“Push harder this time, but don’t let me roll into the street again,” the girl–around eight years old–yelled from a driveway office chair.

Curled in a ball on a broken office chair, two boys pushed her back and forth across an average-looking driveway in an average-looking neighborhood. In essence, they were playing catch with her. The worn chair’s seat slumped to one side and wobbled as it spun. Because, of course, they were not just pushing her back and forth.

With each push, they also gave her a spin–her long hair whipping as she zoomed back and forth. In addition, the driveway’s slope and Gravity pulled her toward the street with each push. After figuring this out, the boys adjusted the angle of their pushes to accommodate gravity’s interference.

“Maybe you can let me go toward the street a little,” she directed, “That’ll be more exciting!”

Update: After sharing this post on Facebook, I heard from Susan, who described a similar play sighting. She saw two nine-year-old boys sliding a three-year-old on a chair across an iced-over spot in the yard. She wrote, “I was about to stop it, but I stepped back and saw how carefully the 3-year-old was holding on. The older kids also kept safety in mind. They were all having a blast.”

I love that kids over 250 miles away invented a similar game when given some time, trust, and access to loose parts.

Driveway Office Chair Wrap Up

What struck me most about this driveway office chair play was the girl’s desire for risk…but not too much risk. And her trust in the boys to keep her safe while delivering the exhilarating feeling of danger she was after. She trusted they would not roll her into the street again after she asked them not to, and she trusted that they’d keep the play thrilling by letting her think she might go into the street. A very low-traffic street at that time of day, by the way.

The driveway office chair itself is interesting in that most adults would see it as past its prime and ready for the trash heap. The three children saw it as a plaything, a game piece, a tool for generating excitement and laughs. Those interested in supporting play with loose parts should remember that the objects don’t have to be aesthetically pleasing to be novel and exciting to children. Trashbound driveway office chairs and their kin are welcome by children at play.

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