{"id":3288,"date":"2015-08-31T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T06:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craftykidsathome.com\/?page_id=3288"},"modified":"2018-07-31T10:57:44","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T09:57:44","slug":"a-z-of-pretend-play","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/craftykidsathome.com\/a-z-of-pretend-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Imaginative Play Ideas for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you tired of the same old pretend play ideas that you do with your kids? Inject some new passion into your playtime with these fresh and fun ideas for Imaginative Play.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Benefits of Imaginative Play<\/h2>\n

Developing Creativity<\/strong> – escaping into a world of make believe provides your child with the freedom to explore and develop their own creativity in a comfortable environment. This will help prepare them to think more creatively when trying to solve problems in adulthood.<\/p>\n

Growing Imaginations<\/strong> – popping on a costume or playing with just a few pretend play props might be all your child needs to spark their imagination. Once they start on a pretend play adventure encourage them to take the lead in a role play activity and see where they can take it or ask them questions to help them carry on with a story as they play. The more they grow their imagination now<\/a>, the bigger their ideas will be when they grow up.<\/p>\n

Language Skills<\/strong> – Engage your child in a simple play or watch them play shops with siblings and friends and see how quickly they start to learn new words and ways of describing things. Talk to them as they play to keep the conversations flowing and to introduce new words to your children.<\/p>\n

Social Skills<\/strong> – Playing together with siblings, friends or caregivers is the perfect forum to improve your child’s social graces. They learn how to take turns and share responsibility\u00a0<\/a>as they swap roles in different role play scenarios. My own kids love to work together to put on shows for us to watch about dinner time. This could be a simple re-telling of a favourite story, a magic show or a concert of their favourite songs. Noe these shows might now win any Oscar nominations, but the team work, leadership and confidence they develop as they work together to put on these shows and the positive reaction they receive from the audience is worth so much more to them.<\/p>\n

Career Research<\/strong> – It’s never too early for your child think about “What they want to be when they grow up”. Setting up different dramatic play scenarios for your child to play in \u00a0provides an excellent introduction into the basics of running a shop, serving in a cafe, caring for others in a hospital or looking after soft toys at the vets.<\/p>\n

Life Skills<\/strong> – Children learn through play so you can use play making playtime the ideal time to teach them some valuable life skills. Playing with a toy phone is an excellent time to teach your child how to make an emergency call. Setting the table is a dramatic play cafe can then be transferred to helping you set your own dinner table and then helping out with more kitchen chores as they get older.<\/p>\n

Real Life Scenarios<\/strong> – Playing Doctors and Nurses is a useful role play activity to ease any concerns your child has about an upcoming trip to the hospital or use soft toys in a vet dramatic play centre to talk through their feelings about their favourite pet going in for an operation<\/p>\n

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” O. Fred Donaldson<\/em><\/p>\n

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Animal Imaginative Play<\/h2>\n

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It feels like my daughter spends half of her day pretending to be an animal at the moment. She is always keen to get me involved as well. “Mummy pretend I’m a baby guinea pig and you are the mummy guinea pig.”<\/em> Being a mummy animal usually involves giving her lots of cuddles and pretend treats, so it’s quite a nice way to spend a bit of time with her.<\/p>\n

Getting involved in a pretend play activity with your child is an excellent encouragement for them, especially if your child is reluctant to play or feels shy about pretending to play another role.<\/p>\n

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