It’s just a stick. Till it’s found by some kids. Then it transforms into a flag, a fishing stick and more.
Every day out in the bush with the children brings up intriguing observations. On a recent adventure, observing the metamorphosis of a simple stick was fascinating.
One of the boys in our little troop of adventurers found a stick close to the trunk of tree – the diameter of a thumb. Quickly, a piece of material was found in the pocket and tied to the end of the stick to make a flag! It was held aloft proudly as its owner lead the group across the bush.
As the children raced ahead to explore the wonders of the park beyond the bush, the stick as dropped beside shoes. Not long after, someone was looking for a walking stick to climb the hill, so they grabbed the stick and headed off. When they made it to the top of the hill, the stick had become superfluous and was again discarded.
A few children walked past the stick without a second glance, before it was again picked up again by a preschooler with an avid interest in sports. Quickly it was a hockey stick with a round stone for the ball. Other children found similar sized sticks and joined the hockey fun. Bored of this game, another child came up with the idea of using them as javelin. We didn’t have the equipment to sharpen the sticks, but javelin (stick) throwing ended up becoming a fierce competition.
Hungry from their adventures, the children opened their snack packs. As they munched through their snacks, the stick became the centre of conversation yet again with plans to sharpen them and use it for toasting marshmallows.
This demonstrates that kids don’t need an endless number of toys to entertain themselves. A nurturing environment is the best thing you can provide your child.
Deconstructing the learning from this creative object play
In a short span of a couple of hours as the stick morphed into a flag, sports object and walking stick, a lot of learning happened. Here are just a few things they learnt through this play:
- Language development with the narrative every time the stick was reused for a new purpose
- Cognitive processes such as reasoning, problem solving, attention, organising, planning, and timing
- Overall intelligence
- Fine and gross motor skills development
- Problem solving
- Playfulness
Research in complex object play like this is ongoing with many studies suggesting that providing children with opportunities for rich, creative object play not only brings them great joy in the short term but provides vital skills for longer term success throughout their life.
How can you support creative object play with your child?
Go outdoors. Let the children find objects and define their play with these objects. Where possible, support creativity and imagination. The wider the range of products you can provide, the better as the benefits and learning from each object is varied.