stART - Too Many Toys

***Sorry about the lack of paragraph spacing in this post. Blogger, and I are not getting along today :) ***

The book we read, today, for stART, a story and art link up hosted by A Mommy's Adventures, was Too Many Toys by David Shannon.

I was doing a little blog hopping this weekend, and ran into a review of this book, by a guest poster at No Time For Flashcards. My library had a copy on hand, so I checked it out the next day, thinking it would be a good one for the kids. It is, but even more importantly, it's a good one for all of us parents of today, especially at this time of year.

The little boy in the story, is not greedy. His parents have not deliberately spoiled him. The toys he has are not bad, in fact many are even educational. And, it's not that he doesn't appreciate them, he does - he plays with them constantly, and even remembers who gave them to him. He just has too many. Sound familiar? While his family's intentions in giving him the toys, games, paint sets, musical instruments, and books, were good - it turns out they were really fueling his materialism, more than his creativity.

By the last page of the book, the reader (and by this I mean the parent reading the book out loud), is reminded, that no matter how many great toys there are out there, nothing beats a child's imagination for pure, and simple fun, as any parent who has ever watched their child playing with a cardboard box, really already knows.

So, after reading the book to the children today, I gave them boxes of their own, and left them alone to create, imagine, and play.

I would show you all of their finished works of art, except that they took them to their rooms, which look a lot like the little boy's room in the story - too many toys, indeed!

It's great to be a homeschooler.