Creativity At Play
I was getting ready to leave a friend’s house after a play date when she said, “I love it when there are toys all over the floor at my house, especially after we’ve had people over for a few hours.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Really?” I doubted what she was saying. At the time, I couldn’t imagine being grateful for a big mess at my house.
“Yeah,” she assured me, “Because a big mess means the kids had fun.”
I nodded, understanding her point. It took me a while, though, to see a mess of toys all 0ver my own living room floor as a blessing. It took a while to remember that kids don’t see mess when they look at toys all over the floor, they see a stimulating creative environment.
When my husband started to complain about a big mess of toys on the floor every day (before our nightly cleanup), I remembered what my friend had said. The scattered toys mean they were having fun. There wouldn’t be toys scattered all over the floor if the kids weren’t able to enjoy them.
It clicked, finally. Mess means we’re enjoying what we are doing.
When the dining room table is covered in our craft tablecloth plus scattered paints, paintbrushes, and canvasses galore, it’s because we were having fun. We were letting our creativity out to play. We weren’t just letting it out for things that look clean or neat or minimal. Because although I appreciate minimalism and things being neat and orderly, I also really love creativity and embracing a lifestyle that makes a whole lot of room for creative exploration.
So, I try not to let scattered toys and paints and other things frustrate me. We do nightly cleanups anyway, and having all of those things out for a few hours means we’re having fun, and we’re getting use out of the things we own. Both of those are good things.
Plus, playtime is the most obvious time for creativity. It’s when kids learn to give their toys personalities, play out certain scenarios, and express their imagination through creative play. It’s also a time for art: when those first drawings are created, and when art skills are improved upon.
Play is important. Art is important. And I will try my best to not view play as mess again.
