Imaginative Play

Doing crafts and projects with your kids is awesome, but you can't always be doing structured activity. And you shouldn't anyways. Children need to explore their worlds without the limitations that doing a specific project can have.

 I like to set up invitations for my kids that supply the things needed for an implied task, and see where they take it. They can explore freely within the invitation without feeling limited.  It is one way to gain interest in a specific topic without taking charge and interfering with the learning process. A good example of this would be setting up an invitation with water and different sized containers. They will probably start playing by filling each container and then transferring the liquid from one container to another. You get them set up and then they take the lead. You answer any questions (or just be around for younger ones) and they get to learn all about how the same amount of liquid doesn't fit or fill different sized containers.  Plus, it's just plain fun!  

But even setting up invitations can't happen every day and they aren't truly limitless, so it is important to have "open-ended" toys in your play area. These are toys that can be used in more than one way. Construction toys are a great example. Blocks, Legos, Marble runs. Things that can be broken down and build back up over and over in new ways.  

Here my daughter is breaking down a "bridge" she built to build another structure.

Her Q-Ba-Maze Marble run that can be built in any way desired.

Craft supplies are also open-ended and can be used in whatever way their imagination takes them.

Some supplies she got out and decided to use.

Of course, you have to not mind messes too much :)

 

A nest my 4 yr old made with crafting feathers and her play foods for eggs.

These types of toys and supplies foster the imagination and don't require constant instruction. And they take a lot of the pressure off of you as far as having to plan activities all the time. It really isn't necessary,or even ideal, for EVERYTHING to be planned out. 

So next time you are looking for a toy for your little one, ask yourself, can this be used in many different ways, or does it have only one function. And keep in mind that, like in the photo above, even play food can become something else, in the minds of our children.