As a child grows so does he or her imagination. The imagination give us the ability to form mental images of thing and events whether reality or fiction. The imagination is also responsible for fantasy, inventiveness and creativity. It stimulates thinking by helping us develop a variety of possibilities and or scenarios to accomplish a given task, but also the imagination can be used to manipulate events to produce extravagant and unrestrained thought. Basically the imagination helps us understand, relate to and make sense of the world around us.
Children generally begin to use their imagination around 18 to 24 months. This is when their playtime enters into another growth milestone. Not only is imaginative or pretend play more prevalent but they begin to recognize pretending in others. Research reveals that some of the positive attributes of a child engaging in imaginative play are…
- Their speech tends to develop at a faster pace…
- Their vocabulary is richer and more varied…
- They have an increased ability to entertain themselves…
- They tend to understand their emotions and the emotions of others at an earlier age…
- They are able to interact with their peers easier…
- They tend to be more successful in school…
- They become adults that are problem solvers, innovators and creative thinkers…
By introducing educational toys that promote imaginative play into a child’s playtime parents / caregivers are actually helping a child gain success at an early age. Children will not only share stories of fantasy, but will play act in the fashion that they interpret the world around them. Whether using a toy stove and acting like mom cooking dinner or using plastic tools and act like dad fixing the plumbing, imaginative play opens a child’s mind to the enormous realm of the “Imagine Nation”.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” (Albert Einstein)
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