Fastman

The other evening I was laying on the bed and Benjamin climbed in beside me. He asked, "Will you play "Fastman" with me Mommy?" Fastman?? I asked him how it was played and he showed me. Basically you take a hanger in each hand and shake them back and forth...really....fast (hence the name?) Benjamin said I was really good at the game and I think I might have won! So this got me to thinking about all the other games Benjamin has invented.

The first game we realized he'd made up is called "Scary Turtles." We couldn't fingure this one out for the longest time! He kept asking us to play "Scary Turtles" but when we asked how to play he couldn't explain it. Eventually we discovered the game involves these two plastic Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles (where did those come from?!?) I think the object of the game is to make them fly around the room.

About 4 or 5 months ago Benjamin started asking us to play "Crash." Each participant has some sort of vehicle and then you push them really fast towards each other so they...crash! The only problem is that Benjamin is in charge of telling everyone which vehicle they can play with....and he always gets the biggest one!

I posted previously about the giant box from Costco and how Benjamin turned it into a "spaceship." Well, that became the centerpiece for the game "Space Monsters." Benjamin and I played this game for over 1/2 hour the other day. We each don "space helmets" (his was a plastic backpack and mine was a purple t-shirt) Then you stand really tall with your arms straight at your side and prepare for "Lift Off." Benjamin counts off....5....4.....6....5.....3......Blast Off!! Then we run around the house "flying" through space. Benjamin is referred to as "Captain Benjamin" and I am (of course) "Captain Mommy." The object of the game is to avoid being caught by the "Space Monsters." (which ended up being Nate when he came home and found us!)

It is just amazing to me how much creativity Benjamin has. I have recently decided to try and do some more structured education with him at home. I bought some "learning" books to help teach him to recognize the letters of the alphabet and numbers. It's a lot of fun and he's doing really well with them. But my priority right now is to help him express his creative side in whatever way he wants.