We all love to play

When I was at the Museum of London last week, I passed through the 'Pleasure Gardens' Gallery and overheard a sweet little conversation that helped feed into my 'Box Clever' collecting. The space is filled with mannequins clad in elegant Georgian dress and when I entered, there were two little girls running around very excitedly. 

"Which dress would you wear?"
"ummm....THAT one! but with THAT hat. Which one are you?"
"This one looks like a princess-"
"-Over there, he's her Daddy"
"Oh, this one is me by the way. Actually, no THIS one is me!"

I couldn't help stopping and listening to them as it was so cute. 

"Mum, why can't we touch anything?"

As I'm basing my Box Clever collection on the idea of things to play with, it made me realise how touch is so important to playing. In the next room of the museum, there is a walkway of recreated Victorian shops, and it seemed the one most people really stopped to look at was the toyshop. Whatever age we are, I think we all love to play. We love things that are tactile, that we can interact with, that have moving parts and make us smile. So that is what my box has ended up being full of. Fun things, slightly silly and crazy things, things that you can shake and blow and press and twist around- things that I hope those two little girls would have enjoyed having a laugh with.  

My box- overview (October 2013, author's own)