play like a child

A couple of weeks ago, I was photographing a two year old's birthday party. I got to the party a few minutes early so I could capture some of the event details before the guests arrived. I immediately noticed a gold mining station in the backyard - oh yeah, this is was where the action would take place. Sure enough, as the little ones arrived, they quickly made their way over to the kiddie pool in the backyard to see what was happening. I couldn't help but watch one little boy as he threw his hands into the pool to touch the gold nuggets. He would glance back every so often to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong - had I not been the "photographer" that day, I'm sure I would have jumped in with him.

The thing I love about watching children at play is that they have no pretense about what "play" should look or be like. Their questions so innocent...their eyes lit up in wonder...their hands curious to touch so they can fully experience all before them. If we could all just play like a child, we too could experience life using all five senses. I think this concept of experiencing life using all five senses is exemplified in this photo by ihlove3. As adults, we might be tempted to blow a bubble and enjoy the beautiful colors that emerge...almost in the same way we enjoy a rainbow. But as children, we also smell the bubble mix, we listen to the sound of the bubbles popping and we pop the bubbles with our hands so we can feel the stickiness. Heck, most times, we even taste the bubbles.

With all that in mind, I encourage each of us to play like a child...engage our senses and have some fun!

Until next time,
Ashley of Ramblings and Photos

Help! She's Going to Pop Me! by ihlove3