A Good Play

A Good Play

We built a ship upon the stairs
All made of the back-bedroom chairs,
And filled it full of sofa pillows
To go a-sailing on the billows.

We took a saw and several nails,
And water in the nursery pails;
And Tom said, “Let us also take
An apple and a slice of cake;”
Which was enough for Tom and me
To go a-sailing on, till tea.

We sailed along for days and days,

And had the very best of plays;

But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,

So there was no one left but me.

This poem by writer Robert Louis Stevenson, known for writing the children’s story Treasure Island, shows just how imaginative children are and how they can often entertain themselves for endless amounts of time using nothing but simple household objects. 

As a young child I can clearly remember spending many a wet day creating dens out of duvets and chairs with my younger sister and then holding tea parties in our new creation!