It's Summer! Let Them be Bored!

I'm a big fan of letting kids be bored.  OK, boredom is not really my ultimate goal; my goal is to give them enough unstructured free time that they can think and dream and play and create.  When kids experience that on a regular basis, they rarely stay bored for very long.

Monday was the first day of the first week of summer -- and I didn't plan a thing.  We turned off the TV and the video games. 

The next thing I knew, Wenxin found bamboo skewers in the kitchen and got the idea to use grapes and Cheerios to make kabobs.  This is the same kid who a year and a half ago could not entertain himself for a minute.  He was used to having every moment of every day structured for him in the orphanage.  But over the last year and a half he's learned to use his imagination to play and create.  Even his sisters thought the kabob thing was a good idea. 

I could have found a "summer fruit activity" on Pinterest and gathered the materials, but I really didn't need to because Wenxin has an imagination, and he's learning to use it.

Unless we give our kids time and space, unless we take the risk that they might get bored, unless we relax and let them relax, we may never see what their brilliant minds are capable of creating.  Eventually it may be something much bigger than fruit and Cheerio kabobs.

Nathan wasn't into the fruit and Cheerio kabobs that day because he was too busy making a movie.  Using his ipod, he took over 900 still photos which he used to create a one minute, thirty second stop motion movie which you can watch below.  (For some reason, when I uploaded it, it ran extra fast.  Maybe Nathan can help me fix it later, but for now you can get the idea - in about 30 seconds flat!)

It was a good start to summer.  And no one said, "I'm bored."


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing