Encouraging Your Child's Imaginative Play

I'll make a confession to you and I'm sure I'm not the only parent who feels this way but I really dislike having to play make believe with my children.

I know, I'm terrible, right? I just find it so boring. I am a realist and I'd much rather be doing something that my logic says is worthwhile and is achieving something. You know, perhaps crafting some cards, baking cakes or going for a ramble.

But the research shows how important it is to encourage your children to take part in imaginative play. A key article in Psychology Today cites benefits such as increased creativity, enhanced empathy, your child gaining an understanding that others thoughts differ to their own, advanced language skills developing and even a reduction in aggression to name just a few of the major plus points.

Sibling Harmony Thanks to Lego Elves

Oh my word, if you could have seen my house last Thursday you would have been astounded, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop and believe me, that is not normal!  We came home from school and my twin girls found that a couple of sets of LEGO had been delivered for them to review, but not just any ordinary LEGO, it was two recently released sets from the magical LEGO Elves range. None of the children were familiar with this new range but they were all chattering away about how cool it looked, including my 11 year old boy.

Miss E got a massive smile over her face and Miss M's smile dropped as she realised that she would not be having the joy of making these up that day as she was being disciplined for some outrageous behaviour the day before. Then my 11 year old son JJ practically got on his knees and begged to be allowed to help Miss E make the castle as he is Lego crazy.

Visual instructions help my daughter with dyslexia
Miss E decided that she should make the smaller set herself and that JJ could help her with the big one the next day, which was a good compromise as I wanted to see how she handled making it alone, without any help. Both boxes are labelled as being suitable for 8 - 12 year olds due to the complexity of the designs and Miss E will be 8 in a few weeks but as she is dyslexic, some things can take a bit longer for her. I'm pleased to report that making the LEGO set herself boosted her confidence loads and she was able to do it all by herself as the instructions are of course visual, rather than written.