Playing is learning to live. The game has infinite variants, and, of course, it is ageless. It is played from childhood to old age, it is played with people of different ages and races, of any sex. The game is to life what democracy is to a country: it makes us free if it is played under the rules of respect and tolerance. Couples who play with each other discover other unknown facets, just like friends. The game becomes a catalyst to get to know others, to capture the most complex essence of the people for whom we feel an affinity. Those who dislike losing learn to relativize defeats and draw conclusions from what they have experienced. To those who only care about winning, the saying that “the important thing is to participate” may seem futile. Fortunately, for people with little or no competitiveness, there are games in which everyone wins, where success is measured in greater knowledge, in which the only loser is ignorance and stupidity.
Children know how to play games like few others, although these days we often hear the lament about how much they stay glued to screens of all kinds; just as the adults closest to them do, on the other hand. One of the things that usually makes children look away from pixels is nature, in any of its expressions. Of course, animals take the cake and the scepter of victors, and produce an irresistible charm in children and adolescents. But plants, well explained and understood, produce a captivating effect, they are so different in so many ways from animals! So you can play with plants, perhaps not in as interactive a way as with a dog or cat, but they will produce an analogous effect of curiosity about what is different. If with a pet there is little work to do, other than letting it enter the room or the space where the child is, with plants you have to work a little harder to get their attention, but the reward is very gratifying. The prize will be a kid more connected to his environment and eager to learn more about fascinating botany.
You can start by bringing a mimosa (Mimosa pudica) to home. This beautiful plant is native to tropical America, and delights anyone by showing its ability to close its delicate compound leaves at the slightest touch. A plant that moves with such speed impresses anyone, as can certain carnivorous plants, other vegetables that are perfect for playing with children. The Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) will grow happily in direct sun, outdoors, even in cold winters, with the pot placed in a saucer of water in the hottest months. With its ability to catch insects and other small animals such as slugs, it will draw wide-open eyes on children’s faces and those of adults.
Although speed is not such an obvious quality in the plant kingdom, children can also be introduced to the cultivation of plants with those that are quick to reproduce. The cuttings of man’s love (Tradescantia fluminensis) produce roots when they are immersed in a glass of water in a matter of a couple of days, so the kids will see how plants have the quality of cellular totipotency: if they are missing a part, such as the root, their cells become They are in charge of creating it. Not even a superhero would be able to do it! The cuttings selected must be easy to reproduce, so that the results come quickly.
![The cuttings of the different species of tradescantias generate roots quickly submerged in water.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/GYGLVGYNRZETXI6J6OVHGS4JTM.jpg?auth=df917ab875729b8f029c8365288ce631e2ea1b3970c4ab3954113b598e1bd5bf&width=414)
Pothos are also ideal (Epipremnum aureum), coleus (Coleus scutellarioides), philodendrons (Philodendron spp.) or other tradescantias (Tradescantia spp.). Once rooted, they will have to be moved to a pot with substrate, thus completing their reproduction cycle. Leaf cuttings from succulent plants are also perfect to make with children, such as mother of pearl (Graptopetalum paraguayense) or those of the many cultivars of echeverias (Echeveria cv.) available in the floristic market. By simply dropping some of its leaves on the substrate, they will begin to form roots and new specimens.
With seeds there is also an educational and playful journey of the first order. One possibility is to start by reproducing the ones you have in the kitchen: avocado, tomato, pepper, lemon, apricot, plum… With some of them you will have to be a little patient as they have slow germinations, so it is a good thing to combine them with some of faster germination, such as radish seeds.
Furthermore, with these you can draw the name of the person who plants them, to be surprised a few days later with the cotyledons so characteristic of this edible vegetable. These edible cotyledons will later be used, cut, to decorate a plate and give a peculiar touch to some homemade food. We must not forget or denigrate the educational capacity of a seed of some legume (bean, chickpea, lentil…) in a glass with wet cotton, leaving the seed on the wall of the container to be able to observe the emergence of the root first and the real leaves later. If a photo is taken every day, a nice report of the process will be made. This visual testimony is also possible with the development of a strawberry, from the flower until it releases its petals and the fruit begins to fatten. Each day, the child will document the cycle, until completing it with the tasting of the strawberry, a very fair reward for his perseverance.
![Radish seeds germinate very quickly and their cut cotyledons can be used to decorate a dish.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/WQUQKOI3SFFF5MRHXNSRWPUOPI.jpg?auth=35c058ad6f9625857aec17dafe67a6981716aa01cbc2698ebac60ae57411852b&width=414)
The technique should not be limited only to taking photos, and any plant becomes a melting pot of details when the child is given a magnifying glass. triplet, a jeweler’s kind—better than a conventional magnifying glass—so you can enjoy each incredible structure. If under the magnifying glass an ant transforms into a worker beast, the surface of a leaf is a planet, the sexual organs of a flower into an architecture. Gaudian of the first order. The gift of a binocular magnifying glass or microscope could come later, once the child wants to open more doors to infinity.
There are many other possible games to put more seeds of beauty in children. Because in difficult moments in life, a flower can save us from bad thoughts. You just have to learn to observe it, to notice the beautiful part of what surrounds us, like plants. Playing with them when we are children will color our lives as adults. Plants are a weapon for our future, which will help us fight against the gloom, against sadness, against the ugliness of the world.
#children #play #plants #curiosity #learning #enjoyment