Revised | Originally Published: July 4, 2021 @ 1:27 pm

Over 20 years ago, on a drive home from a Black Hills camping trip, my daughter–4 at the time–grabbed a handful of road trip toothpicks from a countertop dispenser as we left a diner.

Back on I-90, zooming toward home, I watched her play with them in the rear-view mirror.

At first, she fiddled with them–poking her fingers, rolling the whole bunch of toothpicks in her hands, placing them between her finger and toes, dragging one up her arm.

Then, using a notebook as a flat surface, she formed shapes–squares, rectangles, triangles, and rhomboids.

Over thirty minutes later, her exploratory play turned dramatic when the toothpicks became a family. One toothpick was the Dad. She chewed the end off another to make the Mom. A third toothpick was broken in half to create children. Her lap, and everyplace she could reach in the truck, became their world. More toothpicks became characters–a dog, a cat, a buffalo, and an alien. Gum wrappers became blankets, her pockets became bedrooms, and her left boot became a car.

Her play paused periodically for conversation with the rest of the family or to watch the countryside fly past, but she was deep in play with those toothpicks for a couple of hours.

Road Trip Toothpicks Wrap Up

Play is in the child, not the toy. Kids will use whatever’s at hand–road trip toothpicks, stones, cardboard boxes, and other interesting loose parts–to play out the scenarios that pop into their busy brains. One more thing: Kids are curious and wired for self-preservation. Zoe poked herself with the toothpicks a few times, realized it didn’t feel so great, and moved on to other things. Children can safely play with road trip toothpicks and other pointy sticks with proper adult supervision.

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