Paper isn’t a toy, but it’s playful. These ideas for child’s play with paper are another way that kids can play with ordinary, everyday non-toy items. While we buy toys for children, they make April Fools of us by playing with anything.
Usually, when we think of activities with paper, what comes to mind is drawing, coloring, cutting, and gluing but paper is also fun to rip, crinkle, bend, fold, and throw. However kids play with paper, they are problem-solving, experimenting, discovering, creating, communicating, organizing, planning, interacting, sharing, negotiating, and more. Paper is stacks of fun and learning and suitable for kids of all ages as long as they don’t eat it.
One of the first things that kids discover with paper is that it makes sounds when scrunched up or torn. They soon figure out how they can tear it. Paper can be rolled and thrown to be a ball that doesn’t hurt. A paper ball won’t float in the air like a sheet of it. A paper airplane not only floats, it flies. Older kids and adults will fold paper to see which kind of paper airplane will fly the farthest. Sometimes, airports will have paper airplane contests and give prizes.
Paper can also be folded into easy shapes like tents or incredible origami ones shaped like animals, birds, and baskets. Holes add a whole new dimension to paper, turning a piece of paper into a mask or a lacy snowflake.
Kids play with sheets of paper and tiny little bits. It behaves differently when it’s wet than when it’s dry. Does paper float or sink? If we fold paper to make a boat, what happens?
Paper comes in different sizes, colors, thicknesses, and texture. It’s easy to accumulate lots of paper for playing by saving it in a basket or box. It can be used for countless art projects and other play activities. Big Sister noticed some tissue paper was orange like fire. The recycling had some other colors too. Using colors she saw in flames, she scrunched them into a box for an imaginary campfire. A cotton ball and chopstick made the marshmallow for roasting. Imagination can turn paper into restaurant orders, post office letters, messages in secret codes, and play money.
Even without words, paper can tell a story. Child’s play with paper is quite a story, isn’t it?