Imagination is the most beautiful thing our brains can create. It’s essential to nourish and encourage imagination because it will help your children develop creativity and many cognitive abilities. All this is essential for healthy growth and well-developed mind. However, many parents are busy with their jobs and providing for their families. Luckily, there are thousands of ways to encourage your child’s imagination and here are some of them.
Stories
Just remember all the stories your parents used to tell you and how you imagined them in your head. You don’t even need a fancy book for the stories; you can easily tell the most classic fairy tales to your child before bed and let them imagine their own worlds. Also, you don’t even have to rely on fairy tales, you can easily just talk to your child and make up your own stories. This will allow you to establish a unique parent-child relationship, spend some quality time together while your child’s brain is creating beautiful images and stories.
Making art
Arts and crafts are always a good way to practice creativity and imagination. So, don’t hesitate and create a nook in your home where you child can express their imagination. Provide some paper, pencils, crayons, watercolors and other materials your child likes and go make some art together. You can paint, mold, build, draw and even sculpt and this tactile experience is essential because it’s important for the young ones. However, make sure not to limit them and their imagination.
Go outside
Spending some time outside is great for both you and your child. Plus, you will get to exercise a bit, which is an important part of letting your child discover new things and use their imagination. You can engage in some family sports, so bring a Frisbee or a ball or even pack a pair of binoculars and observe the surrounding nature. Go by the lake, on the beach or to the park and enjoy the time you spend together. Possibilities for playing outside are countless, and you can even teach your children some of the games you used to play with your friends when you were little.
Play together
Just like stories and exercise, playing is important too. Play time can spark the imagination in your child’s little head, because they need to imagine dialogues, stories and actions themselves. It really doesn’t matter which games you play or which toys you use; anything is welcome. You can spend some nights playing board games, play with some dolls or action figures and sometimes you don’t even need the toys. Try building a fort together and build up a story behind it or you can use your teepee for kids and play camping or pretend to be some explorers in faraway lands.
Limit screen time
Besides playing, reading and storytelling there are some other things you should do – limiting the time your child spends in front of a screen. With today’s advances in technology, many children grow up with TVs, phones, tablets and computers and they gather plenty of images and information through them. What is more, you cannot control everything that your child is going to see or hear. That’s why it is best to limit their screen time and limit the information your children are getting. There are plenty of interesting animal documentaries or educational animations that can teach your child a lot. Also, you can simply use the online resources and incorporate them into your off-screen play.
Imagination is the best part of any childhood and you should work on it together. Who knows, maybe even your imagination lights up again and you manage to relax and awaken your inner child.
