Inspired by it but not liking the ridiculous price of buying all the block sets shown (about $500), I got the curved blocks, bought some unfinished cut wood shapes off Etsy and picked up some rainbow glass pebbles at Michael's so Aiden could invent his own make believe things.
In July I took Aiden to the library and also let him pick out DVDs from their scant collection. He selected a Tinkerbell movie where she invents things and goes on some ridiculous adventure. Aiden was so enthralled by the way she used sticks, leaves & natural things to make "machines" that he wanted to "make Tinkerbell fairy things". I suggested we start by making Tinkerbell a place to live out of his blocks & things, which spiraled into a whole world of imaginary play for him that I'm loving!
See the rainbow pebble cobblestone walkway? (A "sidewalk" for "driving on") Aiden also decided she needed some mushrooms planted nearby her little gnome house.
I built the blue block wall (first picture above) and let Aiden watch me. Then I began making the above multi-colored wall and got about 3 pieces touching before he completely took over! When we first got the curvy block set he was *PISSED* that they would not line up to make nice, straight sidewalks. (My exact intent - the kid should learn something besides straight lines!) Once I showed him how to stack the blocks, make curvy-edged lagoons for his plastic dinosaurs & how to balance the symetrical arched blocks, he's enjoyed these much more! I have too and am always on the lookout for more creative waldorf playthings I can pick up on Etsy or make myself. :)
Meanwhile, it's also nice to have fun, silly things to pretend play with. I would have loved something like this as a child and would have played for hours on end! (No doubt it's why I'm giving them to Aiden now!) And I'm not worried about the "girlie fairy" things rubbing off.... Not shown is Frank the Combine Tractor plowing down everything in sight and then Chuy the Bulldozer picking up the "what a mess" glass pebbles and putting them into his deep fry basket (a vintage object I found in Granbury that is now a sand & water play toy), shoving the basket into one of the empty cubbys (that doubles as a play oven since I lined it with a metal oven rack) and cooking them into "candy". All of this ended by throwing the glass pebbles & blocks everywhere - Hurricane Aiden style - before he calmly walked out of the playroom, towing star blanket, to go wreak havoc somewhere else! Yep, he's got that fairy play thing down.... LOL!
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