Escape of the Little People: Activity for Active Toddlers

Little people.

When my girls were younger, this assortment of characters would entertain them for hours. People had pets, played school, had families, ate meals together, and had all manner of meaningful relationships.

My boys see these wonderful toys and what do they think?

Bo-ring.

(Or, fun for throwing at each other or feeding to the dog, but that’s about it.)

It’s not about relationships for them. My boys want adventure. They want to explore, to fight bad guys, and to be heroes. 

And this is a good thing, really. I just read Wild at Heart, and I am inspired to encourage my little man-cubs in their masculinity. (I did not agree with everything in this book, but I think you should read it. If you’d like, read my review here.)

Perhaps, I thought, we can use these same toys in a new way. I schemed and plotted.

. . . .

That evening, we noticed the Queen from the Land of Little People on our porch. “Odd,” I said. “This queen never comes outside. I wonder what she is doing here?”

We stopped to visit her.

“The queen is crying!” I said, horrified. “What, you don’t hear her? I guess only I can hear her voice. Would you like me to ask her what’s wrong?”

I acted very serious as I had a one-sided conversation with the toy queen.

She and her husband had been happily overseeing their kingdom in our basement, the Land of Little People. The Little People had thrived in this land for as long as she could remember, and oh how sweet their days of schooling and farming had been. Lately, the citizens had grown more and more restless. Rumors circulated, The people had heard of a new and better land, somewhere by a great body of water. Last night, the citizens and their animals had run away in search of this new land.

“They don’t understand!” sobbed the queen. “The land they sought was indeed beautiful, but it was also the home of evil coyotes that liked to snack on Little People!”

What could we do? The queen begged our help.

My boys rose to the challenge. First, they visited their arsenal, and carefully chose a weapon for the occasion. A sword for one, a light saber for another, a crossbow for a third. One boy saw nothing that appealed to him, but he bravely stuck out his chest and declared, “If I see a coyote, I will just use my FISTS.”

We traveled to the faraway land (the pond across the road.)

The littlest man-cub, mostly just swung his sword at leaves. 

I'm sure his masculine display of strength scared away some of those coyotes.

The princess, hiding from danger in her tree.

We saved her before she fell in the water.

This man-cub heard the queen's grateful cheers.

The king had climbed a tree to get a better view of the scattered citizens. 

He was relieved when we told him we'd gathered most of them.

The boys LOVED this activity. We have done it four more times since this day.  

If you have little man-cubs with nothing to do, why not give this a try?

Have you been on any adventures with your little people lately? I'd love to hear from you!