5 ways to encourage imaginative play in kids

In a world of increasing emphasis on structure and routine for our children, it’s important, as parents and educators, to take a step back and reacquaint ourselves with the power of imaginative play. Free play, as we know, is an important component of a child’s learning and development, and helps increase their imagination, physical strength and emotional maturity (among other benefits!)

Encouraging imaginative play is important, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. Today, I’m sharing 5 easy ways to encourage imaginative play in kids. These are all things I try to do consistently, but they’re only a starting point. There are so many ideas out there for encouraging your little ones…leave a comment with your favorite go-to idea for encouraging imaginative play!

1. Provide plenty of free play with open-ended toys. Open-ended toys, such as LEGO^® Super Hero sets, provide an opportunity to act out scenes from their favorite stories, or, build their own superhero world.  Are your children training to become super heros? Mine certainly are (dish towels are daily used as capes around here), and I think that’s great!
2. As children play, they grow confident in their ability to bring stories and ideas to life. LEGO^® Super Heroes are a perfect way to introduce the entire family to the land of make-believe & open-ended play.

We recently got the chance to test out this theory with a set of LEGO^® DUPLO^® (Ages 1 1/2 – 5) and a set of LEGO^® Super Heroes: MARVEL™ (Ages 5+)…

LEGO^® DUPLO^® offers an unlimited source of creative play as young children explore the world around them with their growing imagination. Double the size of the regular LEGO bricks, yet 100% compatible, DUPLO bricks grow alongside your child as they curiously create and discover many ways to play.

Age appropriate minifigures allow even the youngest builders to role play. My two year old and I LOVED this set…we especially the drawbridge that went up and down to allow the figures to sail through.

LEGO^® Super Heroes: MARVEL^™ and LEGO^® Super Heroes: DC UNIVERSE^™ bring characters from comic books and new movie releases to LEGO brick form. I LOVE that my six-year-old is now old enough to follow the directions and put these sets together himself. It’s neat to see how proud of himself he is after completing one! Needless to say, my son also had a blast building, and then playing with, his set.

2. Limit screen time. I know this is a bit of an obvious one, but it bears repeating. With all the different gadgets, tablets and screens in a typical home (off the top of my head, I count 9 in mine), it’s important to limit screen time and encourage other sorts of play. When it’s nice out, I make sure my kids play outside every day, and we also have lots of lots of art supplies to encourage creativity and imaginative play, no matter the weather.

3. Allow for some chaos. I’m not one to necessarily embrace chaos, but truly imaginative play does sometimes yield a certain amount of chaos, and that’s ok. Blanket forts, crafts, gardening, outdoor adventures…all produce a degree of chaos, and realizing this ahead of time helps me to relax and bit and remember that it’s for a greater good.

4. Have lots of play props handy. Dress-up clothes, a pile of pillows and blankets, an empty box…almost anything can be used for play. We keep a box of “recyclables”, such as paper towel tubes, empty food boxes, bubble wrap, egg cartons, etc., handy for our kids to play and create with…it’s an inexpensive idea, but one that our kids enjoy even more than some much more expensive toys they’ve been given.

5. Most importantly, let your kids see YOU play. Parents are truly the best teachers and our kids watch us more than anybody. If our kids see us having fun, enjoying nature, creating, using our imagination, etc., they’ll be more likely to do the same. This benefits us all, as creative adults are shown to be better problem solvers, have better relationships, improved brain function and less stress than less creative adults. That’s what I call a win-win!

How do you encourage imaginative play in your little ones?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.