Spontaneous, ad hoc building play is perhaps one of the oldest forms of play; it can be very exciting but often also inappropriate. The following poem from a 1909 collection written and illustrated by a doctor for his own children demonstrates exactly this casual and unruly play: ‘In winter, when it snows and freezes, Everyone fires up the stove, And people compete to stuff The briquettes into the stove. […] I play with them in the meantime. Let everyone look now, Oh, the bucket is already empty, And the tower is no longer growing! The briquettes are sooty, Otherwise, it would be much nicer to play… When dad comes home, He will beat me and brush me!’ The incident immortalised in this poem appears to be a realistic representation of informal and creative building play by infants.
