The Rubber Ball Experiment

I came home one day last week from work, and the littlest was excited to tell me all about this show that she watched on television on how to make rubber balls. She was brimming with so much enthusiasm that it was hard not to get swept up in all of the hullaballoo. She just needed some balloons, some rice, and a thingamajig to pour the rice into the balloon. The thingamajig was big and then went small. I guessed correctly that she was describing a funnel. I had the funnel and rice, but we had to go to the store down the street to buy a big bag of balloons. For the entire next hour, she sat quietly and made little rubber balls by pouring rice into a balloon through a funnel. Once it was sufficiently full, I tied knots, and then for extra bouncing power, she demanded that we put a few balloons over the rice-filled balloons. (The trick to doing this was the cut off the end, and then stretch the balloon over the rice-filled balloon.) It was worth a shot.

To be honest, the balls didn't bounce, but we did end up with some colourful balls for throwing around or juggling or playing hacky sack. And boy did we have fun. We even took them to the park and buried them in the sand and pretended they were treasures. They were a hit with the kids in the whole neighbourhood.

It's truly awesome allowing children to lead play. It was a bit like going for a Sunday drive in which you have absolutely NO idea where you're headed, but you just sit back and enjoy the ride! Just remember to stop and treat yourself to some ice cream along the way. :)

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