Encouraging Imaginative Play
I am so excited about this week’s guest feature - it’s full of fun, creativity and ideas for keeping your kids busy during these challenging times. Emily is a parent, of two little boys, and through playing with her children she began her business Krafty Creators. Today, she creates fantastic kids parties, play-dates and “learning-through-play” set ups ~ which have become a sell-out success. To describe Emily’s approach I can only ask that you think of the type of childhood playing, that you dream of for your children. Emily’s scenes are other-worldly and as a mum of two she is able to translate ideas and concepts into bite-size activities, which kids can engage with. Encouraging children to transform into a character ~ become a bunny, through making a bunny mask, or become an explorer, by making their own binoculars etc... this is imaginative play brought to life.
Today, she is sharing her tips for creative play at home: using themes, songs, stories and characters. Making worlds and games out of everyday things you can find around your house. All you need is a little know how and a sprinkling of Emily’s magical ideas. Think indoor sailing adventures, safaris, dragon hunts and dressing up. She really has changed the way I view creative play, with my own children. So read on… if you are looking for new energy and ideas on how to play with your kids, this is the guest feature for you.
Miriam x
emily’s ideas: how to create a magical home adventure
in lockdown
look for inspiration at home
Look around your house, see what inspires an idea. I have set up some great play scenes, using just bedding and towels to make a lake, roads and a desert. Everyday objects can transform into so many different things, with a little imagination and scene setting.
Do not throw things away too fast: different shaped packaging, an interesting shaped pot, the dividers in a chocolate box, could all make brilliant props. I keep a selection in an old box, then go to them when I am setting up an adventure. Equally, if I want some ideas, I go and have a look through my hoard and will often find extra props. If something is not getting used, I recycle it.
We went fishing: cardboard box boats with napkin sails and paper flags. A fishing lake made up of towels, sheets, old sleeping bag and a magnetic fishing game.
2. listen to your children and how they play
Rabbit Warren: Mr McGregor is coming hurry hide, I made a vegetable patch full of carrots (made out of a cardboard box). The boys popped out and stole the carrots from the garden while my husband and I shouted, stop rabbits!
Listening to my two boys to play, when they are busy, always gives me my favourite ideas. Children are so imaginative: a glasses-case could be a crocodile snapping its jaws, an open laundry basket a plant pot in Mr McGregor’s garden, a cardboard box a cave, and so on.
Listening to your kids can give you a starting point, a theme that they are already exploring on their own. Your role is to bring it to life and let their imaginations run wild.
3. go with a theme
When you have chosen a theme, start developing their imagination(s) in advance of your adventure. Books, photos, programmes, audiobooks - can all help explore a theme. Select a few relevant clips to watch/ or books to look at, in the days before the adventure, to feed their imagination and build on their knowledge of the theme.
You may well hear them start to play with ideas, when you listen to their play chatter.
“I find that when I really invest in this stage I find that the experience is more magical, as the boys really look like they have stepped into another world.” - Emily
Weekend Safari: inspired by our honeymoon on safari. We showed them our photo albums and chatted about all the animals we saw. The boys also love Julia Donaldson The Ugly Five so we read this a few times before this adventure.
Spiders: this was a topic from school last term, the boys loved it and so I decided to bring it to life and made these costumes from hoodies and odd socks. They made a spider’s web and caught flies. You can see from their faces how much they loved this!
4. craft and costume
Fully bring your adventure to life using craft and costumes. Many of my most successful adventures this lockdown have been when the boys becoming characters. Kids love to dress up and pretend to be someone, or something else. I have noticed in lockdown this has been accentuated: their need to go on a journey and be transported away from this period of isolation has become a release for them.
If you do not own the right costume for your theme, then use craft to create something. My boys and I make a lot of masks using egg boxes, card, cardboard, paper plates, the excitement builds when they are creating these.
5. layer the adventure
I have found the best way to engage my boys is to create several layers to an adventure: a minimum of x3 works well. You want to retain their attention and keep the game and their play moving. So involving a mix of activities, props, crafts and tasks keeps the adventure varied and allows them to switch between different parts of a game.
Dragon Game ~
make dragon wings
play at flying and with your new dragon shadow
collect sticks to make a dragon nest
hunt for and play with dragons eggs in the nest
Dragons: the boys made dragon wings and found the missing dragon eggs and placed them in the dragon’s nest.
Bespoke car and cardboard craft themed party. I created a cardboard town and the children made cars that they could stand in and drive around the town, complete with car wash and petrol station. Towards the end of the party the children started to move the cardboard town and building large towers working together.
6. let play evolve
As adults we often have a plan and I certainly visualise things very clearly in my mind before I set an adventure up. As we all know children are not predictable…. But, embrace this! Do not try to hold them rigidly to your plan, let them do what children do best and be imaginative. When this happens in play set-ups with my boys, they are often the most magical childhood moments, which I learn from and which we all enjoy the most.
More about Krafty Creators bespoke children’s creative service
…specialising in unique creative birthday parties. Combining crafts, role play and props in a magical adventure, that children can enjoy and embrace. These parties take your child on a journey, transporting them and their imaginations somewhere magical. The idea is to lead them into a story, or theme and bring the characters and worlds to life around them. Emily’s events are special: children can become fully absorbed in the adventure, then complete a craft. Through making and playing the story is totally immersive.
Bespoke Peter Rabbit themed adventure party, Mr McGregor’s garden and potting shed , by Krafty Creators