Imagination play is something all parents should encourage in children because it offers many amazing benefits, (see our previous blog – Imaginative Play). If you want to do that, here are the top 3 most popular imagination play ideas for your kids to enjoy.
1. Dollhouse Play
Dollhouse play is a great way to encourage imagination play. Dollhouses can be full of detail and setting them up will allow your children to feel as if they’re literally building a house and then moving in. Setting up the dollhouse is simple and super fun. Moving day is also entertaining because your children can unload the furniture and decide how to decorate and stage their dollhouse.
Setting up a dollhouse is actually an amazing project, and then your children will have endless fun role playing with their favorite toys. The great thing about dollhouses is that you can continue adding onto them. You can get more furniture, cars, and everything a family needs to live comfortably so your children can role play accordingly.
Dollhouse play will encourage language and vocabulary development, imagination, creativity, life skills, fine motor skills, classification skills, problem-solving skills, organizational skills, and more. It also encourages social skills because your kids will be excited to share experiences in the dollhouse with friends and family.
2. Play Cowboys and Indians
Playing Cowboys and Indians is quite a classic and your children will enjoy it greatly. To get started, have your kids choose sides. To make this even more fun, get your children costumes or make them at home for a nice little side project.
Once everyone’s chosen whether they’re Indians or Cowboys, divide the play area so that Indians and Cowboys each have their own territory. Cowboys want to settle and explore, while Indians want to protect their territory. This is the objective of this imagination play activity and you’ll have fun watching your children explore this idea.
Cowboys will invade and Indians will defend their territory. Children must play dead whenever they’re “shot” with finger guns or pretend bow & arrows and the game continues until one of the teams is no longer able to “battle”.
3. Mud Kitchen Play
Mud kitchen play is super popular for many reasons; it’s exciting, messy, fun and it encourages creativity in so many ways. This sensory experience is a big part of what makes it so interesting for children and it will also help your kids develop math skills, speaking skills, science concepts, social skills, etc.
Making a mud kitchen for your children is a lovely DIY project. But if you don’t have the time for this, you can buy mud kitchens online as well. What’s important here is to provide a space where children can play with mud and make all the dishes their creativity allows them to make.
You’ll want to provide pots, molds, tools and kitchen utensils they can use so they can have as much fun as possible. Because mud kitchens are extremely messy, you’ll want to set it up on the backyard and make sure they wear old clothes that they can soil. Also, make sure they clean up thoroughly when they’re done!
