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Laugh & Learn™ Little Helpers
Two fun toys that help baby learn through play.
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Articles 12-36 months
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Imagination Takes Flight
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Imagination Takes Flight
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Your little one is making great leaps of imagination. Encouraging imaginative play gives your child the ability to think things through, make things happen, and learn in a creative way.
With outstretched arms, airplane noises, and imagination at full throttle, a young child zooms around the living room. Such flights of fancy are more than fun – they show that your child is thinking in new and more sophisticated ways. Imagination is linked to learning, and you can help it flourish.
When children start to use their imagination, they create different meanings for things around them. A toy car can suddenly be a magic flying car. Or a set of blocks can become a house for a small stuffed animal. Through this kind of play your child is no longer just observing the world, but making fun things happen within it – and discovering all sorts of exciting possibilities.
It Starts with Imitating You
Before imagination soars there are a number of preliminary developments. For instance, as your child becomes more observant, you may find you have a tiny copycat in your home, imitating your movements, your facial expressions, even the sounds you make. It becomes obvious that your little one’s been watching you very carefully, and is now able to put thoughts (“Mommy shakes her finger at the doggy”) into action (“I can shake my finger at the doggy!”). You’ll see your toddler with hands on hips, just like you when you’re talking to someone. As you laugh with recognition, be aware that this thrill of imitating a “big person” is laying the groundwork for imaginative play, a huge step in your child’s development.
Slowly, your child’s thinking skills expand. Your little one may not understand that giving a bottle to Teddy means “feeding” Teddy. But your child does know that handling a bottle is something that you or other adults do, and your little one is eager to try it as well. It’s a wonderful and caring act that shows your child wants to express affection to Teddy, even if your little one doesn’t fully understand that a bottle is about food. Your child acting like you is the heart of imitation, which eventually leads to pretend play.
Imitation Expands
As your child learns more about the world, visits more places, meets new people, and plays with new things, imitation grows increasingly sophisticated. For instance, a young baby may simply explore the shape and feel of a building block. Later, if your child sees you stacking two blocks, your little imitator may try the same. Then, your child starts really thinking about the blocks. After watching someone build a block tower, it will dawn on your little one: “That’s what you do with those things!” Your child is connecting the objects to the action of building for the first time.
If your child sees someone knock over the same block tower, that too could set off a chain of thinking based on the desire to imitate. “Someone else made it happen,” your child will realize, “and now I can do it, too.” When your child gives it a try, listen for fits of giggling, as your child delights in doing something that was out of reach before. “I did that!” is the expression you’ll see on your little one’s face. “Let’s try it again!”
The more children imitate behaviour, the sooner they make sense of how things happen – and that leads to creative thinking and the ability to pretend. Here again is how it works:
1. Your child notices a behaviour, and simply observes it.
2. Your child tries out the behaviour by physically imitating it, without yet understanding it or even thinking about what the behaviour might mean.
3. Your child physically imitates the behaviour at appropriate times, after considering its purpose.
How to Foster Imitation
You’re important to your child’s creative development. Have fun helping your child imitate others by trying the following:
• Play a “copy me” game. When you see your baby imitating you, imitate baby back to keep the game going. Clap your hands, make a silly sound, get down on the ground and pretend to be a funny monkey or a lion. Lay the groundwork for baby to watch you and figure out how to do what you’re doing. Your little one may need time to absorb your actions, but will eventually repeat them.
• Provide role-play toys. Make the most of your child’s natural desire to imitate by providing child-sized objects based on real-life ones. Pretend food, a toy grocery cart or kitchen, a child-size lawn mower or musical instrument – such items, designed for children to use easily, enrich the opportunities to imitate what they see.
• Give your child encouragement. When your little one copies an everyday action, talk about its meaning to help baby understand what’s really happening, and why. When baby picks up a toy phone you might say, “Oh, are you going to call Grandma? That’s who I usually call on the phone. Tell her I say hello!”
Imagine That!
Around the age of two or two-and-a-half, toddlers move beyond imitating and start using their imaginative thinking skills. This new kind of play includes sweet and humorous touches. Before, your child may have observed and handled play figures you provided; now you’ll see your little one make the figures interact. Moving the mommy to the baby, pretending to put the baby to sleep, taking the figures for a ride in a toy train... whatever comes to mind can come to life.
Watching your child play imaginatively means you’re seeing a strong sign of intellectual growth. You can help your child’s thinking skills expand, bit by bit; for, while pretending comes naturally to a youngster, it’s more fun if you encourage the play. Of course, imagination continues to change and develop as your child grows.
Dramatic Play as Creative Thinking
Toy playsets with a range of characters provide an introduction to playing a role; children begin to relate to one character or another, and then actually pretend to be that character. Acting out stories about themselves and grown-ups they know, imitating what they’ve seen and making it their own – all are ways of expanding imaginative thinking.
As you take your child to more places outside of home, the scope of your little one’s dramatic play will expand. Fantasies for a younger child are about daily routines, such as Mommy putting baby to sleep. Later, other characters – the zookeeper, the doctor, the car mechanic – gradually enter in. Provide your child with a variety of experiences, and watch imagination blossom from there. Point things out on trips around town: When you’re at the doctor’s office for a
check-up, introduce your child to the different “characters” and tools in the office. “This is the doctor. She helps us stay healthy and strong. And this is her stethoscope, to listen to our beating hearts,” and so on. In the supermarket, walk by the bakery and say, “That’s the baker. He decorates the birthday cake.” All of these kinds of observations will help your child think about the world in a bigger and more appreciative way. Then your little one will be eager to try on one of the roles when it’s time to play!
A Window to Their World
Often, role play focuses on re-creating situations that have particular meaning in a child’s life. It might be a troubling event that the child wants to experience again in a safe manner, such as an encounter with a barking dog. In this kind of play, it’s not unusual for a child to take on the role of adult. For instance, your child might act the part of the dog’s owner. “Bad doggie,” your child will say, pulling an imaginary dog’s leash. “No bark at the baby.” That kind of pretend session can do much to calm a toddler’s nerves, helping your child feel strong and in control.
Your child will also grow to love to play dress-up or pretend to be a familiar person. Children like to recruit family members for these little scenarios, so be prepared for your child to ask you to be the baby while your child plays the Mommy! A toddler loves to explore what it’s like to be
a grown-up and caretaker. And when that happens, you get to see yourself through your child’s eyes – which could prove interesting! The most amazing part is what you can learn about your little one: Watching children imitate, make believe, and eventually engage in imaginative, dramatic play can provide an enlightening glimpse into what’s on their mind.
How to Foster Imaginative Play
• Provide open-ended toys, such as pretend medical kits, tool sets, or tea sets. These can encourage a wide variety of scenes for your creative toddler, as your child pretends to give Grandma a
check-up, fix a toy, or serve tea to an imaginary friend.
• Participate in your child’s pretend play. “Wow, what are you building?” you might ask your child who is engaged with a toy tool set. Join in the fun, even if it feels silly at first. Play along at your child’s level, and rediscover how much fun it is to let your imagination take over.
• Provide a collection of similarly themed toys. A grouping of play figures (a family in a house, a group of workers at a garage) will ignite your child’s imagination. Toy farm animals and a toy barn, for instance, will spur your child to invent many scenarios in which the animal characters “talk” and interact.
• Read aloud stories with a range of characters and situations. Hearing imaginative stories will encourage your child’s creative thinking and give your child starting points for dramatic play.
• Be silly. Humour helps children feel free to express their thoughts.
• Encourage a child’s budding imagination by following the child’s lead and making suggestions. If you see your child taking a stuffed animal for a ride in a wagon, ask, “So where are you going today?” But don’t impose your own ideas on the scene: Let your child explain what’s happening.
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