Marbles are HUGE at my kids' school this year. I'd never really thought about how important it was to have the marbles until two separate incidents really brought it to my attention.
The first was upon M's first visit with the school counselor, who was trying to assess the various ways M was handling school. One of these had to do with her social interactions. She discovered M would play with her friends until they decided to play marbles. When questioned why she didn't join in M said, "I don't have any marbles except what my friends give me." And that wasn't a lot!
I knew M had more than earned the right to have the marbles, and figured I would see how much they were before talking to Daddy. That's when incident number 2 happened. Last Sunday B asked Daddy to play marbles with him. It didn't occur to either of us how much fun and joy they were finding in such a simple thing until that moment. Several minutes later Daddy pulled me aside and whispered, "Let's get the kids some marbles." I wholeheartedly agreed.
FF to Monday. I went out to Walmart for various things, and found these fantastic packages of marbles. Each one was only $5 and held 151 marbles a piece! I could hardly wait for the kids to come home. Neither could Daddy. When it was time for them to arrive he went in to get the bag of marbles and excitedly handed each package over. The kids were OVER THE MOON!!! In J's own words:
"THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!"
The most amazing thing to me was the little booklet claiming there was more than one way to play marbles: Archboard, Bounce About, Dobblers and Eggs in the Bush. Nineteen different games in all are enclosed in this tiny little book.
Two days hence and my kiddies are still in love with their marbles. Those round gems even managed to get my boys off the computer...for a few minutes.
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