P.O. Box 1074 Mooloolaba Qld 4557 |
Encourage your preschooler’s imagination
18 January 08Preschoolers have very active imaginations, where their world is full of magic, witches and superheroes – and stories and cartoons seem very real. Your child's imagination and creativity are blossoming at this age, and there are many ideas to enhance this through play and music.
At around age three, she enjoys a rich fantasy life and probably loves to play dress-ups and act out plays with puppets. By four, your preschooler will enjoy playing mummy or daddy, or a doctor or an explorer, trying out roles that help her make sense of the real world, and less of the imaginary world. And by five, your child enjoys playing with other children and creating elaborate pretend games.
To really encourage your preschooler's imagination and creativity, provide her with lots of fun opportunities to draw, paint, paste, sing and dance. Set up your budding artist with big sheets of thick paper taped to the table, and thick sturdy crayons or washable pens; give her fine motor skills a workout with much loved finger-painting; teach her to make her own art by cutting out pictures from old magazines; set her up with pots, pans, rattles and shakers and let her create her own symphony; or turn up the music and dance together!
Your child's creativity will best develop if she's given lots of room to do her own thing, as long as she's safe. Try to step back and let her make her own fun with you on hand to help and comment on her activities.
Here are some other ideas to encourage imaginative and creative play:
· Play dress-ups: give your preschooler a box filled with old shoes, clothes, handbags and other odds and ends. It's great for boys and girls alike to rummage through at any time.
· Play with a musical instrument or listen to music. Or make your own musical instruments from everyday objects such as empty milk cartons filled with uncooked rice.
· Play with sand, clay, playdough, paints, water or mud.
· Provide new experiences, such as a bushwalk, a trip to the zoo or a museum, or a walk along the beach in winter.
· Keep small food boxes, egg cartons, paste and scissors, margarine containers and plastic bottles for construction activities, and save old magazines to cut and paste from.
· Turn a cardboard box into a playhouse, boat or car, or turn a table on its side and drape it with a blanket to make a house, pirate's cave or local shop.
· Play outdoors in a safe space with freedom and time to explore.
· Buy toys such as blocks, that allow for open-ended play.