Human Toys

In my search for more "learning from children" connections, I found this article written by Sharon Barrey Grassick about playing with children who are deaf/blind.

She says: "Rather than manipulating a child's hands to teach him or her how to use a toy, offering ourselves as human toys and making our hands available for the child to control can achieve remarkable conversations (Miles & Riggio, 1999)."

She goes on to give a few illustrations:

1. "Instead of pushing a button to cause a toy to pop up, push against Dad's arm to make his arm pop up (in a specific and predictable pattern every time).
2. Instead of touching a switch to cause a light to go on, touch Mom's face and watch her eyes and mouth open wide, then shut again. (Brightly colored lipstick and eye shadow can help here.)
3. Instead of touching a toy to cause it to move, touch Mom's hand to make it move in a particular way. (Brightly colored nail polish may add interest.)"

I used to play like this with my kids, and still do with my grandchildren. A couple of my kids' favorites were: "guess the fingers" - they'd be sitting on my belly, leaning back against my knees and when they picked the correct combination of fingers, I'd straighten my legs and they'd fall back; and "remote control fork" - a feeding game where I pretended to be a remote controlled arm, and the kid, using thumb on my other hand as a joystick, would try to get me to put the food in her mouth.

Grassick concludes: "the most valuable activities are those that involve personal interaction...and the enjoyment of being connected with another human being."

Amen, sister. Amen.