Showing posts with label imaginative play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label imaginative play. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
3 Imagination Games to Play With Children
Imaginative play helps your child to develop heightened social, language and thinking skills. Take the following three imagination games to play with children as suggested by Family Education and have a fun-filled afternoon of creative play and storytelling.
Seeing Into the Future
Crystal balls are hard to
come by these days, but your child has all the imagination required to think up
scenarios – whether plausible or silly – for a friend’s or sibling’s future. To
get the story rolling, ask questions like, where will the person live? What
will the person do for work? Will the person be married or have child? What
will their names be?See if your child can make a connection between what friends and siblings enjoy doing now and what they might choose to do as an adult. For example, your child may make-believe that the person in the story, who loves playing with blocks, ends up becoming an architect or construction worker.
15 Minutes of Fame
Ask your child to pretend he
or she is being featured on the cover of a magazine. Then ask your child the reason
why. Did he or she do something impressive, such as win a gold medal in the
Olympics or invent a wild new creation? Have your child demonstrate what he or
she did to earn the 15 minutes of fame.
The Perfect Day
Have your child describe the
perfect day and add contributions as the scenario unfolds. Maybe the sun would
always shine, every meal would consist of ice cream and pizza, and school would
be nothing more than recess from start to finish.Revel in the wonder of the perfect day and then help your child appreciate reality by asking follow-up questions. How would farmers grow food if it never rained? Wouldn’t you get tired of the tummy ache from only eating junk food? How would you learn to read and write if you never had to study?
Find more unique imagination games to play with children at ListenLoveLearnToys. Then, find out more about the importance of creative play by contacting ListenLoveLearn.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Traditional Toys Are Still Essential in a World of Electronic Devices and Apps
Technology is more advanced than ever, and children are often drawn toward the flashing lights, fun music and characters on a mobile device more than they are to traditional toys. Does that mean electronic devices and apps trump creative play and imagination? Maybe in some homes, but they shouldn’t in yours, and here’s why.
Social Skills
An ongoing concern for the upcoming generation is that many kids lack important social skills. Playing with traditional toys gives children the chance to learn communication, sharing and problem solving skills. These important social abilities get skimmed over when kids play on an iPad all day.Language and Speech Skills
Most children develop these skills around ages two and three. Traditional toys beat electronic devices again because, while apps may teach "speech," they don’t teach "language." Interacting with an image on a screen doesn’t allow the same feedback as interacting with another child.Motor Skills and Eye-Hand Coordination
With an app, the most involvement you get is a hand swipe or a tap of the finger. Compare that to building towers, playing catch or drawing a picture and it’s clear that traditional toys are superior for developing eye-hand coordination, not to mention providing the physical activity needed to develop motor skills and keep kids healthy.Imagination
Open-ended toys encourage creative play. A stack of blocks can become a house for a teddy bear; a few dolls can go on an adventure together; and a cardboard box can become a spaceship. Apps don’t allow the same type of creativity or imagination. For many, what you see is what you get.With this is in mind, it’s important not to completely ignore technology. Today’s electronics trump the button-mashing video games and one-button preschool toys of yesteryear. Some online computer games are quite thought-provoking and challenging, and apps are great for entertaining your child in the doctor’s office waiting room. Ultimately, it’s about striking a healthy balance between technology and traditional toys.
Browse through the extensive collection of age-appropriate toys available from ListenLoveLearn Toys. Then find out more about the importance of traditional play by contacting ListenLoveLearn.
Image via Shutterstock.com
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Are Children Spending Enough Time Outdoors?
But it’s dirty out there, not to mention dangerous. The kids could be run over by a car or mauled by a dog or abducted. Besides, all they want to do is play on the iPad. It’s easier to rush the children in the door when they get home from school and sit them on the couch where they can passively stare at a computer screen under your watchful eye.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Children today spend an average of 4.5 hours a day being entertained by a screen. Whether it’s the TV, a computer or a mobile device, kids tend to prefer to unwind with a screen rather than spend time outdoors.
In the past few years, some organizations have joined forces to help counter this trend. One filmmaker in particular, David Bond, struck a chord with adults and children alike in his film Project Wild Thing. It documents his efforts to treat nature as a brand that requires marketing to attract attention.
Spending time outdoors makes children happier and healthier by building resilience, boosting well-being and making lifelong memories. Sure, kids enjoy what they watch on a screen, but it’s the adventures they have outside that will stick with them for a lifetime.
So how do you get your children to choose outdoor play over screen time? Spending just five more minutes outside can make a difference, says Bond. Try reading outside, building a fort in the yard, running through the sprinklers, going for a walk or camping. Or just send your kids outside and tell them not to come back for a while. When they realize all the fun and imaginative play that awaits them, they’ll soon come to love every minute they spend outside.
To learn more about the value of making sure your children spend enough time outdoors, please contact ListenLoveLearn.
Image via Shutterstock.com
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