It’s wonderful to hear the imaginative thoughts that course through the children’s minds! When we listen to what they are currently interested in, we can create a dynamic imaginative space where the children are practicing numbers, reading and writing while role playing. Higher level thinking is possible within this dynamic play space. They happily engage in using these skills. My favorite example is when a boy came to school pretending to be a fireman, I told him how firemen love to help others and like to know how tall people are. I showed him how I could measure his height using the number rods in the classroom. He then proceeded to ask his friends if he could measure them. They happily complied and he measured, counting the number rods. He was a such a happy fireman practicing counting!