Fewer, Better Toys
I have been working in Arts Education and Outreach for my whole working life, over time specialising in out door education, play based learning and open ended creativity in play and visual expressive arts. This has encompassed working in community art settings, working with schools and nurseries in Edinburgh Galleries to engage them in creative ways of thinking about and making art, creating performance pieces, exhibitions and installations with young people, working with parents, toddlers and primary children in forest and beach settings to create nature based artworks and freely explore outdoor play.
For me, even before becoming a parent I was passionate about providing children and families with high quality art materials and play resources. In all my work settings I have seen how children respond with excitement and joy when presented with materials that they can really get the most out of: High quality pigments in paints and inks that create vivid, deep colours satisfying the childs vision for what marks they wish to make; thick , long rolls of paper that doesn’t rip easily and can be layered with glue, collage, paint and leaves. The satisfaction that comes with creating something rich, beautiful and impactful is not only felt by adult artists but of course by all young creatives too. The importance of quality extends into play materials too, toys that feel special to touch, that are visually alluring and versatile, promote play that is rich and beautiful in the same way that an artists materials do.
For me sustainability is also a huge concern. I want to foster a connection to nature in all the children I work with and demonstrate that materials and possessions are precious resources. When it came to having my own child, it felt natural that I follow this ethos in how I selected toys and encouraged play in our home. Of course many high quality toys are more expensive that less hardwearing plastic alternatives, but I could never justify choosing plastic options that I knew were not well or ethically made with the alternative of having fewer, better quality toys. I don’t seek perfection, I know not all wooden toys are made sustainably and of course, my child has been given a few plastic toys which he adores, but the underpinning principle comes down to having fewer, better toys that are well loved, well used and well cared for.
Blocks have been the keystone of our toy selection for my child’s 5 year life so far. We started off with a few second hand coloured blocks, loved for stacking, knocking over, hiding for dropping into containers in the early baby days. We then came across a fabulous wooden trolley with blocks that someone was passing on locally, in the early days of walking my little one loved loading it up, pushing it along, unloading. Then came a discovery of some plain wooden blocks from my own childhood in my parents loft. These opened the gateways for imaginative play, my child incorporating them with small toy animals, cuddly toys and figures to be houses, food, pens, farms. With the introduction of nursery I learned more about block play, seeing the set up they had at the nursery with a huge selection of shapes and scales, including large blocks for outdoor construction, my child was thrilled and I loved hearing about how he built collaboratively with other children and seeing photos of the buildings, bridges and machines he had created. In time we brought a set of small indoor plank blocks as a Christmas gift, the same as some they have in the nursery, so he could emulate some of this play at home more readily.
I noticed that a lot of what he made connected to recent experiences, when we went to Queensferry on a day trip, forth rail bridges were constructed for weeks afterwards! He began to see that other loose parts could be used in the same way as blocks and began collecting and bringing home a huge variety of sticks and logs to our small garden, storing them in a large trug I set aside. Over the past few months we have also scavenged a leftover plank of wood and a wooden palette to add to the collection. This play is entirely his own idea, he independently gets himself dressed in waterproofs to go and play out, creating wacky fences, vehicles, chocolate factories, and building sites, all linked I can see to stories we have been reading, trips we have been on or just everyday things in the world he has noticed and asked questions about.
The richness of his play continually fascinates me and he often has so many ideas of things to make and do together we simply don’t have enough time in the day to fit it in ! I have no doubt that he would be a creative and imaginative young person no matter what, but I am also confident that our consciousness to provide him with considered toys, that promote open ended play, problem solving and imagination have set him up well not only to learn but also to feel happy, accomplished and satisfied with what he has.
