Play

I attended the Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium's Conference in early May. The MEIC, as it is called, is an exciting opportunity for early intervention professionals  and the parents they work with, to learn together. The key note speaker this year was Nancy Carlsson-Paige (you can read more about her here: http://www.empoweredbyplay.org/blog/). Ms. Carlsson-Paige talked about the importance of unstructured play--pretend play, that is self-directed.

I was there to present a two-day intensive workshop entitled: Social Media Strategies: Using Technology to Support and Inform. While it might seem that these two topics were incongruous, I would argue that Pinterest, one of the most popular social media sites for young mothers, shows that families are creating and sharing ideas about unstructured play.  And to prove it, I want to share some pins from families showing how to reuse those old entertainment centers:

A quick trip to a yard sale or thrift store, some paint, fabric and creativity and for under a $100 you can have a pretend kitchen that can provide hours and hours of imaginative play.