How Wren Plays

Wren and I have created a new game.  It is called AirPorts.  The game started with the Duplo airport and evolved into a world laid out on the carpet, three planes and various scenarios of baddies and goodies and excited animals.

The Lemurs get a ride to Madagascar

Here is my participant observation of a few minutes of morning play.  It begins when I have build a rough square structure from Duplo and Wren has named it "the Heekee Hole" for Baby Dinosaur to live in.  Bad animals have threatened to attack.

Wren:  "[Mama Dinosaur] is going to hide in the Heekee Tent.  Now she is in the Heekee Tent!  She is safe."

Me:  Where is baby dinosaur?

Wren:  He is in the Heekee Hole so he can't find anything to eat. 

The Heeky Hole with coconut palm

Me:  He can eat coconuts that fall off the coconut tree.

Wren:  They are too small for him.  He is a giant fella.

Me:  There are quite a lot! 

Wren:  Okay.  Gawp gaup gaup.  He ate all the coconuts.

Me:  What!

Wren:  He ate all of them.

Me:  But I told you baby dinosaur can eat them.

Wren: Oh, uh oh.  BIG DINOSAUR ate them.  The baby girl can plant some more.  She can go in the Heekee Hole.  I am going to eat some really quick because of that Godszillary Guy coming.

[Wren brings a little Duplo girl into the Heekee Hole and munches 'coconuts'.

The BIG ONE who ate all the coconuts

Wren:  Mummy.  Looks what comes running down.

Me:  Is it a boulder?

Wren:  It is a volcano.  This is a volcano ERUPTING.
[The lego rocks enter the Heekee Hole]
It is coming into the Heekee Hole.  Its falling.

[I squirt it with blocks of blue lego.  ]

Wren:  Now its cold.  It still rushed in but it is cold. 

Me: They can use it as a table now.

Wren:   They will play with it.

Later, we went to Value Village and I found one of those 'excavation' kits where you get a block of plaster or sand and some tools to chisel into it.  It was Egyptian themed.  It said 6+ but Wren was very excited, having 'helped' Frost and Alex excavate a few weeks ago and been sidelined by the bigger boys.

We took it home and he dug and chiseled for a long while before I helped him get the sarcophagus out.  Thereafter he painted all the pieces with the craft paints provided.  It was a very worthwhile purchase.