The Dinosaur Museum
Three kids, Four hours, one dinosaur museum. Most of the time was spent in the water erosion table (sand, water, plastic dinosaurs) or in the quarry (sand, paint brushes, fake dinosaur bones.) I suppose it is a lot of money to spend for my kids to play in the sand, but museum sand is special. Or something. We went through the whole museum twice. The first time was a mad dash to see what was next. The second time the kids slowed down, looked at things, and played spontaneous creative games. Kiki eschewed the trip in favor of hanging out with friends. Link played right along with Gleek and Patch, but I was interested to notice that he was always the first one to get bored. Gleek and Patch could play pretend for hours, but Link has shifted into an emotional place where he needs structured goals to enjoy his games. This makes sense since he is almost twelve. He is beginning the transition into being a teenager. So I watched him playing pretend and knew that, like the sand in the water erosion table, Link is constantly shifting and changing toward the future.