Play Review: Unplugged Play
I don’t know about you, but the toys of Sebastian’s that I “loathe entirely” (to reference another one of Dr. Suess’ books. Check out my first reference here.) are the ones that have electronics attached to them. They seem to always go off without any provocation and seem to never have an off button. Seriously, toy manufacturers, you should always have an off button! Are you guys with me?!?!?
Sorry, anyway, all this is to say that I am a big fan of ways to play using the imagination and simple things that can be found around the house. And that’s why the book Unplugged Play by Bobbi Conner resonated with me so well. The whole premise of the book is to find ways to play that do not involve electronics but go back to the more simpler forms of play.
The first thing that I love about this book is that it is divided up by age. I have checked so many books out of the library trying to get some easy ideas of things to do with Sebastian only to get bogged down by not being able to find an age appropriate activity. And there were probably loads of ideas, but if I can’t find them, it’s no use. This book does a great job of allowing you to jump to where you need for your child.But beyond just the layout of the book, I loved all of the great ideas found within it’s pages. Each idea is clearly labeled with the age, what type of activity it is (indoor, outdoor, etc.), and the number of children. Some of my favorite ideas that were age appropriate for my little man were the torn paper collage (since I already know Sebastian loves tearing paper from this post), the game Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! (which is all about sending balls down a slide), and all of the songs and fingerplays that were mentioned (some of them I knew, but most of them I didn’t).
I also loved how at the end of each age section, Bobbi gave some ideas for parties. Parties can always be such a struggle to plan, especially when it’s your first child and you are unsure of what is appropriate for that age. So I was so thankful that this book took all of the guesswork out of it. I feel like Sebastian’s 2nd birthday party will be a breeze now!
Sometimes it can be hard to find activities for your child that you can have fun doing with them or that you can happily watch them do, but I have found that Unplugged Play had a plethora of great ideas. I will definitely be referencing this book today, tomorrow, and until who knows when!
So all this to say, I recommend this book!
How do you feel about electronic play?
{Full Disclosure: I received this book for free, but I did not receive any compensation for the review of this book. All of the opinions in this post are my personal, honest assessment of this product.}