Cup Stacking

 





This is my newest favorite activity to do with Emerson.  I will call it a Zen activity, in fact.  So simple, so easy.  And yet, complicated and requiring your whole attention.  Fun to do by yourself.  Fun to work with others.  Side by side or more as a team.  Infinite options.  Often quiet.  Sometimes chatty.  Ah.  So if you have a kid who loves to build, do yourself a favor and spend $3 on some dixie cups.  Oh, and the sound of them falling down is lovely and soft.
Emerson loves to build, but different than many other kids, he doesn't care about the end result.  He wants to knock it down and start over the instant it gets to some magical "done."  This has really frustrated me with other building materials we use.  Lincoln Logs, Legos, pillows for fort building.  In a weird way, the cups remind me of crochet.  Stacking stitches one over the next to build a shape.  I know it must be August, because I have the seasonal desire to make a cardigan for Emerson.  I think this is the year he will help me pick the pattern and the yarn.  I find this very exciting.