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Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Imagination is a critical part of child development, so parents should encourage their child’s imagination and nurture creativity. When a child is in ‘play mode,’ they often cannot tell the difference between real and pretend life, so it is a great way for them to experience new scenarios and develop a broad range of skills.
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When children are exploring their creative side through imaginative play, it is often their method of making sense of the world and testing a range of experiences. Imagination is very important as a child is able to think outside the box and learn.
Often, imaginative play involves acting out a range of experiences; it might be an experience that they have previously had, or something new and of interest to them.
During imaginative play, a child is able to experiment and test their decision-making skills; they are able to learn how to interact and react in certain scenarios, which helps to further their social skills and also to increase their intellectual growth.
Problem-solving and critical thinking skills are tested as the child may identify an issue whilst playing and then they are in a situation where they must think of multiple solutions, before selecting the most suitable solution and testing it out.
The opportunity for a child to explore a range of outcomes, to then weigh up the pros and cons before concluding a final decision, helps a child to develop the skills required in day-to-day situations. Imaginative play encourages children to challenge themselves; this leads to the discovery of fears and a child can then figure out how they might deal with their fears.
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Imagination and creativity are also useful in building a child’s self-confidence; the child will often be acting-out during the imaginative play, which is a great way for them to boost their communication skills which will help with future social interaction.
Creative, imaginative play enables a child to express themselves verbally and non-verbally, which can also help a child to practice their language skills. Children are given the opportunity to develop as a person and are able to learn what methods of communication work best for them.
Many children incorporate objects into their imaginative play such as toys, dolls, boxes and rocks - this is a brilliant way for a child to learn and to further their development.
If you would like to build your child their very own imaginative play space, checkout our DIY Sensory Room blog here.
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When children invent a scenario during imaginative play, they will explore a range of roles and be able to explore how these different roles might react or behave. For example, if a child imagines that they are working in a vet caring for animals, they may explore the possibilities of working under pressure and act as a caring, organised character as a veterinarian. The child might imagine the challenges that they would face as a veterinarian, and from this they could develop a passion for working in this industry.
It is recommended that children have a suitable place to play in their own homes. This could be areas such as a separate room, a certain section of a room such as a corner, or even under the dining room table!
Our PODS provide the perfect play space for all children; the PODS are secluded, sensory and spacious. An important part of playtime is that the environment should be changed frequently so that a child can explore different scenarios and can be stimulated in different ways; methods to do this include changing props and toys that might be present.
PODS provides a changeable environment as we provide a large spectrum of colours to light-up the POD, and the environment themes can be changed so that your child can be travelling to another galaxy one day, and living in a fairytale the next.