Ing-Haw Cheng, of Hanover, N.H., paints with his two-year-old son, Fred, during a Community Arts Open Studio session at AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, N.H., on January 9, 2016. Held every Saturday until May 14, children and their parents can do art projects or creative play for a $5 suggested donation. (Valley News - Geoff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Ing-Haw Cheng, of Hanover, N.H., paints with his two-year-old son, Fred, during a Community Arts Open Studio session at AVA Gallery and Art Center in Lebanon, N.H., on January 9, 2016. Held every Saturday until May 14, children and their parents can do art projects or creative play for a $5 suggested donation. (Valley News - Geoff Hansen) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

In our upcoming edition of Valley Parents, we are focusing on play: the importance of it in childhood and the life skills that come from it.

While technology seems to occupy every realm of life right now, we want to know from parents about their favorite activities to spark the imaginations of kids of all ages — activities that don’t involve an app.

Do you give your children pots and pans to bang on? Chalk to paint on sidewalks? Let us know, and your answers and activities could be featured in the upcoming edition of Valley Parents.

I grew up when computers were just starting to work their way outside of offices and into homes. While technology would take up a greater part of my teen years (including marathon sessions spent on AOL Instant Messenger), the earlier years of my childhood were filled with imaginative play: cooking elaborate meals for my parents in my play kitchen, imagining family squabbles in my dollhouse and, of course, making countless masterpieces out of play dough.

Those are the kinds of stories we want to hear from you. Email me at esauchelli@vnews.com.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.