Every year in the month of June, we travel to Michigan for vacation. It's a week of just us. My late father-in-law would call this "making memories". Being the shutter bug that I am, I take about a million pictures. Okay, maybe not a million, but I have been known to take as many as 4000 in a week on vacation. (insert my husband's eye roll here.)
As a child, we spent our summer vacations at the Englewood Beach in Florida. Those are some of the happiest childhood memories that I have. But...Once vacation is over though, there's laundry to do and a car to clean out and sometimes those pictures stay on the camera. Why not make those memories tangible? Why not revisit those happy times through play?
With a few simple props, your vacation can continue - a mini vacation, if you will. We go to Michigan to the lighthouses and beaches. So I would use a beach play mat, a lighthouse, and some peg dolls of the family to recreate our vacation.
Through play, children can bond with their caregiver or parent. They act out scenarios. They are developing their language and vocabulary by retelling events (or embellishing stories!) Play is essential for brain development. And why not relive some of the happiest times of their childhood?
