{"id":47222,"date":"2025-10-18T15:57:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T22:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=47222"},"modified":"2026-06-04T12:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T12:43:17","slug":"instead-of-my-toys-they-played-with-peanut-shells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/instead-of-my-toys-they-played-with-peanut-shells\/","title":{"rendered":"Instead of My Toys, They Played With Peanut Shells"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"they-played-with-peanut-shells\/<\/a>
Two boxes of the Lakeshore Fort Builder construction set made for two adjoining forts. Deck chair pillows created an entrance big enough for a kid, but not for an inquisitive grown-up. Later in the week, instead of my toys, the grandchildren played with peanut shells. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was ready for them. I am, after all, the proud owner of a storeroom full of toys<\/a> left over from my motherhood days — baby, toddler and school-age toys; artsy, scientific and dress-up toys. The grandchildren had toys aplenty to choose from. But instead of my toys, they played with a bag of peanut shells.<\/p>\n

Before they arrived, I hauled boxes of toys up from the basement and lined them up around the den and living room so the 6-year-old and the 9-year-old could come across them for themselves.<\/p>\n

Other boxes of toys — all clearly labeled — I left in the basement where my son and the two kids could go look for them — the Brio train, the Construx building set, the microscope.<\/p>\n

\"they-played-with-peanut-shells\/<\/a>
We made tiny people with peanut shells — then painted on faces with markers. The peanut baby on the right has its own crib. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of those toys did get used — the interlocking sticks of the Lakeshore Fort Builder set. Twin caves were built in the living room, one for each kid, with a tunnel in between. Table cloths and bedspreads were pulled from closets to cover the structures. Comforters were taken from beds to cover the floors.<\/p>\n

Instead of My Toys They Played With Peanut Shells<\/strong><\/h5>\n

But the rest of my fabulous toy collection got pretty much ignored this week in favor of — a bag of peanuts.<\/p>\n

Peanut shells, in case you didn’t know, can be made into peanut people and peanut babies. A half shell works as a hat or a cape. A dab of color from a marker makes eyes or mouth. A squirt of\u00a0 glue and a little patience and you’ve got yourself a peanut person.<\/p>\n

What started off as a snack at the kitchen counter turned into an afternoon in the dining room, making peanut shell people, peanut shell hats and wigs, and peanut shell baby cribs.<\/p>\n

The microscope, the Brio, the Construx never left the basement this week. I’m keeping them handy. Because you never know.<\/p>\n

More about grandparenting at, “Grandparenting Via Webcam \u2014 Helping Out Those Frazzled Parents. Sheltering at Home. Week 13 of the Pandemic Shut-Down.”\u00a0 <\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0I’m lucky. I have a basement. Not everybody does. How do I know? I study the floor plans of the ritzy penthouse apartments in New York City. See, “I Brake for Floor Plans \u2014 I Like to See How Those Other People Live.”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"lakeshore-toyhouse-fort-builder\"
A set of sticks and knobs made for a super fun fort for the kids — from Lakeshore Fort Builder. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"they-played-with-peanut-shells\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead of playing with my toys, the visiting grandchildren played with a bag of peanut shells — and made tiny peanut people.\u00a0 Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[3059,3060,34,2359,508,3061,56,1569,1570],"class_list":["post-47222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-changing-family","tag-basments","tag-creativity","tag-dont-miss","tag-grandchildren","tag-grandparents","tag-peanut-people","tag-peter","tag-play","tag-toys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48448,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47222\/revisions\/48448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}