Imagination stimulates learning...a Baby Boomer's Perspective!

Recall an interview with Spielberg many years ago that was the motivation for this lens. Spielberg, famous for great movies brings huge imagination to the viewer. This interview revealed what imagination can do for a child.

Spielberg's wild and fun imagination were what helped to make him what he is today. He recalled imagining creatures crawling out from underneath his bed before falling asleep. He talked about how this imagination brought him to what his life's venture would become.

The Ad Council has developed great television commercials to focus on child development, imagination, health and other family issues. Their collective efforts to bring worldwide and national attention to issues of public concern goes a long way.

After attending a conference in the 1980s which featured how this powerful organization brokered partnerships with public issues, we were impressed with their commitment! Large corporations have joined their effort to increase awareness of family, health and safety.

We believe imagination is a wonderful tool for children, when kept in perspective. Today's play appears to remove the aspect of creative imagination. When gadgets do all the imagining, what are children left with?

Growing up in the 50s was simpler and we believe more fun! Play was left to imagination, not to mention the exercise we got when we engaged in outside activities.

Jump rope, hopscotch, baseball, climbing trees, running, and much more.

Indoor play included creating an imaginary store we could set up with washed discarded food containers. Mom did not wash the containers for us, we did. Outdoor games were unlimited, from baseball, tennis, to running our own track competition with our friends.

Our play restaurant served mud pies with apricot pits dotted on top or a pinch of dry dirt that made the topping. Never did our folks worry about how dirty we would get, it was child play and acceptable. After all a bath with Ivory soap that floated would leave us wondering why it floated?

Walking on wooden stilts was always fun, and no one seemed to worry if we would fall off. My father could make some that lasted a lifetime.

With my father's guidance, a home made kite that could fly as high as any today, were a half a day's process. With two sticks made into a T, brown paper bags, some glue, string, rags for a tail, the kite was ready for flight that afternoon. Much of the fun was painting the brown paper with a design that everyone could see. Cut rags tied together was must for any kite.

Hand made puppets developed dexterity and imagination. The faces were sculpted in clay, covered with paper mache (newspaper, flour and water), dried, painted readied for costumes. Puppet stages were made from boxes with old sheets for draped curtains. It taught discipline to finish the project and developed imagination to create the stage that was to be set for a "show". The kids in the neighborhood loved to attend the shows!

Crayons and watercolors with scraps of paper entertained us for hours. Primitive origami, cutting paper dolls, or designs that could be stretched. Our art creations were proudly displayed on bedroom walls, and refrigerators.

We climbed trees and created methods to communicate tree to tree without talking. Using string we tied it around two trees and sent written messages to each other on paper held with a clothespin (clothespins are a whole different lens). Messages back and forth had to have a theme. If it was nature related we had to write a message as to what we saw from a bird's view.

Pretending to be on a Hawaiian island was great fun. A sheet of newspaper was long enough to cut strips nearly to the waist. With a safety pin or masking tape, we swiveled our hips with the daily news blowing in the wind. Fresh flower petals from the rose bushes were strung to create leis and to put into our hair.

Once it was all over, the biodegradable paper went into the trash, the rose petals were place in a bowl and the house was fragrant for days.

Cannot count the hours playing baseball. All that was needed was a baseball, mitt, and bat. Grew up with dozens of cousins that made up a team mixed with kids of all ages.

The only electronic device was a phone to call friends to come over to play.

While all the technological devices created in the last three decades have made it fun.... we have to ask fun for whom? What happens when the novelty wears off? It goes into the pile with the other stuff to sell at a yard sale.

We have been known to entertain ourselves with all the high tech games, computer and phones gadgets that do everything but cook. Who knows what would happen if someone snapped away my computer, but we know the enormous sedentary time spent on these devices is astounding.

This lens is for those that would like to reflect back or perhaps revert back to simpler times.