How Free Play Can Bring In Creativity And Order

I have read & experienced myself how important is free play for a child. Free play can bring out the most exciting moments & experiences I bet. I have seen them myself many times. I have seen him doing many things on his own while free play which otherwise he might not do when I sit with him or when I tell him to do.

Today one more exciting thing happened.

I have got this shape & color sorter game for him. I have done a quick product review of it which I will link it up soon on my YouTube channel. Meanwhile don't forget to subscribe to my channel at http://www.youtube.com/kg141083

So this is what happened today -

I give him this shape sorter game for free play.

He independently puts all stars in one rod without me telling or prompting him anything.

After that he puts all the octagons on top of stars. 

Of all the shapes in this set, he chose to sort stars & octagons!?! To give a background, he already knows shapes like circle, square, rectangle, hexagon, triangle, crescent, star, heart. He was able to point to them when asked at around 14 months if I remember correctly.

Then he puts back all 64 shapes back in the box & closes the box. Everything without me prompting anything & on his own. 

This shapes set contains 8 pieces each of triangle, circle, rectangle, star, pentagon, octagon, diamond & square. Total 64 pieces.

A is 17 months right now and it isn't easy to dig out all the stars & all the octagons from 64 pieces, and to distinguish between pentagon & octagon, all the more. 

I was really amazed to see this free play exercise & a sense of order he adhered to, of putting his stuff back to its place. And did I tell you this is an amazing fine motor skill development activity? :)

Kids surprise us, right?

Have you seen something magical while your child played on his/her own? Please do share in comments :)