Including nature in play

During the holiday break I witnessed a beautiful exchange between two parents and a young child while enjoying some beach time.

The child was completely engaged in play with no toys at all, for a couple of hours.

This was all possible because the parents were supporting the child to play with all the natural elements he could find on the beach.

It was impressive that this twoyear-old could be so happy with no toys for such a long period of time.

The parents took turns at engag- ing with the child by finding something new to play with such as driftwood, stones, shells, sand.

The parent would communicate by saying a few words and then the child would just play with whatever he had in his hand.

The parent modelled things the child could do with the item and then hand it over to him. The child would copy and then find other things to do with it.

Children don’t need to have lots of flash manufactured toys to keep them entertained; they need a supportive adult engaging with them, modelling things to do and giving encouragement.