The Charm of Imaginary Games for Kids
April 15, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Parenting
Encouraging youngsters to use their imaginations, to create their own games, and to play in the out-of-doors instead of sitting before a computer or TV screen results in enjoyment many may not experience in today’s technological world.
Image: sxc.hu
When I see my grandson and his cousin spending the afternoon in the woods around our home, building forts, playing games without electronic accompaniments, and using their imaginations, I’m taken back to my childhood when the radio was the only gadget we had around. Televisions did exist but we couldn’t get reception out in the country where we lived.
My sister and I made dolls, played school, created doll houses, read books in trees, and splashed in the swimming hole made by two brooks in the pasture. Our brothers created toys from scraps of wood, built forts, pretended they were cowboys and played ball in the field. Friends joined us and seemed to prefer coming to our farm rather than staying at their homes in the village where there were more conveniences.
The charm of imaginary games and using their creativity for crafts and making toys sometimes gets lost for youngsters in today’s world. It’s up to us as parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles to encourage these activities in the children in our lives.
Some suggested books for encouraging creativity:
Nature Crafts for Kids by Gwen Diehn and Terry Krautwurst
Nature Crafts (Creative Kids) by Joy Williams
Kid Style Nature Crafts by Sterling Publishing Co.
The Kids’ Nature Book by Susan Milord
Nature’s Playground by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield
One of my kids’ favorite toys is a big box that they can decorate as a plane or castle or car or whatever they are feeling like that day. They have way more fun with that than with the fancier more finished toys.
Thanks, Mike, for stopping by and reminding me of the charm of big boxes. My grandchildren, as well as my daughter before them, have been fascinated with big boxes and all they can do with them. My grandson, nearly 14, still makes off with big boxes we get and creates all types of imaginary things with them.
We, as parents and grandparents, need to encourage this imaginary play and let youngsters have fun with things they can create from free and inexpensive materials.