What If?...And Then?...

 What If?...And Then?...

Two great questions to spark imaginative play. Most great stories start with the author asking ‘What if?’. ‘What if all the toys came to life?’ ‘What if my car could fly’ ‘What if I had a superpower?’

Children playing are constantly driven by the What If. It’s how playful curiosity leads to learning - ‘What if we made a track where all the cars crashed?’. This is how I spent much of the weekend. ‘What if I jump into this puddle?’ ‘What if I pour different coloured paints down my tummy?’ Yes. We’ve been there.

This is usually followed by And Then… In our case (my grandson and I) all the cars that fell off the track had to hide behind the football. All the ones that stayed on the track got to line up in groups of twos, threes, fours etc. There was a special celebration dance for prime numbers and a song that went ‘Prime is special! Prime is fine!’

The paint play involved shades of brown and deep purple, whole body smearing, the washing machine, the bath and finally a slightly disapproving and resigned parental sigh.

It doesn’t take any encouragement to get kids to play ‘What If?’ ‘And Then…’ All they need is to be allowed and a willing grandmother to clean up afterwards.

As we grow up ‘What If?’ ‘And Then…’ are not completely lost to us but not exactly encouraged by the educational system. Or parents who have neither the energy or time to clean up. Creative enquiry is channeled into learning by rote. Prime numbers no longer get a happy dance. Pouring paint gets pushed into colour theory and attempts at realism. Music play becomes pieces by someone who has already written all the dots on lines. Writing play becomes analysing what some dead bloke wrote. Physical play into organised and competitive sport.

Let’s reclaim ‘What if?’ ‘And Then…’ Let us bring the joy and the curiosity back! Let’s play!

Dance for your favourite numbers. Let the paint go crazy without rhyme or reason but just to see what happens. Sing! No matter how out of tune and just making up the tune. Write nonsense and see what it turns into. Move your body in any way that just feels great! 

May you always be creative. It doesn’t matter what you make.