Pretend Play is the gateway to an endless world of imagination. I remember as a kid how big my world seemed to be, all thanks to my imagination. I could go anywhere. I could do anything, be anyone...and then I grew up. But that's ok, because I get to re-live it though my kids now.
Give kids just about any object and they will find some imaginary function for it. But in order to encourage their imagination, we can provide them with more specific materials. Here are some suggestions:
ACTIVITIES:
- Tools. Work on building a bird house or just pretend to work on a piece of wood with different tools
- Kitchen. Bake a felt pizza in a toy oven, cut pretend veggies with a toy knife. Let your kid be the master chef!
- Clothes Provide you budding actors with different costumes or just funky clothes
- Suitcase. Pretend you're going on a trip. Pack a suitcase with everything you need
- Hats. Put on different hats. If they happen to be work hats (fire chief hat, cowboy hat etc) your kids can pretend to be that person.
Here are some suggestions for role plays that you can help your child set up. They will need appropriate props.
- Supermarket
- Post Office
- Shoe Store
- Office
- Dr.s Office
Note: Most of these ideas were taken from the book: Creative Curriculum for Preschool (Paperback)
by Diane Trister Dodge, Laura J. Colke. See Resources for details.
