3 Easy Ways You Can Help Foster Imagination in Your Children
3 ways you can help foster imagination in your children that aren’t time-consuming or overwhelming. Perfect for this boring mom.
Children are born with a sense of imagination.
I’ve never taught my children how to pretend play. It was something they started on their own. Most days my home turns into a castle where we host elegant balls and tea parties. There is the occasional dragon that appears, but the brave princes are quick to fend him off and protect their sisters I mean fair maidens.
Cardboard boxes become rocket ships.
Books become stepping stones to help cross the river and continue on the path.
Couch cushions become a fort or the castle where the King and Queen live with their princes and princesses.
The dog becomes a horse {but not one that you can ride} and the laundry basket is the carriage for the princess.
Their imaginations are rich and without boundaries. It’s beautiful.
But there are also times when it’s challenging.
Cleaning up the messes again and again. Falling back into pretend play when it’s actually time to do school work or clean up from an earlier adventure. But I’ve noticed that when my frustration rises, sometimes I just need to stop and join them. To be taken away to that simpler time.
Laundry and dishes can wait.
3 Ways to Help Foster Imagination in Your Children
1. Open ended play.
We have dress-up clothes galore. I’ve never really cared about toys per se, but I have always provided my children dress-up outfits. When my daughter was little, it was mainly princess dresses and accessories.
Now, it’s an assortment of dress-up outfits ranging from princess dresses to mechanics, space rangers, cowboys, transformers, and space boys from Tomorrowland. We have necklaces, spy glasses, swords, helmets, hats, scarves.
They mix and match outfits to go with their theme. Sometimes the boys are free to pick their own outfits and other times they submit to their older sister.
2. Get Outside and Have a Picnic – Let Them Lead
We recently had a picnic outside. The kids loved it! The picnic turned into a fancy tea party where all the royal princes and princesses were invited. After the meal, we were to host everyone and hold a tournament of games. It doesn’t have to be hard. Let the children help!
At our Royal Tea Party, I wanted to keep everything simple but delicious. We served:
- Organic Bananas
- Organic Blueberries
- Horizon® Organic Cheese Sandwich Crackers
- Grapefruit Slices
- Avocado
- Horizon® Chocolate Snack Grahams
- Organic Cucumbers
- Watermelon
- Horizon® Honey Snack Grahams
- Gluten Free Quesadillas
The kids loved and devoured each snack.
Homemade lemonade was served along with water. It was a meal fit for a Queen, princes, princesses, and apparently even the royal pup. They had a blast and have been asking when we will have another one. It’s amazing what fresh air and no time constraints will provide your family.
3. Read Together
Read everything. If your children aren’t old enough to read, read to them. Read stories you enjoyed reading as a child. Read at breakfast, during snack, and at night before bed. During outside time we usually take out a small stack of books so that they can read outside too. For the littles, it’s mainly just looking at the pictures, but it’s a start.
I want to instill in my children a love for reading.
Fostering imagination in children doesn’t have to be daunting or overwhelming. Everyday activities, like eating lunch, can turn into magnificent tea parties with a little creativity.
What are ways that you foster imagination in your own children?
