Props for unlimited creative play on a limited budget.

My mother is visiting from out-of-town. Her visit, which came in conjunction with Mother’s Day, has stirred up memories of the creative influence she and my dad had on my childhood.  For the most part, kids think up imaginary games using everyday places and things. My parents enhanced that process by providing lots of raw materials which helped our imagination to take flight. 

The Trapeze

Here I am on the Trapeze my dad built!

In our playroom, my dad made a trapeze from a wooden dowel rod and nylon rope. He hung the trapeze from the rafters of our playroom ceiling using steel eye hooks screwed into a strong beam. Underneath the trapeze they placed a thick bed mattress.  As a result of that trapeze, I spend much of my early childhood upside down.  Many circus acts were performed, often accompanied by make believe clowns, marching bands and animal acts.

The Dress Up Barrel
Many of our imaginative games were enhanced by the contents of the magical “dress-up barrel.”  In the cavern of this barrel (4 ft. high x 3 ft. in diameter) was a collection of musty smelling, beloved treasures; old dresses, shoes, purses, petticoats, hats, wigs, glasses, necklaces, leis, old New Year’s Eve hats, overalls, vampire teeth. We dug into the barrel to become doctors, nurses, fashion models, clowns, cowboys, Indians, witches etc.  It seemed as though fabulous stuff just grew in the bottom of that thing and showed up.  Whatever we needed we knew we would find if we just dug far enough down in there.  And yes, you could fall in or hide there, which probably contributed to its unique smell that I remember to this day!

The Puppet Stage
This versatile play prop was made of 3 lightweight boards about 4 ft. x 2 ½ ft. hinged together. Picture a box with one out of 4 sides missing; two side panels stood perpendicular to the center “stage” panel, which allowed it to stand on its own.  A curtained opening was cut out of the top half and a 4 in. hinged platform attached for the   puppets to rest on.  The sides and bottom were chalk boards, on which pertinent information was written: 
Puppet Show at 1:30 pm
Tickets $2.00
or
Snow White
3 pm sharp!
$1.00 admission

The puppet stage also made a nifty hamburger stand. Customers ordered at the window after consulting the menu written on the front of the stand:
Hamburgers: 50 cents
Pop:  25 cents
Chips:  25 cents

On other days, the stand became a convenience grocery store counter:
Milk–  $1.00
Gum–  50 cents
Popsikels– 75 cents

The puppet stage could be folded up flat and transported easily by a parent or older kid to the driveway, garage, backyard, or where our flights of fancy took us.

Lastly, my father’s love of his daughters crossed with his engineering background to produce a play place that was most beloved.  He designed a roofless Barbie house on a pulley system such that it was stored flush against the ceiling of the playroom held firm by several ropes. Picture a 3 ft. x 2 ft. bookcase on its back, reconfigured to have rooms instead of shelves.

It could be lowered down to rest on a low card table for play, and then raised up again, often days later when we had tired of it.  It was like new to us when we took it down again months later. We decorated and redecorated the walls and rooms multiple times over during the years of our Barbie phase as we played for hours with this unique, easy access Barbie house.

Not only did my parents bless us by their willingness to invest time and energy into creative play stuff, but not surprisingly, our house was a sought after destination in the neighborhood. Many kids spent happy hours playing in that magical basement space with the trapeze, dress up barrel, puppet stage and Barbie house. None of those items were purchased, expensive to make, or shiny and perfect, yet all were harbingers of vivid, treasured childhood memories decades later.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who would like to hear ways that you or your parents have enhanced imaginative play inexpensively with creativity.