I’ve watched my fair share of Barney shows. Yes, that purple dinosaur that some kids just absolutely love (and some adults just absolutely despise). The one message that seem to ring out from these shows is the importance of using one’s imagination.
I think we can all agree that children have a lot of imagination… if we let them. However, like muscles, if you do not develop it, it will just loose it’s strength. So, what can you do to help your child develop their imagination?
1. Read to them
Reading to children may not top your list of “most-important-things-to-do”, especially after you come home from a long day’s work and need to prepare dinner, then wash up plus do the laundry, take out the rubbish, take a bath etc…. However, books are the fuel to a child’s imagination. Yes, books! NOT television. So, no matter how tempting it sounds, do try NOT to skip the bedtime stories. Also, read different kinds of stories e.g. humorous, informational, adventure, rhymes etc….
2. Play the “If I …” game
I just started doing this with my children. You could play this in the car or use it as a study break. What you do is start a sentence with “If I…” and let them finish it. Here are some examples:
- If I could fly…
- If I was a giant…
- If I had a pet dinosaur…
- If I was as small as an ant…
- If I met a fairy…
- If I had 3 wishes…
- If I could breathe underwater like a mermaid…
- If I was a doctor (or whatever occupation)…
- If I could have an extra eye…
- If I was a superhero…
You could even take this one step further and have them create an “If I…” book. Each page could be an “If I…” story with illustrations. If you run out of ideas, you could “steal” ideas from the books you read to them. For example, if you read “Hansel and Gretel”, you could say “If I could eat my house…”, or “If I got lost and couldn’t find my parents….”
Hope you like these ideas, and remember to keep that precious imagination of theirs alive.
No Ratingdeveloping childrens imagination
We found a great deal at Childrens Book Club and got 5 childrens books for only $2.