We’ll admit it: Sometimes being a grownup can be really boring. When we’re kids, our whole lives revolve around imagination and trying new things—days are about a lot more than Zoom meetings and taking out the trash.
But, we’re also here to tell you: Play is everywhere, and even the most boring grownup stuff has the potential to turn into a powerful play moment!
Consider taking out the trash: The next time you grab the recycling bin, take a look and see what leftover paper products you could give to your kiddos, then hit play on this week’s Tinkering at Home video: Paper 101.
You’ll be shocked at not only how a simple material like paper can keep your kiddos occupied, but also at what they come up with.
At Chicago Children’s Museum, we’re always looking for ways to use materials in different ways, and exploring how we can offer high quality materials (in affordable price ranges) for kiddos—always in ways that are encouraging, surprising, and engaging. As play experts, we know that if we trust our littles and invite them to explore new materials through play, they can learn about the magical qualities of everyday materials, and how to appreciate and respect the materials they play with.
So here are some additional resources for you to explore. And as you do, throw on some jazz in the background—we love pairing the simplicity of materials like paper with the complexity of music like jazz. Plus, jazz boosts our creativity—so throw on this Mulatu Astatke play list, grab some paper scraps, and get creative!
To Do: Chicago Children’s Museum At Home Activities
Recipes for Play: Upcycled Architect
Recipes for Play: Painting with Paper
To Explore: CCM Friends & Family Content
Little Black Pearl: A longtime Chicago Children’s Museum partner, Little Black Pearl has been dedicated to empowering our community through arts and STEM education for over 25 years. Their mission is to create opportunities for youth and adults to deepen their creative involvement through the arts, cultivate their entrepreneurial skills and use the arts as a means for economic empowerment and community transformation.
Choosing Paper for Children’s Art: This article includes suggestions for “tried-and-true papers” for a variety of different creative uses and mediums, and ways to explore paper itself.
Polysensorial Carpets of Paper: This site details unique and surprising ways to explore paper around your home (and Play spaces such as CCM’s!), and how adults can scaffold such encounter to reveal paper’s mysteries. It’s a wonderful way to engage infants and toddlers!
How to Use Suggestions to Support Children’s Creative Learning: This blog includes tips for how adults can scaffold and support children’s art/mediums explorations and creating such environment. This blog also offers a plethora of hands-on, process focused, play-based activities, inspiration, and caregiver/educational supports, and has a bilingual (Spanish/English) Instagram account.
PLAYfest 2020: A Day of Wonder: PLAYfest is a daylong event celebrating ideas and people. Four sessions of prepared talks will be augmented with hands-on interactive workshops (ranging from drawing to cooking to social activism) and discussion groups. Everyone is invited! There is no cost to attend PLAYfest, but registration is required.
PLAYfest is all online on Friday, August 14, 2020 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
To Read: Additional Resources for Parents & Caregivers:
We comb the internet so you don’t have to! If you’ve ever wondered how paper is made, or what amazing things professionals can do with paper, check out these links.
Discover UK Handmade Paper Video
The Best Games to Play with Pen and Paper
Artist Li Hongbo’s incredible paper sculptures