° The Importance of Imaginative Play and Learning for Toddlers

One of the most important things for children to grow and develop is to play and use their imagination. Children that are allowed and encouraged to play imaginatively and remove themselves from the "real world" for a little bit are able to do more “outside of the box “ thinking and are able to produce more creative results when working or learning.

Everyone knows the importance of curiosity in children. Curiosity helps a child explore new things that they haven't encountered before and imagination helps them go beyond the boundaries that have been set and helps them enter a whole new world of discovery. Imagination is the key to doing the impossible, the key to unlocking what they do not yet understand, or allowing them to deal with something that they don't really know how to express.

Parents can help promote imagination through a variety of activities, ideas and toys. Don't you remember turning the pots, pans or plastic containers in your mom's kitchen into drums? What about the television box that became your new home or it was the spaceship that took you to another planet or perhaps it was the race car that won the race. What was your favorite bedtime story when you were little and how did you play out that story the next day?

One way parents can easily promote imaginative play is through toys. Board games, puzzles, doll houses, miniature worlds, or a tent made out of sheets in the living room all promote imaginative play and can help your child create a world of their own. There are a number of different important features about play that you need to be aware of. During play a child is able to use his or her own experiences to create their play world. This is also a time when a child is understanding rules as they create their own rules to keep control of what is going on. They are also create props to fulfill what they feel is missing in their play. A child also “rehearses“ their possible future when they play, for example playing mommy or daddy with a baby doll or stuffed animals. Pretending to be a doctor or a dancer or a soccer player.

During imaginative play a child is also taking what they have learned most recently and celebrates it. This is where they co-ordinate their feelings, ideas and make sense of relationships they have with friends, family and their culture or social environment.

It is also important to remember that a child chooses to play, you can't make them play. What you can do is offer a variety of opportunities that will encourage them to play. A set of blocks can go from being just a bag or box filled with blocks to an imaginative world where there is a castle and a princess or maybe it will become a monster. Maybe you never saw that cloth grocery bag as a designer purse for your little girl to use with her sunglasses her remote control cell phone, but she sees them as the essentials for her being a rock star.

You can take part in their play by encouraging their ideas, take part in what they are doing. You can even role play with them. Let your child be the parent and you be the child... or be princess that needs to be rescued in the castle made out of pillows. Play time is really learning time. Take the time to encourage your child to play and you will be surprised at what they learn.