Imaginative Play

Print out a crystal ball and draw your own vision of the future. ...

Wise Animals Required: Your time only Have you ever looked at a cat and just known that it was thinking: "A meow in time saves nine?" Ask your child about the words of wisdom that would roll off the tongues of your pets (or animals in your neigh...

Looking for some easy imagination playtime activities for your busybody toddler or preschooler? Just check your cabinets, toy box, or recycling bin for some new "toys" and supplies for playtime. All of these activities use basic household items t...

When I Grow Up Required: Your time only What if your child could gaze into a crystal ball and tell you what other children in the family, the neighborhood, or at school are going to be doing in 15 years? True, a crystal ball is hard to come by t...

Toy Tales Required: Your time only Do you know what your child's toys are up to when you're not around? There's one way to find out… ask your child to divulge their secret lives! Ask your child to tell you what a favorite stuffed animal, for e...

Spinners Required: Paper plate, thin cardboard, brad, scissors, markers Some things are best left to fate… and other things are best left to fortune-tellers. Here's an easy way for your child to make a fortune-telling device that's guaranteed ...

Purchased games and toys have little relevance to healthy child development. Play, however, figures prominently in healthy child development. ...

Pop Goes the Quiz Required: Pen and paper Does your child aspire to be a teacher? If so, he or she will undoubtedly enjoy practicing one of the most important skills of the trade—administering pop quizzes! First, your child reviews a topic he ...

Perfectly Silly Required: Your time only If every day were perfect, what could possibly go wrong? Challenge your child to figure it out! Ask your child to describe a perfect day. Maybe the sun would shine from early morning until bedtime, every ...

Presidential Mixer Party Game Required: Reference materials Costumes for guests Have you met anyone interesting at a party recently? Well, this is your chance to mix with some of the most prestigious party guests of all—U.S. presidents, past a...

Your Three-Year-Old's Imagination Q-tip Dressing up will enhance your child's fantasy play, but lots of fancy costumes, although fun, are not really necessary for an imaginative preschooler. Props are much more essential to her imaginative play....

Mouse-Eye View Required: Your time only Yikes! You've been transformed into a mouse. But that's okay. Now you can see the world from a mouse-eye view. Tell your child to imagine what life would be like as a mouse. Then, in character as a mouse, ...

Marvelous Menus Required:> Drawing supplies Food pyramid diagram We have some good news—your child has just been hired as a chef at a world-famous restaurant. Now the bad news—the patrons are tired of the outdated menu and are demanding that...

Link That Stuff Required: Common household items One way or another, you can find links between even the most seemingly unrelated objects. Here's how to turn those links into great fun. Place several objects in front of your child and ask him or...

Child’s play. It’s a term used to describe a task that’s easily tackled and quick to master. Mindless work. But are the games children play just a mindless distraction, or is there an intrinsic value to play? Many experts would tell you tha...

Left-and-Right Switcharoo Required: Your time only Because most people are right-handed, we live in a world where items—scissors, keyboards, and so on—are for the benefit of right-handed people. Ask your child how things would change if the ...

Keeper of the Zoo Required: Reference books Stuffed or toy animals Magazines If your child can't visit the zoo often enough to suit him or her, why not bring the zoo to your living room? And best of all, your child can be the zookeeper. The zook...

If Pickles Could Talk Required:> Your time only What would the inanimate objects in your household say if they could talk? Ask your child to choose an everyday item and tell you what that object has to say. For example, if pickles could talk, th...