Play

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
$24.95
[...] I fell upon Stuart's book with great eagerness. I'm happy to report that this is one of the best overviews of the relevance of play's biological, evolutionary and psychological dimensions that I've ever read - extremely fluently and accessibly written, and with much practical advice arising from its researches.

My only problem with the book is the negative attitude it takes towards what Stuart calls 'screen play' - ie, play with networked or simulatory devices like computers, smartphones or video games. There's quite a contradiction in Stuart's complaint that these play experiences go against the 'embodied' and physical root of play - when he happily celebrates elsewhere in the book the playful power of storytelling and explorative imagination.

Yes, there is a technology that reduces children to muteness, stillness, even entrancement; is so compelling that it could keep them in their room - or stop them interacting with their mates - for hours; and which wraps them up in an abstract system of representation that reduces the sensuous world to a series of marks and iterations. Ban The Book! My point being that electronic entertainments are as much tools of our poiesis, our creative mark-making, as sticks and old fashioned toys and climbable trees. And with the growing mobility of these devices, surely there's actually the possibility of the re-enchantment of our lives and cities, the extension of games and playfulness into wider areas of life, rather than less [...].

Apart from this digital-age blindspot, Stuart has written is an important book in the growing legitimation of play as an input into the good society. I recommend it thoroughly to all readers interested in the topic.

Wii Play with Wii Remote
$49.99
We play these games all the time, a great basic set of games that the kids love.

Pretend and Play School Set
$36.99
My 7 year old daughter reinacts school everyday. This toy encourages her to use her imagination and organization skills. I bought it two years ago and it is probably the only toy that she consistently plays with. She takes it everywhere. A must have for a young girl. I have bought one for every girl I know and its always a hit!

Play
$8.98
i think tht this cd is very good, their first single us against the world is a very good song and it shows off their singing abilities. anna and rosie have very sweet honey sounding voices like really young girls but some of these songs sound like some s club juniors songs. they all have great voices and they range from really low powerful voices to rosie and anna's which are less powerful but much higher :)