Encouraging Imaginative Play
For a long time I always assumed that children needed toys to help them play and use their imaginations to create fictional scenarios in their heads.
It appears I’ve been wrong all along!
Our twins have lots of toys. For Christmas just gone my husband and I bought them a wooden toy shop. They already have a play kitchen along with far too many tea cups, play food and goodness knows what else, but I’ve been watching my children play and they’re developing and learning new things all the time.
One of these things I find truly fascinating and that’s when they use their imaginations to play.
A few of my favourite games that they play without toys are:
Making cups of tea and pretending to eat biscuits and cakes
As mentioned above they have lots of tea-cups and plates to play with, but I love the occasions when they pretend to hold a cup and then pretend to pour hot water and milk in before asking how many sugars. They’ll then pretend to give me a cup of tea and they’ll usually say “be careful, it’s hot!”
They’ll then ask me if I’ve finished and then pretend to wash up their imaginary dishes!
Driving the bus or train to the park
I really don’t know where this one has come from, but it’s fantastic!
We’ll all sit on the carpet. Two at the back and one at the front who is the driver.
They’ll tell me we’re going to drive to the park and ask me to put my seatbelt on, so we’ll all making clicking noises and gestures as though putting our seatbelts on.
Whoever is driving, will usually say “drive, drive, drive” whilst rocking to and fro. The passengers keep asking “are we there yet?” to which the driver will answer “no” a few times before announcing our arrival!
If we’re going to the park, I’ll then ask who wants to go on the swing and then pick them up and pretend to swing them in my arms before sitting on the sofa with my legs sloped onto the floor so I can pretend to be a slide whilst the girls slide down my legs!
We’ll then usually pretend to drive to music group and when we get there we’ll get our instruments out of our box and play them whilst singing songs!
Hide and Seek
Everyone knows how to play hide and seek, but our version is my favourite!
I’ll hide in the bed under the duvet with R or M and then whoever isn’t in the bed will start counting to 10 before shouting “ready or not, hear I come!”
They always know where we are, as they always insist in hiding under the duvet on the bed – but it’s still fun!
When we’ve been found the hiding child will swap places with the counting child and we’ll play again.
This can go on for hours!
Monsters!
A really simple one where one of us pretends to be a monster or dinosaur and we’ll chase each other around the house!
King or Queen of the Castle
This game usually takes place in our garden when the weather is warmer.
We’ll climb up the top of the slide and just shout “I’m the Queen of the castle” before sliding down the slide and doing it all over again!
These are just a few of the games that we play using our imaginations, but we have lots more!
What imaginative games do you play with your children?
10 Comments
Cardiff Mummy Says
January 21, 2015 at 1:31 pm
Oh, I love the little imaginative games my children play. As you say, they don't need so many toys, they can be so creative themselves. Mine love playing shops, even when they are out of the house and don't have their toy shop, they still do it. They love playing mummies and daddies, and schools, and pretending to be a midwife delivering a baby (babies just magically pop out from under jumpers in their world!). We play buses and going into space to (which involves crawling under my son's duvet and wriggling off the bottom of his bed!). I think it's such an important skill for them to have, not just to be creative but to empathise and understand how other people might think, and to problem solve etc. Plus it is such great fun!
Vicky Charles
January 23, 2015 at 9:28 am
I love seeing what great games children come up with, without TV characters or direction from adults.
Last night my daughter was playing with some pom poms from the craft box, and tucked them all up "all cosy" in a blanket ready to go to bed!
First Time Mummy
January 23, 2015 at 2:02 pm
This is adorable and one of the best things about being a mum – I love to watch! When i was a nanny i loved it, so can't wait until Austin is old enough for it 🙂 #binkylinky
Zena’s Suitcase
January 23, 2015 at 4:04 pm
It sounds like your girls have very active imaginations. It's lovely to watch children develop there own games. My daughter likes making up songs at the moment, which is so cute Zx
Louisa
January 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm
It is amazing to be able to watch our children's imaginations grow and develop. I love playing dress up and building bricks with my kids and seeing where the story takes us
Honest Mum
January 23, 2015 at 6:47 pm
Love these ideas, imaginative play is so important! Thanks for linking up to #brilliantblogposts, please link back or add my badge if you can, thanks
Catriona Stephen
January 23, 2015 at 8:19 pm
Sounds like great fun! 🙂 I play monsters with Osian and he loves it, he sort of plays hide and seek by cover his eyes with his hands! xxx
Sarah H
January 23, 2015 at 9:10 pm
My children play games like this too, it is lovely to watch them grow and develop and change the rules! #binkylinky
Rachel @ Parenthood Highs and Lows
January 24, 2015 at 10:42 am
Imaginative play and role play are so important. We have toys that help encourage it, such as kitchen etc, but as you said, sometimes they need nothing! Ours love playing 'daddy's van', which means putting dads hi-viz jacket on, lining up two chairs and driving! #binkylinky
twoyearsblog
January 25, 2015 at 6:26 pm
Hello there, I really loved this as my little one especially likes making imaginary cups of tea! He also does a lot of rescues, which means donning his fireman's hat and using a crane to rescue toys from precarious positions. My favourite hide and seek moment was finding him with a towel over his head-trying not to giggle! x #binkylinky