Having survived the depression and all the obstacles a family had to overcome my dad relied on his skills as a grower. We had two large greenhouses in the back of our property were dad worked day and nightto keep the perfect temperature  for his flowers and vegetables while my sister and I played for hours in the sandbox. What we learned there will forever be remembered and support the current efforts of Global Play Day and the importance of modified structured play time for the world’s children! 

1)We learned that things that took hours to build could be destroyed in seconds but build anyway! Life gives us setbacks but overcoming the obstacles leads to success.

2)We learned the more sand thrown out of the box the less sand there was left to experiment. This enabled us to learn to focus in life on what we had left not what we lose. It also taught us to value the resources we are given. 

There was a lot of give and take and little knowledge of giving others the slack that all of us need as we navigate through life experiences! 

3)If our emotions got away from us and we chose to throw sand to settle the problem we learned that quick-fixes did little to settle our problems only create bigger problems by sand being thrown back in return. 

Without my dads knowledge and skills we would have never enjoyed the lessons learned in the sandbox.  We learned that sand was not a good foundation for almost everything we created except for moulding sand into a different form. Dad also knew that sand needed a strong border around it to contain it! 

4) Dad provided the parameters essential for success by building a firm border for our play. We learned from dad it only takes one enlightened and skillful person to make something work.

There were many other discoveries and lessons of learning how to give all those that chose to play in the sandbox their personal space, How to cooperate in working on creating something together and just having fun watching the sand  flow through a funnel!!! I hope you’ll take one day out of your scheduled life and  your kids and let them  experience the magic of play on the next  Global Play Day February 4, 2016 

    Sandbox Discoveries

• 1.Things built over an entire day can be destroyed  in seconds. Build anyway!

• 2.The more sand one throws out of the box the less sand there is to experiment. Value the resources you are given!

• 3.Sand thrown at another person generates sand returned and causes more problems. We learned that quick-fix thinking didn’t   always solve problems  and often create bigger problems!

• 4.Borders keep most of the sand in the box There are parameters and foundations essential to success! It takes an enlightened person to provide the parameters for learning!