Going Up

One activity sure to focus Bug’s attention for a substantial chunk of time is Legos. The kid can build. He has inherited his daddy’s dexterity, which comes in handy because he has also inherited several storage bins crammed with his daddy’s childhood Legos. On rainy days, we don’t need DVDs for mellow entertainment. We can pass a good, chill hour on the living room floor, snapping blocks together.

Legos are only compelling up to a point, though. The angles create a natural limit to creativity. If the kid likes to build, why not build with other stuff? What about the stuff you find around the house or out in nature, stuff whose connectivity is not pre-determined?

Anyone with a preschooler knows this kind of craftiness is the most fun. It also hits its own wall when it comes to assembling upwards. White glue, that staple of every child’s craft box, is easy to spread but slo-o-o-ow to dry. This means that a person can cobble together a fabulous collage but give up in frustration when trying to make a car or a building or a rocket ship with actual depth.

Bug uses white glue as its own medium, painting and making shapes on the page with it. He is fan of glitter and salt-paint. He can create mosaics out of little bits of paper. I do not think he recognizes his capacity to build something three dimensional, however, unless he is using plastic blocks.

Sometimes the only thing separating routine and innovation is a single tool.

Recently, Teacher Tom, one of the most inspired bloggers you will ever read, posted a story about building with odds and ends in his preschool classroom. This dude lets the 4- and 5- year olds  use hot glue guns. Yes, those guns: the ones with the heated metal tips squeezing out scalding glue.

Well, why not? We let our kids climb trees and swim in lakes and roll down grassy hills. Just about every activity worth doing has risk built in. Kids and grown ups both understand owies are an occasional consequence of fun, and we all learn which hazards to avoid.

Today, I broke out the hot glue gun, a heap of cardboard, a few popsicle sticks, and some random bits of trash rescued from the recycling bin. Bug was transfixed. After I explained how both the tip of the gun and the fresh glue itself could burn him, he did not want to touch anything. He watched, directing me. “Build a house, mommy.” I started with a couple walls. In no time, Bug was reaching for the gun. “Let me try.” He squeezed with care, kept his hands clear, and set the gun out of reach between uses. His concentration was even more acute than when he is at the Legos. 

At one point, Bug went tearing into the house without saying a word to me. I found him in the bathroom, running cold water over his finger. He dried off his hand, went back outside, and picked up the glue gun without a whimper or an explanation. He did not even ask for a band-aid.

For his people and his house, he collected some “mulberry leaves” from the garden and affixed them to his stick-person’s arms as hands. The second floor of the house went on, a trap door opened from above, and a roof protected it all from today’s predicted thunderstorms. In the blink of an eye, we had crafted a big kid and a little kid, a rocket ship, and a two-story building with reinforced sides. All of it, after a few tests and modifications, was sturdy enough for a busy boy to play with. 

Bug did not know he was capable of creating something out of trash and scraps. I did not know he could manage a grown-up tool. While we were both initially wary of this approach, we were not too scared of the unknown to try. It was simply. . . unknown. Until today, such a project had never occurred to us. Now, I am left wondering what else we have not yet thought to attempt. 

Without a doubt, I have it in me to chart a course more extraordinary than I had ever considered. This awareness is my constant companion. What keeps some of us from great things is not a lack of courage, but a lack of imagination. This kid and his mama both have oodles of gumption. With the right tools, we can build it right up towards the sky.