Childhood can be a special time and one activity kids of various ages love to do is collecting, so for lots of play how about making a color collection?
A color collection can be an assortment of items all of one color or it can be things a child likes just because of the colors. It can last for several months, or just a few days. This is a pink collection that occurred this week and has had a home on the dresser.
While kids will collect rocks, stickers, buttons, dinosaurs, special TV or movie characters, bits of nature, and particular toys, what appeals to one child may not appeal to another. Big Sister likes crystals and Little Sister likes monkeys, possibly because they are allowed to jump on the bed.
Collecting anything is more complicated than it appears. It involves being able to put objects into groups as well as figuring out if any one piece belongs to the group or not. This skill of categorizing is a brain strategy for condensing vast amounts of information into more manageable chunks. Kids also need to make choices about what they want to keep.
Do you go out for walks with your child and have to stop numerous times to check out the treasures that appear? Walking with Little Sister almost means having to take along a bag for all the things she wants to bring home.
Have you heard the recent news about scientists finding some tremendously old skeletons? One of the tasks has been to discover how this group, homo naledi, is similar to and differs from homo sapiens. This is categorizing at a very advanced level, and for children, this skill is involved in making collections. I wonder if these paleontologists had collections when they were kids?
For some plays-of-the-days, maybe future scientists could start by making a color collection?