by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and my website, patlambchristianauthor.com
Train up a child….
Stuffed Animals Can be Teaching Tools
Playing with my young grandson and his stuffed animals reminded me of how much a child can learn from this activity. As an adult plays with a child, the conversation can be guided in such a way that the child can learn about manners and consideration of the needs and feelings of others. In addition, the child can develop empathy that can be transferred into real life in interrelationships with people. Creative skills are enhanced and children learn social skills.
Most children really enjoy playing “pretend”. A child and adult may pretend any number of situations using the animals. My grandson and I pretended that Leo, the Lion, had a birthday and we were giving him a birthday party. We took the other animals shopping for Leo and talked about what would be appropriate for a lion. I pointed out that Leo liked to eat meat while some of the other animals, such as the lambs, liked to eat grass. We talked about how we should choose a gift that would make Leo happy and not pick a gift that would just make us happy. Each animal knocked politely on the door before entering the home of Leo. Each animal said “please”, “thank you”, and “excuse me” when appropriate. Leo mentioned that he would be writing thank-you notes to all who brought a gift. In these actions, my grandson learned about saying “excuse me”, thank you”, and “please”. He also learned about considering the wants and needs of others instead of self. The play could have been carried further and play money could have been used to purchase a gift. In doing so, proper use of money could have been taught.
On another occasion, I used his stuffed roadrunner and his stuffed dog to tell a story patterned after Aesop’s fable, “The Fox and the Crane”. This story emphasizes consideration of others. Letting the roadrunner substitute for the crane and the dog substitute for the fox, I told how the dog invited the roadrunner for dinner and served milk in a flat plate. The dog liked the flat plate because the dog laps the milk, but the roadrunner could not get the milk with his beak. The roadrunner decided to teach the dog a lesson and invited the dog to dinner at his house. The roadrunner served milk in a tall, narrow, vessel that he could put his beak in, but the dog couldn’t lap the milk from. They each realized that they should have considered the needs of the other and apologized. I briefly mentioned that people have different needs and that we should consider those needs.
Most children have at least one stuffed animal. There are many opportunities to use other common things around the house to teach children and develop good attitudes. If we take advantage of these opportunities while the children are young, they grow up with proper feelings toward others and we save them, as well as ourselves, many headaches. My grandson begged me over and over to play with him with his stuffed animals. I considered it time well spent. As he enjoyed playing, he learned many important things to help him in later life and stimulated his creative ability at the same time. He developed conversational skills and learned to think quickly as he responded to my conversation in our pretend games.