We all hear that play is important for children.  I know it’s important.  It’s their work; how they learn to make friends, negotiate, solve problems with objects, and solve problems with other children.  Play is having fun, and it’s also very hard work.  Learning how to pump a swing and ride a bike is a mountain of a challenge.  So is learning how to ask for a turn, and to stick up for yourself.

Recently I stood back and watched children playing in our Dinosaur Den at school.  The conversation was lively, and they wanted to make the dinosaurs talk with each other.

And they did!

Then a child asked me to take a picture of all the dinosaurs.  They had worked so carefully to get the dinosaurs all set up, before a dinosaur dinner.  Do you see the dinner, the multitude of rocks. carefully lined up?  I couldn’t get…