#MakeWonder: Nurturing Creativity through Play

With the holiday break just days away, children will soon swap schoolwork for fun at home – but the opportunities to learn don’t have to stop!

It’s been said that play is the work of childhood, and Wonder Workshop is taking this idea to an amazing new level.

With technology playing such an integral role in our world, Wonder Workshop – the maker of Dash & Dot – is engineering smart, new ways to take children beyond the screen and empowering them to learn, play and create joy.

The Motherhood team took a walk down memory lane and recalled some of the ways we delighted in using our imaginations as children and turned everyday objects into something extraordinary:

Brittnee: My cousins and I created and performed a puppet show for our family based on whatever holiday or occasion we were celebrating. With many of us participating, it was one of my first memories of working together with a group of people on a common goal – a performance for the whole family!

Brittney: I loved rounding up my neighborhood friends to create plays and musicals! We would create a script and choreography (music provided via cassette tape), spend a few days rehearsing, design and print flyers to promote the play and then put on our performance for a neighborhood audience. 

Erin: As kids, my brother and I could find magic in everyday objects and even trash: The laundry basket became a rocket ship, a refrigerator box filled with styrofoam peanuts became a certain rich cartoon duck’s money bin and our swing set in the backyard was a giant pirate ship. Our imaginations took us everywhere.

Kayla: I remember making homemade play dough with my mom when I was younger. I learned how to do it at school and was so excited I came home and begged my mom to help me make it again! It was one of our favorite things to do and I loved to make different colors, depending on my mood.

Nicole: When my brother and I were younger we used to make art out of ANYTHING. We would find smooth rocks and large leaves from outside and paint on them all sorts of colors and designs.

Sarah: I always loved building different types of buildings or houses with Lincoln Logs & Legos! I would try to “rebuild” places like my house and sometimes buildings like the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) in downtown Chicago!

Serena: My two cousins and I started a recurring newspaper called “The Triple ‘S’ Post” (our first names all start with ‘S’) and distributed it to our families. We were each in charge of different sections: comics, sports, weather, wanted ads, even a gossip column! We found a few copies recently and showed my nieces and nephews, who are around the age we were when we wrote them. They loved the idea so much that they’ve started a similar paper themselves!

For more on how you can discover new ways for your children to play and learn, visit www.makewonder.com.