Imaginative Playing With Kids
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Kids have a wonderful imagination. They can imagine the world and things around them are most anything they want. Playing with them in these games is a great way for them to learn.
Kids will make up some of the funniest and creative things. By the time people have grown to adulthood, most of them have lost that creative imagination that they had as kids. When children are creative, they are being active and engaging their brain - you should absolutely encourage them.
That doesn’t mean you have to be the creative one. While it would be good for you to be creative while being with your child, it’s important that your child is able to do so. Your kids will generally be happy enough for you to play with them in their imagination games.
Don’t be afraid to pretend that lava is coming to get you, or that you’re living in a castle, or that your lifeboat is sinking and you must save yourself. There’s no reason that you can’t be the one to help save the day, or be the one to lose an arm to a shark. Whatever the game may be, jump in wholeheartedly.
Playing imaginary games with your kids is also a great way to teach them something new while having fun. Learning is always done best when everyone is having fun - kids are less resistant to it. Helping children to learn more about the places or things they’re imagining can help them remember new things.
For example, if you’re pretending that you’re on a volcano, talking about how volcanoes work, why they explode, or how many volcanoes there are is a great way to teach your child. This doesn’t mean you’re stopping the game to sit down at a whiteboard to learn. It means that you’re injecting these ideas into the game as part of the flow. “Oh no, the pressure under the lava has made the volcano explode. Run!” This is just one example, but there are generally opportunities to drop these little nuggets into the flow of things.
Don’t force yourself into playing with your kids either. While most kids would love to have you along, there are some that don’t. Offer to play with them, but if they don’t want you to, then let them do their own thing.
When you do play, you really need to be involved. The kids, and you, will have a lot more fun when that’s the case. If you’re looking at your phone, or not really engaged, your kids may not only lose interest in having you play, but may lose interest in playing at all. Set your phone down for a while, and go on the lookout for pirates with your kids.
While playing, you may realize that you actually also really enjoy using your imagination. As we grow older, it’s easy to lose track of that as we have more responsibilities piled upon us. Taking time to use your own imagination, while playing with your kids, is a great way to relax from the other stresses of life.
Don’t be afraid of the next adventure or tea party that your child invites you to. Bring along some nuggets of wisdom for them, and imagine that you really are in the place you’ve traveled to.
