Do you recall back in the day when playtime meant playing bahay-bahayan (house), office-office and tinda-tindahan (market)? I remember getting a kick out of pretending to be an office manager writing checks and receipts, answering the telephone and pounding on the calculator. When we weren't playing office, we would be outside pretending to be market vendors selling meat and vegetables using carefully selected rocks and leaves. Those were the good old days. Playtime didn't necessarily involve toys. All we needed were a few props and a lot of imagination.
As a parent, I am a huge advocate of pretend play. The Mister and I really make a conscious effort to refrain ourselves from buying the little guy too many toys. We encourage him to find creative ways of playing with everyday things and use his imagination. Today, I brought out some items from the pantry and gave him two paper bags so he could play market-market. He had a blast putting his groceries in his paper bag and hauling them to his imaginary car then arranging them back onto his makeshift pantry shelves. That kept him busy for an hour or so. Just enough time for me to finish up some chores before we headed out to the playground.
How do you keep your toddlers busy?
