At this time I am sure that in many houses you are already opening the gifts that the Magi have left you, have they been generous with you?
For the little ones, they will certainly have brought very special toys but with how many of them will they continue playing when the month of January ends? Probably, with very few. In the end, those sophisticated toys that with such enthusiasm asked for usually go to the corner of oblivion very soon and It is the simplest toys that are used the longest.
There are many reasons why some toys are soon forgotten by our children, but one of them is probably because how much the more sophisticated the toy, less place leaves the imagination Y can only be used for what it was designed for.
Without going any further, in our house it is already happening with the gifts that Santa Claus left just a few days ago. Specifically, the gift that our eldest son, "Jake's Lair", a toy that he had been asking for since the summer, has barely entertained him for two days in a row. Why? Well, because once he has opened and closed the leaves a hundred times, once he has fired the cannon and climbed the platform so many times, it's over: the toy is no more. I could invent some story with the dolls that he already has (he has almost all the characters of Jake and the Pirates) but to invent stories he doesn't need to use La Guarida, which only allows him to open and close his leaves to boredom and little else.
Many sophisticated toys have a very limited use. Once they have been used intensively during the first few days, children get bored of them and seek new adventures. They were very beautiful, they seemed to do incredible things (especially in advertising) but in practice they were not enough encouragement for the overflowing need for learning and fun that children have.
That announcement that has become so viral, that of the child who goes crazy with joy upon receiving a stick, hits the spot. What can a stick be? A sword, a magic wand, a pole, an oar, a horse, a broom, a scepter ... It can be many things! And today it can be one thing, and tomorrow another, and if it is taken by another certain person who will invent a completely different use.
Surely in many houses the toy boxes of today will give a lot of play, leave them on hand a few days before throwing them away! It is possible that as adults it bothers us a little that they pay more attention to the packaging than to the contents but that is the way children are!
In our house, as for work we receive huge boxes, once placed the merchandise that comes inside we use them to make houses. As we do not receive two equal boxes, every time a large one comes, we have a great time designing the project first and then carrying it out. The last one has been converted into a castle with a drawbridge included, in addition to having conveniently painted it on the outside with finger paint.
There is nothing better than the imagination of a child in full action. And to stimulate it, toys full of lights and sounds are not necessary (although sometimes they can be very good), in many cases using things that we have at home we can have a great time in a simple, economical and even ecological way (by giving it a second life to things that would otherwise have probably ended up in the trash).
So, since the year is very long and the toys they receive now will not entertain them for a long time, we can propose in 2014 to use more what we have more at hand: egg cups, cardboard boxes, rolls of toilet paper or kitchen finished, empty bottles (for example to put and take balls, something that babies love), everything you can think of!
The children rule! And, therefore, the Magi will continue to bring what they put in their letter, even knowing that they will be toys for a day, if only a couple of weeks.
What is your experience? What toys have been the most used by your children? Do you agree that the simplest toys are the ones that are finally used for the longest time?
