When Children Create New Games

Last night most of the neighbor kids were at our house playing with the boys. A total of 11 children were painting with wet sidewalk chalk and drawing really incredible pictures.

Tanner, ever inventive, decided to create a new game by chasing the children with a flyswatter... no, not my idea of a perfect toy but it was better than his first choice - a baseball bat.

Every time he would touch another child's back or legs with the flyswatter they were 'frozen' until another child came to rescue them. The rescued child then had to draw a picture before he or she could play again.

They must have played this fun and creative game for over an hour! And, in the meantime, I was able to completely weed two flower gardens while watching them play!

Sometimes it pays to just let them come up with the games, the game rules and sit back to watch and learn. It was a magical day.