Imaginative Play At Home.

A while back, I wrote an article for a friend, Pretend, Make Believe, Imagine, Play and Learn which was published on the Natural Parenting site. It was an easy article to write, it just kind of fell out of my fingers as they typed. It was easy because imaginative play is a topic I feel quite passionate about. It’s something I believe all children should have access too all the time and something I believe is often overlooked or deemed less important.

When I was teaching preschool I would spend hours setting up elaborate imaginative play spaces that related to the children’s interests. Then even more time watching the children play with them while I took photos and documented what they were saying, doing and learning so I could share how important this kind of play was with their parents.

Then I stopped teaching and started parenting. I waited somewhat impatiently for my girls to grow old enough to enjoy imaginative play and collected various bits and pieces and began setting up little play scenes for them too. Then Muski came along and the imaginative play scenes happened a little less… Then the girls started school and we had Number Four and now I can’t remember the last time I set up imaginative play for any of my kids, despite the fact that Muski adores it and the girls (even at seven years old) are very much still interested.

I’m not sure why it stopped happening, I guess we got busy and I got lazy. But Imaginative play doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming to set up. So I’m kicking myself in the bum and with inspiration from Science At Home’s Teach and Learn Carnival I’m getting back on the imaginative play band wagon with these ideas…

Play Scenes
One of my favourite things to set up. Tapping into what my kids are currently interested and then creating an inviting little space for them to explore. Plastic animals and natural objects make this easy for my kids who all love animals. Also fairies, car/city scenes and dinosaurs would all be popular here at the moment.

Water and Sand Play
Both water and sand play lend themselves so well to imaginative play. Ice blocks and penguins in the bath or a tub of sand with dinosaurs. I need to find our old sand and water tub and try some new accessories.

Dress Ups
We have the most enormous basket of dress-ups full of all manner of outfits. It’s time to go through them all and get rid of those that are beyond repair or too small. While my Big Boy enjoys the fairy dresses as much as his sisters I think he’d also enjoy some new additions that follow some of his interests. A dinosaur tail perhaps? And a chef’s hat for sure!

Role Play
We’ve had a little kitchen set up in our living room for a long long time and while it still sees some action it could do with a little revamp or switching up now and then. A few extra props would easily change it into a ‘restaurant’ for my budding chef!

Of course, even with my lack of input my kids are still managing lots of imaginative play. Thankfully a lot of their toys, like lego and blocks and dolls are open-ended and encourage lots of imaginative play regardless of how much effort I do or don’t put in. And they can’t help it… they are hard wired to imagine and play, so they are not missing out, but hopefully over the next few weeks there might be a few new play spaces to spark their imaginations!

And since it is Tuesday I’m also playing along with Childhood101 ‘s We Play link up – take a look for loads of fabulous ideas!

This post is part of the new Teach/Learn Carnival hosted by Science at Home . Here are some of the posts bloggers across Australia and the world have come up with on this month’s theme, ‘Imagination.’

• ‘Imagine that …’ with Leechbabe at Stuff With Thing, learning through our search for fairies and dinosaurs, a child’s world is a wonderful place to be.
• ‘Imagination Towers’ with Catherine from Adventures With Kids, use your imagination to draw what’s happening inside the windows of the tower.
• ‘The Power of Imagination,’ Monique from Your Cheeky Monkey had a look through some of our family photos to show you some of the things my sons get up to in their imaginary play.
• ‘Imagine’ with Deb from Science@home looking for the science in children’s fiction, especially ones that ask ‘what if?’
• ‘See Rascal Play’ at Tales of an Aussie Mum, her two year old’s imaginative play is blossoming – see some of the things he is currently loving.
• ‘Imaginative Play at Home’ by Katepickle of Picklebums, Imaginative play doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming to set up. So I’m kicking myself in the bum and with inspiration from the Teach/Learn Carnival, getting back on the imaginative play band wagon with these ideas…
• ‘Unleash Your Child’s Imagination’ with Colin Wee at SuperParents, find out how I gained a powerful imagination from associating with some dodgy brothers – and takeaway lessons so parents can let children do the same whilst avoiding having to deal with shady individuals!
• Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now writes ‘Dr Seuss With a Touch of Montessori’ to explore the imagination and whimsy of Dr Seuss.
• The Planning Queen has been writing about ‘Recycled Creations’ at Planning with Kids, letting kids imagination run wild choosing and creating from recycled materials.

Check out some of these blogs for inspiring and imaginative posts.