Changing the World is Child’s Play is a lovely little book designed to help parents make the most of everyday interactions with their children by turning them into playful encounters.
The forward of this book was written by Miriam McCaleb and Nathan Mikaere Walli and says: “Play is central to all aspects of human development, and while it’s a simple idea, it is one of the most complicated processes of systems integration and cognitive stimulation we know of” How very true!
The book is divided up into 2 page topics such as anger, touch, responsibility, water, song. Each topic has a brief context, an example of this in a child’s life and some ideas for how to experience this topic.
I’m liking
Sarah Best obviously has great respect for children and nature. I love the simple and easy ideas she gives for making everyday interactions more playful.
She also deals with some tricky topics such as anger and death. I’ve used quite a few of the anger ideas with my 4 year old, and have found them really effective.
I really liked that Glensor Best doesn’t give ideas that need elaborate equipment or preparation, rather her ideas are about building playfulness into activities that you probably already do as a family.
Things that made me go hmmmm
It might have been good to have a bit more diversity in the images throughout the book and at times, the editing could have been a little tighter.
The conclusion
I would recommend this book for any parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, educators or child minders who want to improve their relationship with the kids they interact with as well as help them develop socially and emotionally.
