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...