Encouraging Imaginative Play

The Daycare
My Corner

Childhood is at risk, and the first thing on the endangered list appears to be a lack of imagination.   This is largely due to the inability of some children to create pictures in their own minds.   A simple skill many adults might assume…but one that needs nurturing and developing in early childhood.  As A.C. Harwood (author of The Recovery of Man in Childhood ) warned:

When a child is accustomed to having everything presented to him in ready made pictures, he loses the faculty of creating his own pictures in his imagination.

Why then would we promote the erosion of childhood and the necessity of play which develops picture forming capabilities?   Television, computer software, early academics, and toys that require little or no interaction rob a child of creating the skills necessary for imagination.

Early childhood is often called by psychologists as the “formative years”.   It is the precious time when many future capacities for learning, communicating and problem solving take place within the process of play, imagination, and the sensory interactions a child has with his/her environment.

A child is constantly exploring, adapting, engaging, responding and readapting to everything he/she encounters.   All of this is done within the context of child initiated purposeful activity (such as grasping for a rattle) and increases in complexity over time as he/she master simpler activities.   This is the foundation to brilliance and academic success.   This is the cornerstone of creativity and problem solving.

As modern medicine is making the period of old age longer, we have been eroding childhood at alarming rates.   The only way to reclaim childhood is to allow children the space and time to literally grow up.   There is no “miracle- grow” for childhood except patience, love and opportunities for lots and lots of imaginative play.

Imaginative play first emerges in toddlers utilizing objects in ways other than what they were intended.   It is called ‘symbolic play’.   Symbolic play emerges from an outer influence in the child’s environment.  A child may see a doll, and in the absence of a toy car, begin pushing it around a room.   Symbolic play is the precursor to imagination.

Imagination is initiated by an inner impulse from within the child’s own picture forming capabilities.   For true imagination to emerge, a child will not need an object to stimulate play, but come up with ideas on his/her own.   It is this picture forming capability in children that is at the biggest risk of disappearing!   Picture thinking actually forms the basis for later abstract thought.

To remedy this risk to childhood, we must encourage children to truly play.   This does not mean having them imitate and dress up like the latest action hero or animated movie character.   Play needs to emerge from the heart.

Can your child stimulate imaginative play by themselves, or do they count on you to plan and prepare entertainment?   Here are a few recommendations to begin stimulating a more imaginative playtime for your child.

• Home Environment
• Provide a safe and loving home where your child is protected from a daily sensory overload.   Be mindful of all you allow your child to see, hear and touch.   Plan and allow for lots of movement.
• It is through the purposeful work of the adult in the home that provides the impulse for a child’s play.   The child will imitate your gestures, tones and attitudes.
• Even an over abundance of playthings can be too stimulating for a young child.   Limit the amount of toys available.   If necessary, you can rotate playthings based upon seasonal activities.
• Nature Experience
• Experiences in nature develop curiosity and a sense of wonder.   Speak with imaginative terms like Mother Earth, Father Sun, Sister Rain, Rain/Wind Fairies, Brother Wind, Gnomes, etc.
• Bring in rocks, shells, driftwood, cut and sanded tree limbs for building blocks, dried peach pits, seed pods, anything that can be transformed by the mind to represent other objects.   Be sure to monitor the type and size of objects to ensure your child’s safety.
• Storytelling
• Oral storytelling is best because it encourages children to create their own images in their minds.   They need experiences from which to build these pictures, so begin with stories about their own adventures.
• Of special note:   when reading stories with children, look at the illustrations.   Are you offering your child beautiful images, especially of the human being, which go directly into their being, or distorted views?
• Open Ended Playthings
• So many toys today offer zero opportunity for true imaginative play.   As with the nature objects, it is from the child’s own inner picture-forming capabilities that they transform objects to suit their own purpose.   Provide toys that can be used in a variety of ways and need a child’s interaction.   Baskets filled with large material squares made from silks or cotton make wonderful additions to a playroom.
• Simple soft dolls with suggested eyes or faces allow children to complete the faces in their own mind.   This way a doll is not tied to any one emotional expression and the child gets to create the faces to suit his/her need.   Finding dolls stuffed with wool give an added benefit of giving back the warmth of the child from the doll itself and bring a more enlivening quality to the doll and the relationship it develops with the child.
• Sculpturing Activities
• Play dough, beeswax and sand offer a child an endless possibility of adventures. While creating masterpieces they are building muscle and more neural pathways!
• Downtime
• Doing absolutely nothing allows your child to enter into an inner quiet and find a balance between the outer-world. It is during this downtime that your child is actually learning and creating memory.

A child’s natural state of consciousness is dreamlike and trusting.   Let’s not impose our adult consciousness onto our little ones when it comes to something so important as our child’s play.   Simply put…imaginative play is the essential element that transforms in adulthood as academic and creative brilliance.   It deserves our respect and admiration! admiration!

Joani Lackie-Callighan has been an early childhood educator for over 15 years, has presented workshops on such topics as ‘Sensory Integration and the Young Child' and ‘The Brain Connection to Literacy Development’