Monday, August 27, 2012

Hunting Mammoths


My kids and I had an awesome time playing imaginative games this weekend. We used to have puppet shows and play with toy cars or tea sets coming up with short scenes but we never created a whole story with weird twists, climax and resolutions. I thought they would get bored of it and hence never tried it. However, since I challenged myself a week or so back, I decided to give it a shot. Boy was I wrong and boy did they spark up when we decided to play Hunting Mammoths. 

I know that the idea of hunting sounds violent as I honestly do not like the act (sport) myself, but the kids learned from it. You see, my son said something about hunting more than one mammoth when I intervened and mentioned to him that a long time ago they only hunted as much as they needed and that they used everything from the bones, to the meat to the hide.  I also explained that the Natives hunted Buffaloes and not mammoths but since the mammoth was already made we might as well use it in some way other than to look pretty in our living room.

Where did we get the mammoth?

You see, last week, my son asked if we could add another activity to the program I put together. He wanted us to cut out miniature mammoths from paper but I had a better idea. We had a few boxes lying around that I did not want to throw away and so we built a mammoth the size of a dog the day before.


I wanted to create the whole scene, so we made Native head bands with feathers which the kids colored so beautifully and downloaded a Native American drumming song from iTunes just to create an atmosphere and put the kids in the mood. Little did I know that our story will go from hunting mammoths to sci-fi action.

Having finished the hunt, my son soon came up with other ideas like cloning and scientific inventions, we even had time machines and wormholes. Jad, who wanted to be from a different tribe, thought that the idea of having his mother (an Iroquois) and her loyal dog, his sister, as prisoners would be fun. He wanted to sacrifice us in front of his tribe and I was not sure why. I honestly went along with the whole thing and only asked a few questions to clarify the whole story in my head as it was a little confusing at first. I thought Mina would be confused as well but she seemed to have a better picture of what was going on than I did.

She even had her fair share of coming up with ideas herself. At one point in the story, she decided that her leg met an unfortunate accident and was chewed off by something or someone (I wasn't sure what exactly!). As she was pretending to be a sad pathetic dog spread out on the ground, she was unable to communicate in words what she had wanted done. She managed to get her message across after a few attempts of yelping and signing which was  to have her brother, the cloning inventor Scientist, make her another one. 

We had a blast! -----}-----@


Kids in general never cease to amaze me. They come up with the weirdest craziest ideas which are all fun once the adults get their heads around them. I have learned to never say NO to their creative ideas as they give me a better picture of what goes on in their heads and also reveal how smart and imaginative they could be. I will not say NO as I do not want to be the one who dampens these energetic beings, their moods or their self-confidence. There are no limits to where their minds can go and how interesting they can be. I had a great time just going along with what they suggested and had my belief, of how magnificent they are, reaffirmed.

9 comments:

Birdie said...

Lana, you rock as a mom!

and

Your children are so adorable!

Tabouleh said...

Thank you Barbara... how sweet of you to say that!

jan said...

Fabulous times - your children are very lucky to have such a Mum. Imagination, isn't it wonderful?!

jyothisethu said...

elephant is very much a part of our cultural life in kerala. the imagination seems very nice and interesting for the children...

by the way... thanks for visiting my blog...

Kat McNally said...

Wow! That's an amazing scenario you created. What lucky kids you have.
I have to echo Barbara aka Birdie here: YOU ROCK!
xx

jan said...

Hello Lana, i did leave a comment earlier last week but it seems to have disapeared. :( Now I can't remember what I said except some positives about imagination and your kids being so fortunate to have a Mum like you. xx

Tabouleh said...

Thank you Jan for commenting twice and making sure saw it... That is very sweet of you. I apologize for not publishing them as i have not been checking my blog for the longest time now. Thanks for your encouragement and love.

Tabouleh said...

Dearest Sethu.... I apologize for my late reply... I have not been checking my blog for some time now... I love elephants and they are one of my favorite animals... You are correct, imagination is interesting and beneficial for children.I must do it it often though.

Tabouleh said...

Thank you Kat for your comment and encouragement... please do not think that I do this often... most of the time I am exhausted by the time I get home... LOL... and many times I think I am not doing enough. Much love to you.