mom review: Recipes for Play
TEXT Kate Schwarz
Y ou’ll appreciate this book’s
infusion of fun, engaging
activities during the end of the
cold and snowy winter, when
your own creativity is stumped. Instead
of surrendering the remote and allowing
way too much screen time, open the pages
of Recipes for Play: Creative Activities for
Small Hands and Big Imaginations! for some
fresh ideas for you and your children.

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This activity book starts with the premise
that all children are natural explorers and
come hard-wired with curious minds and
wandering fingertips. Each child wonders
what the things around him or her feel
like, taste like and how things work. The
authors also believe playing is not just a
way to pass the time for kids; rather, it’s
the main way young children learn.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Check One:
The introduction also includes an
explanation of why and how the book is
geared towards children’s senses. Each
of the activities has one or more small
photographs of an ear, nose, eye, hand or
mouth to alert the parent/caregiver/teacher
to the senses on which that activity focuses.

The activities in the book are divided
into three main categories. Here are
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by Rachel Sumner and Ruth Mitchener
in older children’s needs and wants, and
forgotten that our youngest just want to
play with water or make messy art.

categories with a few examples
the activities that fall within them:
Play: salt dough, rainbow rice,
papier mâché, painting with marbles
Play: touch tub, painting
windows, ice excavations,
ideas for water play
Play: lacing cards,
wallet stuffers, photo book,
playing with ribbons
are many things I like about this
book. First, there’s the “mess
rating for each activity. Really,
it’s a “patience-o-meter” that
the question most parents ask
starting an activity, “How messy
this going to be, and do I have enough
for it?” The book rates the clean-
time and mess factor on a low, medium
high level. I find that very helpful!
activity books like this one are
for first-time parents whose
craft muscles are just starting
be formed. As parents, we might
have to bust a craft out of
closet just like a magician pulls a
out of his hat. This book is also
for parents like me with three (or
kids who might be wrapped up
Third, I love how the activities are broken
up into indoor, outdoor and takeaway
play. While the boundaries are fuzzy for
each of these categories—if I want to be
really brave, I could let my son play with
water inside—the takeaway activities that
allow kids to be curious and engaged in
something while sitting at a table or waiting
somewhere are beyond practical. There are
so many moments we wait with our kids,
especially younger siblings waiting for
their older ones, and now we have a gentle
nudge and some great suggestions to use
during that time to play with our kids.

I think this is a fantastic book. At just about
$10, it’s a necessary part of any parent’s
winter (or, really, any season) survival kit!
Publisher: The Experiment;
www.theexperimentpublishing.com Available through Amazon,
Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million!
MSRP: approximately $11
Ages: 2-6 years
Kate Schwarz is a full-time mom and wife living in Great Falls,
VA. In addition to being a reader to her three small children,
Kate is a writer, distance runner, Crossfitter and blogger of
raising kids with books at www.katesbookery.blogspot.com.

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