I love watching children play alone. Their imaginations are amazing and it's fun to watch them imitate their parents in how they parent their dolls or do make believe chores like Annah washing dishes in the video above. Since we try to avoid TV except for one or two good videos a month, I like to set up lots of rotating "imagination stations" like the one in the video above. I try to set up play things that imitate what adults do since I think kids really enjoy feeling like they are doing adult work and doing something meaningful. Playing dress up, gardening, washing clothes by hand, playing house, etc. give children a chance to practice what they are learning from you and the world around them.
This week I created a simple play kitchen from an old cardboard box with a hole cut out for a plastic tub (sink). I added a few wooden and ceramic kitchen accessories bought inexpensively at Ikea and some play foods and empty food cans and boxes I had in my recycling bin. The girls spent hours playing with this kitchen this week. Next week I think I'll set up our dolly day care which the girls love (see below).
Below are a few of my favorite ways to spark imaginative play in children. For more great ideas I highly recommend the book The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections
Wash Day: On warm days we like to get out all our doll clothes, set up a clothes line at child's height with wooden clothes pins and fill two big buckets with water (one with bubbles). If you have an old wash board even better. The girls LOVE washing all their doll's clothes and wash them over and over again.
Paper dolls from Paper Doll Review We probably have two dozen paper doll sets which we store in clear gallon size zip lock bags. Their favorite is the Little House paper dolls.
Dress up: big trunk with lots of random clothes, scarves, hats and jewelry some makeup and a full length mirror.
Dolly Day Care: For this we pull out all the dolls in our house and all the doll clothes, all our doll beds (or empty boxes to make into beds), high chairs, etc. We set up a corner of the family room as the day care and the girls spend hours playing day care with their dolls. They also think it's pretty neat that we get to turn our living room into a day care since I don't usually let them drag all this stuff downstairs.
Sticker Mania: We get out all the stickers in the house (we have boxes of them), spread them all over the entire family room floor and get a big stack of paper and crayons and the girls have fun stickering away and making up stories with their stickers.
Guys in the water: Often times to keep the girls busy while I'm trying to make dinner or get some work done, I'll give each of them a big bowl of water, place it on a towel and pull out their bin of plastic figurines (at our house we call them "guys"). They'll spend hours playing with them in the water and the mess in minimal - the towel soaks up the water mess.
Fairy Houses: Fairy houses are fun and easy to build outside. Nut shells, moss, leaves and rocks can easily be turned into entire fairy villages. We must have a lot of fairies living in our backyard based on the number of villages we've built!
Outdoor Doll House: On warm days we like spreading a big blanket outside on the grass and pulling out the dollhouse and all the furniture. Mixing it up by taking it outside adds a new element of fun.
These are just a few ideas of some of the things we do to keep children busy and nurture their creativity. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas so please feel free to add more ideas!
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This is such an important concept. Thanks for highlighting it so beautifully, Tirz. My mom tells stories about when she was your girls' age and had to sit quietly in church. She used her imagination to entertain herself. I think of that often as I parent Marshall. Now, I see kids in our church coloring in books, doing puzzles, and needing continued interaction. Those aren't necessarily bad, but I think it's good for kids (and adults) to have to play alone and, in some situations, quietly without toys. This post makes me think of when you gave your girls fabric dolls without faces, so they were encouraged to imagine faces for those dolls. You've been working this parenting philosophy for a long time. It's inspiring.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, Tirza! And SO SO important! Children "work things out" in their world of imaginative play - something I learned in sometimes not-so-innocent ways when I did play therapy with children who had been abused.
ReplyDeleteSo many children these days are cheated of the chance to stretch and grow their imaginative skills - such important "thinking" skills for life - because of too much tv and overscheduling etc. I applaud the wonderful mother and teacher you are! Yay for moms like YOU :)
One that I did for hours with kids I nannied (Sawyer is still a bit too little) is to take paint brushed outside and "paint" the house, sidewalks, whatever, with water. It keeps everyone cool and busy for hours! :)