When I was a kid I would often go to our backyard to play with soil. Using an old tin can, I would pour soil inside it and turn it upside down – a make-believe soil “cake.” Since we didn’t have enough money to buy toys, we usually improvise with whatever we could find around the house and area.
When I saw the “nendo” or modeling clay for kids sold at the department store a few weeks ago – I thought of how fun it would be to play with it, both for myself and for Aya. I can’t say that I missed a lot during my childhood by not being able to afford expensive items – my Daddy made up for it by giving us things to do with our hands, may it be sketching, drawing or playing with soil (however unhygienic it turned out to be). Anyway, Aya and I were both excited with this new playtoy (I was a firsttimer, like her!), and pretty soon our working table was filled up with vegetable and fruit-look-alikes and various shapes of animals and other things. More than the activity itself is that wonderful time where both parent and child discover the simple wonders of creating something.
How lovely it is to be a child again – with no other concerns in the world, molding things just because you want to, not because you have to.