“Imagination is more important than knowledge” – Albert Einstein
Even the great thinker, Albert Einstein recognized the importance of imagination. The ability to dream and be curious about our world are especially important to the children in our lives. A strong imagination allows children to be more creative, to develop problem-solving skills and to view the world in new and different ways.
Below are five activities that will help to grow your child’s imagination.
The good news is that you probably already have everything you need:
1. Play Dress-Up
Encourage your child to try on a new persona by playing dress up. While full costumes and make-up are great, just a few accessories like a tiara, hat, or magic wand can help them transform. For the most fun, dress up along with them; be the Robin to their Batman or the Anna to their Elsa from Frozen.
2. Nurture your little artist:
Set up an artists’ corner where your child can drawn, paint and whenever they want. Stock it with crayons, pencils, markers, brushes, paints and glitter and of course a big roll of paper. Put a big sheet of newspaper or an old shower curtain on the floor so your little Picasso can create without worrying about the mess. Encourage them to draw or paint the people that they love, the places they’ve seen or anything else that may interest them.
3. Limit screen time:
In order for a child’s imagination to grow, it is important to reduce the amount of time they in front of the TV or with electronic toys. Instead of watching television or playing with electronic and computer games, opt for toys/games that require your child to think for themselves. This kind of low stimulation play helps kids build up their “imagination muscle”.
4. Keep toys around that create lend themselves to imaginative play:
These are great because they can become anything your child desires. In addition to helping with fine motor skills such as stacking, blocks also lay the foundation for math, science, and spatial skills.Instruments Being able to create a new sound will delight any child and will encourage them to explore which objects make different sounds. Your child will love trying out a drum, a xylophone, bells, and maracas.
Modeling clay – Whether it is play-dough or something more professional, children love the tactile nature of this medium and will enjoy creating and re-creating with clay. You can help them explore further by finding find different objects to make impressions into the clay.
Empty boxes and containers – We’ve all had the experience of buying a child a toy and finding them playing with the box it came in instead. Why? Because a box can be anything; a fort in the woods or a palace in a magical land.
A magnifying glass – This is a great way to explore texture in their world. For younger children, they may require extra supervision or you may want to try a plastic magnifying glass instead.
Plastic cups, bottles and funnels for the bath – Use different sizes so that when your child pours water from one cup to another, she learns the concept of more and less. As the weather gets warmer, setting up a water tray outside is a fun way to stay cool.
5. Get outside:
There is no better source for imagination than mother nature. It is full of wonder and beauty all around. You don’t have to go far to find inspiration. A walk in the park to look at different trees, laying on the grass and looking up a different shapes in the clouds are all ways of engaging with nature.
Written by: Cecilia Racine, LCSW, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the State of Virginia with 17 years experience working with children, adolescents, adults and families. Cecilia’s areas of focus include: attachment, adoption, grief and loss, anxiety, domestic violence and trauma work. She is trained in solution-focused therapy, CBT and EMDR and is fluent in Spanish.
