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“Since I was a young boy, I loved to play and build. I remember rummaging through bins and barrels of discarded wood scraps behind the cabinet shops and factories near where I lived in New York. I carried home bags and boxes of wood shapes to build castles and forts for my knights and soldiers.

“I grew up and became a teacher. I learned about Friedrich Froebel, the Father of Early Childhood Education, who taught that the child is divine and that play helps the child discover and express their inner creative power. I believe, like Froebel, that within the child—within everyone—there is a divine creative being, a sacred spirit that seeks to express itself in joyful ways.

“And through all these years, and study and play training of others, I have never lost my awe of what simple, free, open-ended play—with multiples—can mean for children and for the many adults I meet who benefit from getting back to play and all the rewards it brings.”

Dr. Walter Drew, Ed.D.

When children use open-ended materials they decide what the rules will be. They have to think and come up with the solution for themselves.