Imagination is crucial to a child's psychological development, and plays a big part in their happiness during their childhood years. To encourage imaginative play, try providing these types of activities:
First, look into building toys. K'Nex and Legos are both great options. Blocks, Lincoln Logs, and stacking toys are also great choices. Building toys encourage children to create-an essential part of their imagination. Most of these toys have suggestions and ideas on how to use them, and these are great for teaching children what is possible from their K'nex and Lego sets. Once they've mastered following the ideas, encourage them to branch out and build their own creations, and let them imagine their own concepts and work them to completion.
Kids Toy Chest
Second, encourage playing dress up. Girls dress up costumes are popular, and it isn't uncommon to see brands like Little Adventures in a chest with Snow White princess dresses. Cinderella princess dresses, and other princess Disney costumes. With the popularity of girls dress up costumes and Little Adventures princess dresses, boys dress up clothes are often neglected. While boys won't want to dress up as a Snow White princess or Cinderella princess, they enjoy dressing up as firefighters, policeman, and cowboys. One of the most coveted little boys costume pieces is the superhero cape, much like the one Little Adventures makes. Boys love to fight bad guys and save the world, and a few key dress up items will help them use their imagination as they play pretend.
Girls dress up costumes are easier to pick out, since any type of princess Disney costume is generally appreciated. Although it's good for girls to imagine being the Cinderella princess or the Snow White princess, girls dress up costumes also include pieces for ballerinas, chefs, and animals. Both boys and girls enjoy animal costumes, career-oriented costumes, and grown-up costumes. Old clothing from the parents, like business shirts, ties, high heels, and necklaces are cherished costumes for kids to play with, and they don't cost anything to provide.
Third, art supplies. Adequate art supplies will lead to hours of imagination-stimulating activities. Collect things like paper towel rolls, clean milk jugs, and leftover screws. Dry noodles, yarn, and fabric scraps are also great things to keep on hand with the traditional markers, paper, and glue. If your child isn't motivated by the art supplies you have, suggest things that your child can make. The Crayola website is a great resource for ideas, and most libraries have more than a few books on kids crafts. A simple suggestion, like making an aquarium out of a shoebox, will get a child's imagination spinning as they plan how to dangle the fish, make seaweed out of noodles, and add a splash of glitter. Although children make struggle to think of their craft ideas, once they get started on something it's amazing to see what they can imagine and create.
Finally, let free, unsupervised play be a consistent activity in their life. When children have "unsupervised" or free play, they are free to think of their own activities and adventures. My two toddlers have been known to spend several hours playing with shoelaces they pulled from shoes, tying knots around toys and sticks and dragging them around. Many of the most enjoyable activities for kids are ones that they will think of by themselves, and which are more difficult for them to think of if they associate constantly with adults. Allow your children time to play with other children, and let them create their own pretend and imaginative games.
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