles to help his animals.  And, to then clean up the mess that's inevitably been made.  :)

Research shows that playtime, without electronics to distract, is vital to the maturing toddler brain.   Technology is amazing, but the ability to imagine is what got us technology in the first place.
What will happen when all of the tech-savvy toddlers and children and teenagers (who were never "forced" to entertain themselves without iPads and iPhones and TVs) grow up? Where will the innovators be? The thinkers? The dreamers? The problem-solvers? The people who can wait and not expect instant gratification in everything they attempt (because we all know that electronic games and TV offer instant gratification, and therefore, the brain starts to desire that more and more, which makes things like reading and sitting still and simply focusing on one task at a time extremely difficult, especially for children)?  The good stewards of this world?

Yesterday afternoon, I witnessed this.

Turtle Jack from Joy Rawlins on Vimeo.

I could. not. stop. giggling afterward.  The video still cracks me up.

Then, this morning, when Jack requested the song, "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy" and went in search of a horn and came back with the ring holder, it got me thinking about the whole topic above.  Creativity isn't just cute.  It isn't just silly. It's vital to our world.
Go, big dreamers!  Think and dream and create.  We need you. Go toot your imaginary horn :)

Bugle Boy from Joy Rawlins on Vimeo.