Barking Space

Thinking Outside the Story Box

I let the monkey watch TV for 20 minutes or so when we come home to provide a distraction for her while I cook dinner. She sits on the couch and watches the small travel DVD player; it’s comfortable and the content is usually an educational show (go Mr. Dressup!).

Unfortunately, TV is something that she brings up frequently. She isn’t too upset if she can’t watch it and at times her mild persistence is almost cute. While the battle isn’t something huge, TV watching is not something we want her to pursue as a career. I see a lot of kids who have no real creativity because they spend too much time watching TV or playing video games, when they could be spending at least some of that time reading or drawing or pursuing something less passive than being a couch potato.

So the other day I encouraged the wee one to join me in a re-enactment of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves using her Snow White doll and the set of Seven Dwarf figures that my brother and his wife gave her for Christmas. We used other dolls and stuffed animals to represent the parts of the other players (wicked Queen, the Huntsman, the Prince, etc.), and it went over well. I led the story and she had control of some of the characters. She picked up the concept very quickly and did a very good job playing her parts.

After the first run-through, I handed the reins over to her. She was over the moon and launched into a story that had only a passing resemblance to the original: Scar the lion made an appearance; the apple that the witch gave Snow White wasn’t poisoned; the magic mirror hit Snow White on the head, and thus, became the villain of the story; some of the Dwarves went to school during the day. It was pretty awesome.

My favourite part was when the scene with the “poisoned” apple happened. The Queen and Snow White were very polite to each other during the exchange, and after, the Queen went back to her castle. Later, Snow White shows up on the Queen’s doorstep, asking if she can give the apple core to the Queen to dispose of, as the Dwarves had no garbage can at their house.

Filed under: Anecdotes, Ponderings | Tagged: Kids, Stories | 2 Comments »