From the moment I saw the story telling stones created by Emily at red bird crafts, I’ve been wanting to gather up some of the many rocks in the abandoned rock garden next to our front porch to start our own collection.
One morning I started picking up rocks with this in mind, but before we even had a chance to start this project, our four year old offered me another opportunity to let go and go with it. She was immediately captivated by a small chunk of concrete which she declared was her new pet, “Shelly.” As it turns out, Shelly comes with a story of his own – he is bigger than the other rocks and none of the other rocks wanted to play with him, perhaps because he was so big and plain? It was quickly decided that he was in dire need of a rainbow makeover.
Dacey selected on our new collection of sparkle paints for Shelly:
Eventually we had to call in some chocolate cookies to keep the creativity nourished:
Here is stage one of Shelly the Pet Rock’s makeover:
He has since had some polka dots added, and I hear a pair of googly eyes along with some pom pom accents are in the works.
Remember when I told you how hard it is for me to purge out items from our extensive toy collection? Shelly has reminded me that children really do delight in the simplest objects. He has become a fixture at our table, joining in dinnertime discussions and overseeing other art projects. In the past week, she has played with him far more than any of the other toys taking up space in the playroom.
Shelly has been a (forgive me) concrete reminder to me that when it comes to inspiring imaginative play, simplicity wins every time.
(By the way, how are you doing with naming nature for our first Connecting with Nature challenge? Don’t forget we’ll gather on Saturday to discuss. And remember that discussion on Last Child in the Woods for the Simple Mom Sound Mind, Sound Mom book club starts today!)
Last month, I asked you – the Simple Kids community – to share some of your 
Many evenings when the girls and I 
