Dear Grown-up, Way back in the mid-19th century, a man named Friedrich Froebel invented Kindergarten when he founded the Play Activity Institute in 1837. He was a pioneer in early childhood education, and a strong advocate for the importance of free play in children. His Kindergarten classes were structured around a series of "gifts," designed to be given to a child in order to inspire innovation and self-directed activity. These concepts spread around the world, and as a result, the young students attending the first Kindergartens grew up to be some of the most innovative and creative thinkers of the 20th century. From the founders of the Bauhaus and modernist art movements, to American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, many young minds blossomed and thrived simply because they were given the gift of play.
Let's Play––the Make-it, Build-it, Paste-it, Do-it Super Fantastic Fun Kit!––was inspired by the ideals that Friedrich Froebel put forth so many years ago, along with recent scientific research working to promote the importance of play in the lives of both children and adults. In our fast-paced, high-tech modern society, we are losing sight of how beneficial unstructured, free, creative play can be to our physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being.
Let's Play was designed to bring the gift of play to those who need it most. Working with Olmsted County Social Services, I created this kit to be used as a tool to engage young children in at-risk home environments, and help parents and caregivers learn to bond with the child while realizing the benefits of free, creative play in their own lives.
It is my hope that the simple materials inside of these kits can bring the gift of play into a child's life––inspiring a lifelong love of curiosity and ingenuity, and serving as a creative outlet wherein dreams are born, inventions are made, and imaginations are allowed to run wild...
Happy Playing! Aimee Gauthier, May 2009
____________________________________________________________________
(what precedes is a glimpse into my senior thesis project, a semester-long labour of love that is still in its final stages of production. click on an image for a closer view...)
Found these forgotten friends at the bottom of the bin during a recent visit to the glorious Alameda Antiques Faire, scattered pieces from a child's crafting game. I love the garish absurdity of the techni-color palate; candid and cute, if not a bit grotesque...
Pick-Up-Stix, a complete matchless matchbook game! Such lovely packaging for such a simple game...
Though it came belated, this book was a rather suitable graduation gift for myself: Play All Day, brought to you by the ever-impeccable gestalten.
Featuring a fetching little game by Miller Goodman...
Lovely programmes and posters by JUNO GmbH & Co (website?)...
...And the amazing Fuji Kindergarten design by Kashiwa Sato. Learn more here (thanks, JZK).
These got me through this most hectic of weeks: A lovely petite book, and some lovelier scraps I happened upon in the studios one morn, turned into a 30-second collage impromptu. And, lovelier still, is...collage club! plus the rest of Jordi Ferreiro's Flickr site. Check out more of his work here.
la souris...
la chouette...
...et la sauterelle. 
...from How To Be an Explorer of the World, by Keri Smith, a clever playtime guide, bought as a belated birthday present to myself, upon the suggestion of this wise guy. Click on images above for a clearer view. 
An afternoon was spent in Kindergarten, crafting leprechaun ears, showing and telling with the letter N, building cardboard battleships, cutting, pasting, drawling, and discussing the importance of sharing with others. Abby drew me an Abby flower, and let me hold her pet Zebra. The insightful perspectives of a room full of 5-year-olds was a welcome break from the company of grown-ups.
Some recent inspirations found in the land of Kindra, plus evidence of some semblance of progress towards some semblance of a Senior Project. Plus the Otto––my most favorite palindrome––keeping me sane. 2+2 is equaling 5 right now, and I am hoping I don't go off the deep end, or have some sort of crazy public meltdown anytime soon...
Guess what? A to Z: A delightful little card game for young children, but quite suitable for all ages, I'd say. Want to play?
I love these old photographs of some of the first Minneapolis city parks from the early 1900s. So delightfully unsafe! And readying innocent children for the hard knocks of a grown-up world:
I've rediscovered this precious little book from 1960, a collection of illustrations and stories from greeting cards benefitting UNICEF, an organization still thriving, and working to nurture the hearts, bodies, and minds of a global youth. 
A new year begins on a crisp afternoon, when a knotty branch is no match for a brave little pup. 
