2 of 21

Write now Article Tools

Nurturing imagination in a child is vital because it promotes problem solving skills needed to become a successful adult. In order to encourage imaginative play, adults need to step back and let them explore with little expectations of the outcome. Children learn so much from trial and error, from engaging their senses, and learning techniques to help them stray from their lines of thinking.

If you think about the mind as a grassy field, and the pathways that thoughts make in the mind as pathways through the field, and you only take the same pathways every day, soon the less used ones become grown over and forgotten. Using simple games, you can keep your child's pathways not only open, but increasing in number. As adults, they will be better at problem solving and less apt to give up at the first sign of failure, because they realize that there are more possibilities, or pathways, to take.

Free Crafting-

So many moms pour through craft books, print out pre-made pictures from the Internet, and buy little craft kits. Sure, they're beautiful and creative, but they're controlled. Less mess, more follow the dotted line, and voila, there's your pom-pom turkey! There's nothing wrong with doing those things, but how far does it stretch the imagination? Give them an arsenal of art mediums to work with such as foam, pipe cleaners, colored pencils, paper punchies, stickers, glue, glitter, or any other little bits you can think of. Don't give them any direction, just let them go. Usually the first time, they have no idea what to do, and might draw a picture and stick a piece of foam on it, but over time, the projects that come out of their minds are amazing! Full sculptures, hats, masks, and anything else you can think of! They not only get to exercise that imagination of theirs, but they learn that if something doesn't turn out the way you want it, it's okay to start over and try it a different way. It's this thinking that promotes imagination and problem solving skills.

Shared Stories-

If you have more than one school-aged child, or you are a teacher, daycare provider, or you just want to sit down and remember how fun it is to be a kid, this is a perfect brain boosting project. First, give every child a blank piece of paper and a pencil. If you are doing this one-on-one with your child, you get a piece, and your child gets a piece. Set a timer for fifteen seconds. During that time, have the children draw a picture or start a story.
When the timer goes off, everyone must

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Games that encourage kids to use their imagination?
We want to hear your view. Write now!