To make children's play more complex, children need to make their own decisions, and the type of toys or materials parents offer can help their children make more meaningful decisions. Open-ended materials can be used in many ways so children can decide for themselves how to use them. For example, a child can imagine a block to be a fire truck or any number of things. Foam pieces, little wooden sticks, ribbon scraps, and other reusable resources are all open-ended materials that inspire creative thinking and delight when children use them to make something no one has ever made before. Play is spontaneous, not scripted, and this sense of the unknown provides children with opportunities to develop flexibility in their thinking and decision making, which is a vital life skill. When children choose how to play for themselves, they experience freedom in making those choices, and they also begin to see connections between choice and the consequences or results of that choice.