“Mom can you help me build a crib with this?” My oldest daughter holds up a play silk. She wants me to tie them to our dining room chairs and fashion a crib. I did this once and it has stuck for years and years. We had a baby’s crib… an actual wooden one. We donated it. It was never used. My youngest holds up another silk: “My too” she declares in Toddler English. Both girls get their cribs, thank me, and continue on as mommies. I can hear Willow quietly singing “La La Lu” to her baby doll (exactly what I sang and still do sing sometimes before bed). Fiona is giving her baby a bottle. I’m sipping my coffee and prepping some food. All is wonderful in this moment.
Imaginative play is probably the number one way my girls play throughout the day. From day one, I have been careful to curate a play area that is full of open-ended toys because this is exactly the scenario I pictured. Continued encouragement has paid off and my kids are delighting me and their loved ones with their made-up games, stories, and scenes. They are learning in these moments. They are problem-solving and building empathy. They are doctors, dreamers, firewomen, builders, superheroes, artists, parents, grocery store clerks, chefs, and visionaries.
When they go outside, they are farmers, gardeners, athletes, explorers, paleontologists, bakers, pirates digging for treasure. They are whoever they want to be. How empowering it is to be anything and everything.
Let’s stop and think for a minute about what happens when your child goes outside. If your kids are anything like mine, their pockets are full of pine cones, acorns, sticks, leaves, rocks… if it fits, it is there. I watch them running through the evergreens (‘Mom, we’re in the forest!’ they exclaim), using sticks as tools, digging in the dirt to plant seeds, pretending to feed imaginary chickens with small buds off my shrubs, playing castle in their jungle gym tower, baking cakes and pies with mud, water, and anything else they can get their hands on. The imaginative play that happens outside is my absolute favorite to watch. I truly could watch their scenarios all day. It is so so so important to go outside with them.
And when we are inside, there is just as much opportunity. I’ll be in the kitchen and hear Willow acting out an entire conversation between her animal figurines. Fiona sets up her little people in her dollhouse and uses different voices to have them talk to each other. Multiple times a day the play silks are used a baby swaddles, then cribs, then capes.
Some of the toys and tools we provide our girls with for imaginative play (affiliate links below):
- Play silks (these can be capes, blankets, fort materials, skirts, dresses, baby swaddles… endless uses)
- Building materials (wooden blocks, legos, jumbo blocks, train tracks, magnatiles, lincoln logs, bristleblocks, etc.)
- Animal figurines
- People figurines
- A wide variety and plethora of art supplies
- Dress-up bits (wings, dresses, profession hats, crowns, wands, backpacks, gloves, doctor’s kit, masks, capes, etc.)
- Play kitchen with pots, pans, tea set, cloth and felt food, etc.
- Baby dolls with bottles and stroller
- Pails and shovels
- Gardening tools
- Water droppers
Please note: You do not have to buy all of these things. The point of imaginary play is to use what you have and make things up. We’re lucky to have been gifted a lot of these things from loved ones for birthdays and holidays, but by no means do you need it all. Start a list for yourself so the next time someone asks for ideas, you have a jumping point. I also shared a post with budget-friendly alternatives to some of the expensive brands.
In between all that pretend play, we read. I love to keep a number of books on hand that encourage imagination and creativity. There are some of our favorites:
- Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
- Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
- A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
- What To Do With a Box by Jane Yolen
- In My Room by Jo Witek
- Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis
- On a Magical Do-Nothing Day by Beatrice Alemagna
- Lola Dutch When I Grow Up by Kenneth Wright
Let your home become their stage. If they need help finding their creative voice, sit down for a second with them and set up a scenario. I would often times build a castle with their blocks or magnatiles and bring all the little people over. I would make roads and pretend to have cars driving down them. They squeal in delight and start to pick up on ideas themselves. Before you know it, you are inching away and they are completely immersed. Start small and watch their worlds become more elaborate over time. Imaginative play is a beautiful piece of childhood that doesn’t last very long in the grand scheme of things. Encourage it now and hold onto these moments tightly before they slip away.
