the language of play

Just a very short post about my observations today.

We have friends over from Berlin, Michael's godfather and his 6 year old son.

The two boys have four languages between them (English, Swedish, German and Spanish) yet no common spoken language

NOTE that I wrote no common spoken language!

They DO have a common language. The language of play - it is quite amazing to see these two boys playing and interacting with each other, waving their arms and using facial expressions to communicate - as well as the language of lego (and bubble dough - which we have just discovered, thanks to Creative Playhouse!)

soft squishy bubble dough - not quite as expected - check my facebook page  for more details 

I remember as a child, visiting family in Austria, playing with all the children there - play never seemed to be a problem despite not understanding a word that was being said, so really I should not be at all surprised about how well these two boys are playing together.

It is also interesting to talk with another parent with feet in two cultures - to hear opinions on children's play in both Spain and Germany. Sometimes it can be hard to reconcile two different play cultures - but I guess it is about taking the best from all cultures to offer our children...

Might be thinking more about how play differs depending on where you live...