When I was a kid I loved doing pretend play where we would pretend to be mums with our dollies and toy pushchairs walking around the Estate I lived in or played indoors.
I remember when Sarah Ferguson married Prince Andrew and we each pretended to be a royal bride and go up some steps which used to be a laundry room or something like that, and pretended that we were on the Royal Balcony with people cheering us.
Neither of us kissed just to say, it was never like that but we just liked to pretend we were different people for a good few hours.
Creating pretend play like having a toy kitchen area, having a dolls house or costumes were great, and we were always in fancy dress. Helping kids to use their imagination is great for them to build relationships with other children and learn to create stories.
It encourages them to speak and make associations with things so they know what a fireman looks like, what a hospital kit looks like and what you do in a kitchen.
Normally now when a kid starts school they will start of by doing more learning through play rather than beginning a child’s school life doing sit down work and Henry has really benefited through play, as he will often do pretend play with his drafts kid and play tipping point, he knows what 10,000 pounds is and pretends that the person he is imagining himself as, gets the jackpot of 10,000 pounds.
He has learned through continuing to play in the park with other kids how to climb more challenging climbing frames, which really helps with his motor skills, which are important.
Kids will learn what is washing machine if they have pretend one at home that they can play with, and what you do if you have a kitchen sink, and knows that this is for cleaning dishes.
I loved writing and creating stories since I was a kid and would often do writing and I think that kids should still do handwriting lessons like I had at school because I do think where we have electronic devices now, how handwriting can become affected, I know mine has since I have been using the computer more, and so I do make a point of actually writing, and getting kids to do fun writing games can really help with their growth and development.
Create a story with your child and make it as creative and fun as possible, then you have something you can keep forever and look back on.
With my son Henry I want him to have lots of good memories of his childhood and be able to look back and smile, and doing pretend play is a great way to bond with your children, and gets the child out of you too.
So lets get imagining and have lots of fun.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
The parenting adventures 