Growing your child into a good problem solving adult!
Creativity and problem solving are skills required in life. Developing your child's imagination in play will give them the basic tools they need in later every day and work life. Help them to develop this skill to think outside the box by coming up with innovative ideas and see things beyond the obvious. Imaginative play will help a child to experience the world around them and advance their cognitive development, improve their knowledge, communication, understanding of others, empathy and physical development.
Encouraging your child’s imagination and creativity can begin from birth.
Read Books
Reading picture books are a source of imagination and enable you and your child to create your own story. Add to the stories you read to your child and as they grow and develop they will start to do the same. Purchase books that are full in colour and illustrations. Capture their attention with interactive books
Create Your Own Story
Creating your own stories will spark your child’s imagination. Use household objects, their favorite toys, empty boxes. Encourage them to become the main character and invite them to tell you where the story should go next.
Dress Up
Fuel your child’s fantasy and motivation. Pieces of material can be enough to wrap and tie and can become capes and dresses.
Open Ended Materials
Blankets, boxes, crates, and pegs are among the best options. They can become many different parts of the journey; castles, cars, shops, cities can all be created.
One of my daughter’s favorite stories when going to sleep was about her teddy Mr Crumble. He would be left on the train and we would work through the story together on how he found his way back home. He would travel in the train driver’s bag to his home, be hugged by the train driver's child, washed by the train driver's wife, hung on the line to dry and the family dog would try to eat him. He would sit at the train driver’s dinner table and we would discuss what another family might eat and what time the children go to bed and what stories they read. When Mr Crumble traveled through the postal system to return, he would meet so many more fascinating characters on his journey.
Her favourite story on a walk would be travelling through time and space and turning everyday objects on the way into fantasy shoots, trap doors and rockets. Would you believe standing on a drain cover and encouraging a child's imagination can take you to some amazing places!
On a rainy day in the house a sheet spread out on the floor can turn into the sea, a boat, and a beach. A cushion can be a crocodile, a space ship, a submarine. The space behind the sofa turns into a cave. Once you get started you will re-boot your imagination too.
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