This giveaway is now closed. Check here for the winners!
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Amanda Soule, author of the wonderful book The Creative Family, and writer of the hugely popular blog Soule Mama.
Photo by Meg McElwee
I adore her book. It has given me a renewed spirit of creativity with my family, and it has provided me with practical know-how for pursuing crafts and ideas I might otherwise not do. Amanda’s idea in this book embody simplicity and creativity – two things I highly value.
I’ve got two great things today for Simple Mom readers. First, I’ve got my interview with Amanda – and I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I do. Secondly, I’m giving three of you a chance to win a copy of The Creative Family! After the interview, I’ll give you details on how you can win.
The Interview
SM: First off, congratulations on your latest pregnancy! Reading your book and blog, it seems like you really love being a mom. What overall message do you hope parents take away from reading your book?
Photo by Wesley Satterwhite
AS: I suppose the overall message I hope to give would be that of embracing creativity as a means of connection with your children. It’s certainly the motivation behind my blog for me – as well as a reminder of the gift of parenthood, and the fleetingness of it all – the preciousness in the everyday, mundane and beautiful moments of this life. That’s what I try to remind myself of when I write, and I hope it’s what others take away from it all as well.
SM: As I read your book, I repeatedly told my husband, “It must be so fun to be a kid in this family.” It seems like you guys play so much! How do you balance making time to play with your kids and doing “grown-up things” like managing your home?
Photo by Allison M
AS: Certainly there are many moments and many days where my energy is shifted to the more ‘grown-up things’ that are involved in managing a home and family. But on the best of days, there’s a balance and fluidity between the two. Incorporating ‘play’ into the work is helpful, especially as children are naturally such mimickers of what we do anyway. Sure, it may take twice as long to wash the windows with the kids, but if I can let go of the rush of it and turn it into a game, everyone’s happier, they’re learning something, a task is being completed, and we’re all doing something together.
Some tasks, of course, need to be completed by just Mama (or Papa!), and I find opportunities for those come up especially after a period of truly connected, and fully present play with my children. When their cup is full (of love, attention and connection), so to speak, they’re more able to find something to work on by themselves for a bit while I work. Sometimes this happens naturally, and sometimes it’s more spelled out, “I really want to play Animal Lotto with you, and then it’s going to be time for me to do X.”, etc.
One last thing I want to say about this is that my idea of ‘managing a home’ might look really different than others. Having an immaculate, super organized home just isn’t the priority for me right now. Someday, I’m sure it will be more important, but for right now, I want to remember that there are only so many things I can do in a day. And I want to choose those things I spend my time on mindfully.
SM: I love the idea of your craft cabinet that’s in your dining room, and that you recommend children using quality art supplies. Do your kids have free-range access to all art supplies at any time? If so, are there issues with messes and clean up? (My first thought was panic at the idea of my 3-year-old having access to oil paints!)
Photo by Barry
AS: The shelves that are in reach of the children are all materials that are all-access all the time – paper, stickers, crayons, clay, colored pencils, etc. On the higher shelves, are the materials that require a check-in with Mama first, or things that require a lot of time and help from an adult – oil paints, glitter, papier mache and other ‘messy’ art materials.
Since our “art” table is also our “dining” table, I keep a vinyl tablecloth underneath the cloth one all the time. So I can easily whip off the cloth one for craft projects, the vinyl is so easy to clean up, that really helps. There are definitely lots of spills and messes, but nothing that’s too impossible to clean up (outside crafting is also a great solution for the super messy stuff. Somewhere you can just spray down with a hose when you’re done!) The kids have art aprons on the side of the cabinet, so they almost always wear one of those which helps eliminate some of the extra laundry I’d otherwise be doing.
SM: Simple Mom is a blog about simplicity, and I frequently advocate that simplifying your life ultimately increases productivity. What would your thoughts be for a fellow mom who feels like she just doesn’t have time to be creative with her kids, that her life is just too busy?
Photo by Wesley Satterwhite
AS: My intent was that The Creative Family provide ideas for incorporating creative play and pursuit into the time we already have and spend together as family. For example: creatively celebrating our meals and other everyday rituals; games that require little to no ‘materials’ and can therefore be done anywhere and anytime, etc.
Sometimes, if creative play isn’t already in our daily lives, and yet, it’s something we’re feeling a craving for more of – it might take a little more effort to fill that need. Planning the time to make it happen, taking a look at some of the ‘extras’ in our days that might be ‘let go of’ in order to pursue what we want, etc. The reward for someone feeling that need can make these efforts and sacrifices so worth it, and lead to a more centered, grounded, and connected self and family.
SM: I know you get asked this all the time, but how are you able to do so much? Give us a few time management tips you’ve learned.
AS: Well, first I must just say – because the thought of another Mama out there feeling somehow inadequate just about breaks my heart – that I most certainly do not ‘do it all’. Sometimes the nature of blogs – and particularly the way that I keep mine focused for the most part on the joy – can create a bit of a false illusion. So I hope no one ever for gets that what you might see on a blog is just one paragraph of someone’s day, or what they’ve chosen to focus on from their day.
But…how do I make time for all the things I do? I guess the overriding factor is that I’m pretty mindful of how my time is spent. And not in a way that I’m watching the clock all day, but in a way that I cut out a lot of the ‘extra’ that doesn’t feel important to me, and really try to make the important things a focus of our days. We don’t watch TV, and I try to not waste away hours on the computer (besides working), we don’t ‘leisure shop’, etc, etc. The important things to me – our time together as a family, time spent in nature, creative exploration, making a ‘home’ – these are the things that I spend much of my time on.
Photo by Quadrupe
I have to add that my oldest son just walked in the room and asked what I was doing. I read him this question, asked it of him, and he said, “Well, I just do one thing at a time.” So there’s that, too! One foot in front of the other, one task at a time. Trying not to get overwhelmed by all of them together, and frequently reassessing to ‘let go’ of what isn’t going to fit.
SM: Describe your method of homeschooling, in just a sentence or two.
AS: Our style of homeschooling fits under the ‘unschooling’ umbrella, meaning, for us, that we treat the world as our classroom. Our learning happens rather organically, with a combination of following our children’s interests as well as exposing them to new things all the time. I know that’s vague, so if anyone is interested further, I’d recommend reading anything by John Holt as a start!
SM: How would you encourage someone like me, who lives in an urban city of 3 million people, to more fully experience and enjoy nature?
Photo by Wesley Satterwhite
AS: My reality is that I’ve only ever lived in a city the size of the one I live in now (the metro Portland area is roughly 230,000), or even smaller (we started our family in a town of 81 residents!), so yes, of course, access to the natural world is easy for us (and a huge part of our decision to live here!). I have to believe that while the effort to find the more ‘natural spots’ is greater in urban areas, also greater would be the reward and importance of doing so. City parks, urban gardening – there is so much nature to enjoy wherever we are.
SM: Why do you advocate children having fewer toys at home?
Photo by Abra
AS: For many reasons, I think “less is more.” I think simple, natural and open-ended toys lead to more imaginative play and creative exploration. I think it’s also a matter of too many toys being overstimulating at times – when you’re spending so much of your time looking for something, or trying to even choose what to play with. Fewer toys doesn’t always have to mean getting rid of things – sometimes just rotating things in and out of a storage area can be helpful. When we see something we haven’t seen in a while, or it’s presented in a new way, we can often find new creative uses for it.
SM: How has creating or crafting helped you to be a better mom?
AS: Creating things nurtures me as a person, and therefore makes me more able to meet my children from a place with more peace and centeredness.
And creating with my children has given me so many amazing opportunities to connect with them, get to really understand them better, and share our family time together in ways that are important to me.
SM: If you could only do one craft for the rest of your life, what would it be?
AS: Oh gosh, that’s impossible to say! I guess if we were including writing as a ‘craft’ (which I do), that would be it without a doubt. Writing feels like breathing to me. But a handcraft? Probably embroidery….a little bit of linen in a hoop with thread and needle is just the perfect little blank canvas.
The Giveaway
Three readers will win a brand new copy of The Creative Family! To be entered, simply comment on this post by answering the following question – What was your favorite thing to play as a child?
To be entered a second time, subscribe to Simple Mom and email me the secret code at the bottom of all the posts. Check here for more info on this, if you’re unsure what I’m referring to. You don’t have to be a new subscriber – anyone who subscribes can email me the code.
Lastly, to be entered a third time, mention this interview and giveaway on your blog, and make sure you link back to me about it in some form.
The contest will be open from today, July 28 until Friday, August 1, midnight EST. Worldwide entries are accepted!
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My absolute favorite thing as a child was to climb trees. I’d climb as High as I could, invite friends up to talk, role play, swing from branches. My father was in the Army, so every few years when we moved, I had a whole new neighborhood to scout looking for awesome trees to climb.
My favorite thing to play as a child was probably school. I had two brothers who were 5+ years younger than I was, so I was the teacher and they were my students. As a mom, I feel one of my weaknesses is that I don’t engage in much imaginative play with my kids. This book sounds wonderful and would hopefully be a good encouragement to me. I enjoyed the interview! Thanks for the chance at winning the book!
Jennys last blog post..Mid-Summer Slump
another blog to add to my list!
This looks like a great book. My son is finally getting old enough to do cool stuff, but I feel like I have been failing at ideas!
When I was a kid, I made up all sorts of stuff around my dolls, house, diner, prairie… they made great participants! I think my best idea was turning my canopy into a Conestoga wagon
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Sorry about that – I forgot to leave the permalink to my giveaway post.
Here it is: http://thefaeryinn.blogspot.com/2008/07/simplicity.html
Faerylandmoms last blog post..Simplicity.
My favorite thing to play as a child was something we called simply, horses. We would set up a horse racing course with jumps and all kinds of obstacles. Then we would gallop, trot, and walk the “horses”–it was just us running– around. The “judges” would score us and we would have an awards ceremony with wreaths made of leaves and pinecones and other natural things. It’s never ceased to amaze me how real a world we were able to create by just using our imaginations.
I loved playing “Explorer” with my sisters and brother. We’d figure out who was captain, gather what provisions we’d need, make a vessel and set sail – all in our own backyard. I think we ruined quite a few sheets making sails…
Oh I hope I win this exciting book!
What an awesome sounding book. My kids would love it. My favorite thing to play with when I was a kid was a big brown teddy bear. And I loved to play in mud puddles. Thanks for a great website.
Melissa
Glad to have been directed to this blog! Right after posting this, I’m subscribing!
When I was young, my sister and I would play at acting out these complex stories of lost treasures and tragic problems to solve in the backyard. We pretended to be ‘lost girls’ who were wild but armed with the ability to save the world!
When we got just a bit older, we would pass a notebook back and forth on family vacations with long hours in the car and take turns writing down similarly drastic-fantastic stories.
The girl is wandering through here dressed as “a mystery maker”. I’ll have to get her to elucidate on that. She is so fanciful and imaginative. When I was her age, my favorite way to play was to explore. It was in the 60′s and parents were less protective and I ranged far and wide through the woods and town. I hoping to win a copy for a friend. I got one to give away but couldn’t let it go!
My favorite thing to do as a kid was to play with the dollhouse my grandmother and aunt made me for one Christmas. I still have it, and now my almost-three-year-old daughter likes to play dollhouse. It certainly brings back the memories for me.
Most definitely, my favorite childhood pastime was (successfully) hula hooping! Do you think I can do that today??? Not on your life :< though I’ve been tempted to start practicing it again, just for the easy cardio health benefits! Thx for the giveaway!
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I loved to swim. Actually, I still do. We lived in an apartment complex with a swimming pool and LOTS of other children to play with. I was either there or riding my bike!
When I was a child, I lived beside a furniture/appliance store. Almost every day, there was a big box thrown away. I have painted, decorated, made curtains, carpeted, etc. many, many cardboard homes in my life. And, just when I grew tired of it, the rain would always come to flatten it so I could start all over again with a new design plan. Free fun…can’t beat it.
My favorite pastime as a child was “pretend”, whether it was dressing up as Cinderella (interestingly, as the regular, dirty Cinderella, not the ball gown bit) or just using all the dolls in the house for an elaborately plotted story. I spent a lot of time reading and making crafts, too. When Mom was feeling generous, my friends and I also made “potions” from whatever leftover bits of shampoo, soap, and other toiletries we could find around the house.
This book has to be amazing! My favorite thing to play as a child was “school”. My favorite thing to do as an adult is “teach”!
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I think my favorite thing to play as a kid was either dress up or just playing in the mud and making decadent desserts for my family, out of mud of course
I’ve also signed up for your RSS feed 
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My favorite thing to do as a child… there are many. I loved marching and dancing around the dining room table with my mom as we listened to children’s records. My cat would sit on the chair and try to snag us as we marched past. I also loved playing outside, making mud pies, houses out of sticks and chairs, and swinging until my daddy came home.
My favorite thing to pretend as a child was that my bicycle was a horse and I was a warrior princess, complete with a sword at my side and a babydoll tied to my back.
My sisters and I would play for hours with our little people, making ‘furniture’ and setting up a house for them.
Great giveaway!
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My favorite thing to play as a child was hide and seek! We had a big yard and a lot of kids in the neighborhood so it was SO much fun!
Rachels last blog post..Veggie Cowl
My favorite thing to play as a child? That is easy:
dress up
Had a whole collection, including my mother’s discarded wedding dress after her divorce. Such fond memories!
I used to like to play that I was pressing clothes (my father was a dry cleaner). I’d spend bath time pressing the wash cloth with a bar of soap. P.s. love your blog and read Amanda everyday. thanks for the interview. hope I win the book
When I was little I loved to fish in the creek for crawdads and other critters much to my mothers dismay. Just this weekend I took my children back to my old fishing hole and they got to experience fishing for crawdads.
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do I really have to pick just one?
Let’s see inside favorties…
playing house, playing like I worked in a office, playing restaurant, playing store. The list could go on and on.
Outside favorties…
pretending to be a famous iceskater, horsebackrider, gymnast.
long bike rides, sledding, snowmobiling, igloo making
it helped that we lived in the country on a farm. Mom didn’t run me all over the place to entertain me. I was on my own.
so many times I look back and am so fond of my childhood memories.
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I received my favorite doll for Christmas when I was 7 years old, and from that point forward my favorite thing to play was anything involving her. We moved a lot when I was little, so there would be long periods of time where I didn’t have any friends outside of my little brothers and that doll. She went with me absolutely everywhere. I’d explore outside with her in my backpack, climb trees to read books from the upper branches, set up little picnics for us next to tiny creeks, set up and play “school” at home (we were an unschooling family as well). I constantly made tiny versions of everyday things to enhance my play with that doll–I’d make her little books, little biscuits or sandwiches (the kind you’d actually eat afterwards), toys, everything.
My favorite thing as a child was riding bikes and roller skating. I loved to be outside. This sounds like a great book.
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My favorite game was probably flashlight tag. Something about our being outside having wholesome fun caused our parents to suspend all curfews.
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I loved to play house!
One of my childhood favorites was the Fisher Price little people and house. We have now collected many of the same ones from yard sales. Now my children enjoy them . And that makes me smile. : )
My favorite thing to do as a child…well so many but I think what brings back the sweetest memories is playing in the ocean here in Southern CA. My brothers and I would bring our old fashioned rubber rafts with the rope on the top and ride the shallow waves into shore as we sat on the rafts pretending we were riding dolphins and whales.
When I was a kid we were outside all the time, playing make-believe games. We had a huge dress-up trunk, which my mother had stocked with her old clothes, some thrift-store finds, and some things we made. We were often found in our “forts” outside, which were clearings in the trees, a board or two nailed to a tree, or a blanket tacked onto things. We actually spent more time narrating the story and characters to each other, rather than actually acting them out, although mud pies and “soups” got made with some regularity.
I am new to this blogging thing, but am gleaning all kinds of inspiration from your blog. I love the simplicity, the peacefulness, and the joy that living a more meaningful life brings.
One of my favorite things to do as a child was to rearrange the furniture – no joke! My mom was soooo frugal, but everything was always beautiful. I had no idea we had no money growing up. She would always clean the house and rearrange the furniture, moving things and adding in new pictures from other rooms. It taught me to find more uses for the things you had taken for granted…and I still carry that practice on to today.
I am new to this blogging thing, but am gleaning all kinds of inspiration from your blog. I love the simplicity, the peacefulness, and the joy that living a more meaningful life brings.
One of my favorite things to do as a child was to rearrange the furniture – no joke! My mom was soooo frugal, but everything was always beautiful. I had no idea we had no money growing up. She would always clean the house and rearrange the furniture, moving things and adding in new pictures from other rooms. It taught me to find more uses for the things you had taken for granted…and I still carry that practice on to today.
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This book was just mentioned the other day on one of my favorite blogs and I was so disappointed to find it’s not available through my local library system. Now you’re offering me the chance to win a copy – thanks! My favorite thing to play with when I was young was Barbies. I remember playing for hours at a time with the dream house and swimming pool
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i loved the interview, thank you.
my favorite game as a kid was one my friend and i made up, called trade and pay. clearly, i was cut out for frugal living and she was cut out to be a shopper, because this game simply consisted of writing notes back and forth to each other stating how much money the other owed, just so we could write checks (voided ones our parents gave us) or use Monopoly money!
My favorite thing to play was “School.” The variations were endless!
Love the site and am glad to have found it.
I was a big tree climber as a kid– I love the world as it looked and sounded just 10 feet from the ground…
e
The game I loved to play the most as a child was house. I’d spend hours spreading my crocheted baby blankets on my floor to serve as “carpets” for my fantasy rooms. I was always collecting milk cartons, cereal boxes, and egg cartons to use as play food and to cut up and turn into doll chairs and beds. I loved pretending that I had a space of my own, decorated just so.
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Books. I read all the time and never asked for toys as gifts. I had a book wish list several pages long. Still do.
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Well, my favorite thing to play as a child was NOT the piano
. We lived on a dead-end street, and there were three gigantic old trees in a vacant lot at the end of the street. I loved to play underneath the middle one. Sometimes I’d play ‘house’ and create meals using dirt and sticks and leaves. Sometimes I’d be an archaeologist and dig things up, using my mom’s pastry brush to clean off the dirt just like real archaeologists did. And sometimes I would invite my sister and brother along, and we’d be explorers.
I loved reading, loved playing outside (all day, everyday, all year long), and my favorite thing to do as a child was to wander in the woods about 1/2 a mile from our house, along the river. I would walk out in the morning and stay all day, coming home for supper. I liked playing in cemeteries, too. At home, I loved to play “Swiss Family Robinson” with my sister, and our bed was either the raft we were floating on, or the island.
Fun!
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My brother and I played outside quite a bit. One of my favorite things to play was making snow houses with paths to various rooms, snow tables, snow chairs, snow tunnels, etc. We would spend hours outside, come in for a quick bite to eat then head back outside for more snow fun.
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We didn’t have many toys around so were always playing outside and making games up. One thing we used to love to do is host a radio show and we’d record it on tapes with one person doing weather and sports, another entertainment and another being the actual dj. It never got boring, especially with my sister always having us do many takes.
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My favourite game as a child? Making cubby houses. Especially on rainy days, nothing gave me more pleasure than finding the big, pale blue flannel blanket, sone chairs, and a ton of cushions, and making myself a little hidey fortress somewhere in the house.
My favorite thing to play as a kid was baseball outside on the street. There were always tons of neighborhood kids outside ready to play. Sadly this is something my kids cannot do (we live on a windy road on a hill and don’t have neighbors with kids the same age).
My favourite thing to do as a kid was sing and dance around the house – something i am actually not very “good” at these days, but my 2 girls do the same now at 3 and 5 yo! another favourite was any pretend play – playing house, doctor, school etc.
Hi!
I loved making tents out of blankets over the clothes line. Then we would bring in our dolls or books and hang out for hours.
We now live in China in a huge apt complex, so my kids have to “settle” for tent cities in the living room.
I also remember playing train with our stuffed animals, we would line up all the chairs in the house and go for a ride with our animals.
Thanks for such a great blog
My favorite thing to do was to play in my cousins’ tree house. We did all sorts of imaginative play there. I remember recreating “STAR WARS” once as Princess Leah!
I’ve just found your blog today, but I’ve been reading Amanda’s for awhile now, it’s very inspiring.
My favourite thing as a child was to play with my farm animals and matchbox cars in the sandpit. I was a bit of a tomboy, still am really.
cheers Kate
My favorite thing to do as a child was to play school, and to pretend that I was various kids in the Sears catalog when I was at the pool.
Tara
I loved playing with Lego. All day, every day.
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My favorite thing to play as a kid was jump rope – I lived in Japan and it was both a practical thing to do to keep warm and a near obsession to reach 100 jumps in a row. I jumped all day, everyday – at home, at school, waiting for the bus…..
Thanks for a great interview!
My favourite games to play as a child would be a toss up between creating dance routines and then doing a lounge room concert, or playing “mommy’s” where we’d breast feed our dolls and change their diapers, put them to bed etc. Loved it!
I would be so excited to receive Amanda’s book as I’ve got a little one that gets bored easily and I’m up for some new ideas!
Julias last blog post..A lock of hair
I loved making maps of the “wild” areas that surrounded our neighborhood. My best friend and I would rework our maps over an dover again adding new “territory” and making detailed notes of the terrain. Recently my kids started to make maps (without ANY prompting or “when I was a little girl stories)… I can’t tell you how giddy I feel watching them discover the joy in navigating through their world from their own perspective.
My favorite thing as a child was my dollhouse. Every sort of character lived and played there and it was something I didn’t give up until very…. very… .late into pre-teenhood! Now, our dollhouse is my son’s favorite toy!
My favorite thing as a child was getting together with friends and making up shows and musicals, dressing up, dancing and singing for our parents… so much fun!
As a child I loved to play doctors and nurses. I had a little red bag full of ‘supplies’ and I would cover my little sisters in Bandaids!
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My favorite thing was playing behind our house in “no man’s land,” making forts. I also really liked a colorful set of plastic milk bottles my mom bought me and any red ball.
I have heard great things about this book!
As child number 5 in a family of 10, I think my favourite thing to play with was my siblings!
We had a great big backyard and great cubby house my Dad built, and we would just have fun making up games and being outdoors – something I think a lot of kids miss out on these days.
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Playing teaparties with water for tea and uncooked pasta for food, or making kites out of sticks and brown paper with my Mum.
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Thank you for doing an interview with Amanda. I have her book on loan from the library right now, and would love my own copy, it’s marvelous! When I was a child, we played hide and go seek in the dark outside with all the neighborhood kids for hours on end. Great memories
The book sounds very interesting!
I’d have to say that my favorite thing to play was school. My second favorite thing was to play house… which is funny really, since before I became a stay-at-home mom, I used to be a teacher.
Blocks. I loved to play with blocks so much that I still had some when I was in college. I couldn’t wait for my oldest to reach the age where he wanted to build things so I’d have someone to play with again!
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My favorite thing to do as a child was to make doll clothes on my tiny little child’s singer sewing machine. I need to make time to do that with my daughter.
I had so many favorite things to play as a child. My favorite was probably playing school. I would play with my friends and sister or just with my dolls and stuffed animals. I used old papers I got in kindergarten and first grade. We had an easel and a few desks. I loved organizing papers and using pens and crayons and worksheets. That’s how I knew I wanted to be a teacher- I teach second grade now!
I have to add my second favorite because it’s almost a tie. We’d play “town”. We would each have a business (hair salon, restaurant, pet shop, etc.) and set it up in a room and create menus, etc. We would also have a mailbox and write letters to each other and the mailman would deliver them. Then we would visit each other’s businesses. It was so much fun!
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Such a great interview! This was my first time to visit SimpleMom – I found you via the link from Soulemama – but I will definitely be back.
My favourite thing to play as a child was “cubby houses,” with sheets draped over tables and between beds, or in the back yard. My brother and sister and I would spend whole rainy weekends that way.
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Sounds like a great book — I’d love a chance to read it! My favorite thing to play as a kid was dress up. We had a huge chest full of fantastic dress up clothes that would keep me occupied for hours.
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My favourite thing to do as a young girl was to play with my dolls…designing and sewing outfits, styling their hair and creating all sorts of make-believe adventures with them and my real-life friends.
Oooooh. My friend introduced me to Soulemama, and I am HOOKED!!
Fun interview. Thanks!
And as for my favorite thing to play as a child. as boring as it is (and NOT at all like me now), the truth would be playing Barbies. My metropolitan-coolio-cousin had gobs of tem and the car, house and even motor home (did you even know there was such a thing?!!). Boring-smalltown-me had a handful and some clothes. Every time we got together it was BARBIEFEST!!! We barely come out for food!
Now I am hoping my girls will say the same about their lovely little wooden doll house families (oh no…they already love the Barbies they get to play with at Gramma’s!!). Oh well. At least I can relate! =)
My favorite thing to do when I was a kid (and now) was to play games-board games, card games, etc. It made me feel like one of the grown-ups and I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to have family game night!
My favorite things as a kid were to play outside. I loved playing in the creek across from our house, climbing trees, and just using my imagination, anything that was outside.
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I started to write “My favorite childhood toy was definitely…”, and then realized that I couldn’t narrow it down to a “definitely”. One of my favorites, though, would have to be dress up clothes. We had a big box of dress up clothes, some made specifically for that purpose, others outdated real items from my mom and (much older) sister. We spent hours and hours playing dress up.
Thanks for this great interview. I read the SouleMama blog every day and am so excited to read the book!
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My sister and I loved pretending we were characters in the books we read and the movies we saw. We loved pretending we lived in caves like the Fraggles from Fraggle Rock. I spent tons of time sitting on a quilt my grandma made for me, with a couple of wooden toys and a ball, pretending I was Laura Ingalls during a blizzard from THE LONG WINTER. We even pretended that we were the little boy living in a prison camp from the movie EMPIRE OF THE SUN.
We had this huge yellow bus, I’m not even sure who it was by, but it was big, and you could ride on it and there were these alphabet letter blocks that went inside of it. I wish I could find one of those for my kids today.
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I loved playing hide & seek and my 2 yo son does too.
So wonderful to be reminded that we don’t need to buy so many things to make our families happy. We really need to spend our moments connected with our kids. Thanks for the review – very thought provoking.
My favourite game to play as a kid was dress ups with my twin sister. We would go and pick strawberries in all our princess attire! Those were the days
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I loved to play “store” with my sisters. We’d take every last can out of the pantry, line it up on the table, shop for our necessities and check out. We all wanted to be the cashier. This was my all time favorite game!
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I absolutely loved playing teacher. All I needed was my chalkboard and chalk. Throw in a willing-to-play brother and I was REALLY happy.
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i loved go to the head of the class- it represented a big family and i was an only child.
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My favorite childhood toys were barbies… blush!
Thanks for the great giveaway! nw_wife(at)hotmail(dot)com
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Thank you for the lovely interview with Amanda Soule. Amanda has truly inspired me to became a a better person and a better parent to my child . As a child my favorite thing to play was puppet theater I loved making paper bag hand puppets and putting on a show for any one who would watch.
My favorite toy as a child was my blocks. I still find myself wanting to take over when building with my kids!
Thanks for the great giveaway. Looking forward to reading your blog.
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I have three older brothers, so hands down I loved playing either kick ball or stick ball. Always topped off with some homemade lemonade!
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As a young girl growing up in the country with feilds of corn , alfalfa and earth all around, my favorite thing to do was make mud cookies. What are mud cookies you might ask….only the greatest cookies on the planet to a young girly girl in love with dirt. There was nothing ever so sweeter than to go out in the yard with old cookie cutters,pans and anything else I could grab from Moms baking cabinet and whip up some not so yummy, gooey, chocolately looking make beleive cookies. Zero calories and completly homemade. You must have your little ones try them today!
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My friend and I loved to play ‘pretend’ when we were kids. We would play orphanage, runaways, etc. Pretty funny!
when i was a kid i loved being the boss…of everything. something i’m still trying to get over. mud-pies were fun!
definitely dress-up, & make believe.
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Hello! I am new to your site & am looking fwd to looking around
– double petticoats & bracelets and crazy hair. What fun!!
I came from Soule Mama’s link.
When I was a child…I used to love to dress up like Madonna (the early days
I have never encountered Soule Mama’s blog or her book before today so thank you for sharing them with me!
When I was a kid, definitely a great portion of my learning was through playing “school”. I loved setting up my dolls (friends and bother when I could!) and creating “lesson plans” with themed stories and activities. I loved what I learned to create these classes and my mom and dad were wonderful to make sure I had a little school desk (still have it) and a chalkboard to encourage the play!
Crossing my fingers now! Thanks for the opportunity~
I loved “playing house” with my brothers and cousins…we would section off whatever room we were playing in or a part of the yard and “sweep”, “wash dishes”, “cook supper” and take care of the “baby.”
I just found your blog thru SouleMama’s blog. I’m hoping to be blessed to be a Mom soon and I’d really like to simplify our lives so I’m looking forward to what I find here! Thanks! ~Angela
Play school. My mom made me me own little teacher’s desk in my bedroom. I would spend most of my time organizing my school supplies on my desk. I would assign work and grade it and put stickers on it.
I usually taught my cabbage patch dolls because if my brothers played with me I had to promise to play He-man with them. I”d take the dolls out for recess and take them to the kitchen for lunch time.
I became a elementary school teacher. Go figure.
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My favorite thing to play as a child was hide and seek outside with all of the neighbors. We would play until it got dark…
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I used to love playing school with my stuffed animals!! Then I became a school teacher!
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I just adored this interview so much! Thank you! I am also so grateful I found your blog..I have connected with so much of what I have read so far!! My favorite thing to play growing up as a child is really simple. I didn’t really watch tv very often so my sisters and I spent most of our time outside. My best memories of play as a child, are those spent climbing/sitting in trees. Also, exploring dirt and that contained within….observing bugs…the smell of each season…running against the wind down a hill….ahh!
As a kid my friends and I would spend a lot of time in the creek behind our house. The whole thing was our imaginary home and we would set up where our bedrooms were, the kitchen area where we would pretend to make food, the living area, etc. We would spend all down there in our imaginary world. Thanks for this great interview, I love reading Amanda’s blog.
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My favorite thing to play as a child was to be the “ditch-baker”. My sister and I would long for the rain to stop and then run outside to the ditch drain in our front yard. There, we would scoop up mud and make pies, cupcakes, pancakes, and candies to sell. It was messy but fun to imagine.
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I really loved reading so honestly, I would read all day when I could and then imagine I was the main character. To this day I just adore collecting books!
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I would love to have a copy of this book! I need to infuse some creativity into our family! I need to stop worrying about the mess!
My favorite thing to do as a child was to play dress up! I love pretending to be whomever I wanted!
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I love hearing from Soule Mama thanks. One thing I LOVEd to do as a child was build forts in the house. Our kitchen table become a cave or the living room couches lion dens. Or in our basement my dad would collect huge boxes for us with which we would build a city for fairies. That was my favorite way of playing growing up.
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My favorite way to play was to draw. I see my daughters are folowing my footsteps =).
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