Take a stroll through any toy store and you will be bombarded with walls and walls of toys that are just plain LOUD. These toys all require batteries, most have blinding, pulsating lights, some have well-known characters molded or stamped into them, and they all assault the senses and seem to turn our little ones into mindless zombies.
Will all this technology interfere with your choice to raise your children with a little curiosity and imagination? Not if you surround your family with old fashioned games and toys. It's up to you to feed your children a balanced diet of technology and creativity. Here we go with just a few examples of old fashioned fun.
Shelves Filled With Books - Providing a house full of books opens up a child's imagination and feeds that inquisitive nature all kids have. When your child reads fiction, they travel along with the story to places far away and learn things they might never know about unless they opened up that book. For the child who has not been an eager reader in the past, a vast array of cleaver and interesting fiction can intrigue so thoroughly, get the reader so involved in the story, that the child forgets they're reading and soon becomes hooked! Non-fiction books are also important in every home. Oftentimes, parents assume that their pre-school child will only be interested in their "storytime" fictional characters and won't want to read anything that's non-fiction. The truth is that all children, no matter how young, are interested in the world around them and would enjoy stories about the way our world works and the people who live in our world. Non-fiction also serves as a lesson in research as your children move through their school years.
Blocks and Legos - Sit down with your child and a box of blocks or plastic snap together toys, and you could be watching your child play for hours. A child's imagination really kicks in when they are faced with all the choices in front of them. Your child can play for hours building towers, bridges, cities, creatures, and more with these toys that inspire creativity, patience, and improve small-motor skills. You may want to join in as your child grabs a few small cars to drive around the new city. Ask your child to name the city and share with you some of what happens there, where it's located on the map, and who lives there. When the masterpiece is finished, you'll be able to share in your child's delight as the structure falls victim to a giant monster, your child, smashing through the blocks.
Art Corner - Children are intrigued with their own creativity and every child loves to show off their artwork. Providing your child with enough paper, crayons, paint, and glue to keep them busy and happy for hours will produce a lot of artwork, yes, but it also provides your youngster an opportunity to sit quietly and use their imagination. Set up a place for artwork, with all the tools your child needs, and you'll be encouraging not only an interest in art, but a place to express their ideas and thoughts. Old magazines and junk mail are great ways to provide your child with material that's inexpensive and fun for any cutting and pasting project. Freezer paper is another inexpensive way to make sure your children never run out of coloring and painting surfaces. Coloring books are a nice way to get your younger child interested in art, but free-form drawing and coloring really sets their imaginations free. Be sure to SUPERVISE your child closely when using scissors, paint, or glue. Accidents happen, and sometimes our younger children don't realize what feeding the dog a glue treat can do to their tummy.
Felt Boards - Children love to tell stories with pictures and figures. Felt is the perfect way to tell a story with movable characters and props. You'll need a felt board to begin with. You can make your own board using a sheet of felt attached to a sturdy upright surface, like an art easel or even a wall, or you can purchase a board. Once you have the board, let the creativity begin. Go to a craft or fabric store and buy sheets of felt in all colors. For the younger child, cut out basic shapes in all colors and sizes. You'll be amazed at how quickly those shapes become an alien, a ship, a house, or a person in your little one's vision. An older child may wish to be a bit more detailed in their felt shapes. Help your older child find pictures of things they'll want to incorporate into their stories. Then, cut out the shapes that will be a part of their felt stories. Some of our favorite felt props are the trees with the removable tops - one in orange for autumn, one in green for summer, and one with black branch shapes for winter.
Music - Playing instruments and singing are two excellent ways to develop your child's imagination. Creating instruments out of ordinary household items is a fun and interesting way for your child to learn about where music comes from and have a good time, too. Grab some cardboard rolls left over from the paper towels, punch a few holes in, and your child can pretend they're playing in a band. Some beads in an old cereal container can produce music to march to. A little sandpaper taped to two wooden blocks make a delightfully musical sound when rubbed together. If your family has access to actual musical instruments, it's a good time to introduce them to how musical notes look. Get out some old sheet music or songbooks and have your child move their voice up and down like the notes are going. Even a walk in the woods can produce a musical learning experience!
Pretend Dress-Up - Pull out a big box of dress-up clothes, and your child's imagination will kick into full swing. Fill that box with discarded frilly dresses, fancy shoes, goofy blazers, and silly ties, and let the fun begin. If your closets are not full of this stuff, you may want to give the second-hand stores a look. I've found the more garish the clothes, the cheaper they get. And the gaudier they are for the kids, the better they like them. Watch after Halloween for the lowest prices and purchase a few costumes for your dress-up bin. When your children start throwing themselves into dressing-up, the stories of who they are and what they're doing start to develop, usually turning into a production of sorts in which you, the audience, is now invited to attend. Enjoy the show!
Doll-houses - There is something very enduring about a child making up their own little stories as they move their dolls around inside a doll house. It's so precious to see them play-act all the parts of the family members and it's interesting to hear their view of the world through their dolls. Decorating your dollhouse is also an added benefit and creates a whole other method for sparking imagination. Using some wallpaper scraps, carpet remnants, bits of lace, or any other craft item you have laying around, your child can imagine the doll family fixing up their house just like you do yours. This fun could provide your family with an heirloom if you put enough love into it.
Puppet Shows - Turn your mismatched socks into hand puppets. You'll need some markers and some scraps of fabric for hair, hats, or whatever you want to add. You could also use paper bags, cloth, felt or even make little puppets out of popsicle sticks. One fun trick is to take an old glove, cut all the fingers off the glove, and turn each finger into a little puppet. Then, you put the completed finger puppet on your fingers and you have a whole family of puppets right there together. Help your child create a theater for their puppet show and relax and watch the crazy fun begin!
Kitchen Play - If you look around your kitchen right now, you'll probably see quite a few plastic utensils that could be pretty fun in the bathtub. Or, you may want to take a stroll through a thrift shop and pick up a supply of plastic bowls, cups, and utensils at a reasonable price. Fill a tub with water, add some plastic containers, and your child will play "cooking" until they get pruny. Add some bubbles, and they can imagine they're whipping up batter for a cake. Yummy!
Old fashioned play can most certainly spark a child's imagination. Without someone or something showing your child what comes next or what to expect, the story they tell and the games they play can surprise even them. This age of technology has produced a lot of answers, but your creative child will learn that it's not always about the answers... it's about the search, and the fun they had on the journey.
Will all this technology interfere with your choice to raise your children with a little curiosity and imagination? Not if you surround your family with old fashioned games and toys. It's up to you to feed your children a balanced diet of technology and creativity. Here we go with just a few examples of old fashioned fun.
Shelves Filled With Books - Providing a house full of books opens up a child's imagination and feeds that inquisitive nature all kids have. When your child reads fiction, they travel along with the story to places far away and learn things they might never know about unless they opened up that book. For the child who has not been an eager reader in the past, a vast array of cleaver and interesting fiction can intrigue so thoroughly, get the reader so involved in the story, that the child forgets they're reading and soon becomes hooked! Non-fiction books are also important in every home. Oftentimes, parents assume that their pre-school child will only be interested in their "storytime" fictional characters and won't want to read anything that's non-fiction. The truth is that all children, no matter how young, are interested in the world around them and would enjoy stories about the way our world works and the people who live in our world. Non-fiction also serves as a lesson in research as your children move through their school years.
Blocks and Legos - Sit down with your child and a box of blocks or plastic snap together toys, and you could be watching your child play for hours. A child's imagination really kicks in when they are faced with all the choices in front of them. Your child can play for hours building towers, bridges, cities, creatures, and more with these toys that inspire creativity, patience, and improve small-motor skills. You may want to join in as your child grabs a few small cars to drive around the new city. Ask your child to name the city and share with you some of what happens there, where it's located on the map, and who lives there. When the masterpiece is finished, you'll be able to share in your child's delight as the structure falls victim to a giant monster, your child, smashing through the blocks.
Art Corner - Children are intrigued with their own creativity and every child loves to show off their artwork. Providing your child with enough paper, crayons, paint, and glue to keep them busy and happy for hours will produce a lot of artwork, yes, but it also provides your youngster an opportunity to sit quietly and use their imagination. Set up a place for artwork, with all the tools your child needs, and you'll be encouraging not only an interest in art, but a place to express their ideas and thoughts. Old magazines and junk mail are great ways to provide your child with material that's inexpensive and fun for any cutting and pasting project. Freezer paper is another inexpensive way to make sure your children never run out of coloring and painting surfaces. Coloring books are a nice way to get your younger child interested in art, but free-form drawing and coloring really sets their imaginations free. Be sure to SUPERVISE your child closely when using scissors, paint, or glue. Accidents happen, and sometimes our younger children don't realize what feeding the dog a glue treat can do to their tummy.
Felt Boards - Children love to tell stories with pictures and figures. Felt is the perfect way to tell a story with movable characters and props. You'll need a felt board to begin with. You can make your own board using a sheet of felt attached to a sturdy upright surface, like an art easel or even a wall, or you can purchase a board. Once you have the board, let the creativity begin. Go to a craft or fabric store and buy sheets of felt in all colors. For the younger child, cut out basic shapes in all colors and sizes. You'll be amazed at how quickly those shapes become an alien, a ship, a house, or a person in your little one's vision. An older child may wish to be a bit more detailed in their felt shapes. Help your older child find pictures of things they'll want to incorporate into their stories. Then, cut out the shapes that will be a part of their felt stories. Some of our favorite felt props are the trees with the removable tops - one in orange for autumn, one in green for summer, and one with black branch shapes for winter.
Music - Playing instruments and singing are two excellent ways to develop your child's imagination. Creating instruments out of ordinary household items is a fun and interesting way for your child to learn about where music comes from and have a good time, too. Grab some cardboard rolls left over from the paper towels, punch a few holes in, and your child can pretend they're playing in a band. Some beads in an old cereal container can produce music to march to. A little sandpaper taped to two wooden blocks make a delightfully musical sound when rubbed together. If your family has access to actual musical instruments, it's a good time to introduce them to how musical notes look. Get out some old sheet music or songbooks and have your child move their voice up and down like the notes are going. Even a walk in the woods can produce a musical learning experience!
Pretend Dress-Up - Pull out a big box of dress-up clothes, and your child's imagination will kick into full swing. Fill that box with discarded frilly dresses, fancy shoes, goofy blazers, and silly ties, and let the fun begin. If your closets are not full of this stuff, you may want to give the second-hand stores a look. I've found the more garish the clothes, the cheaper they get. And the gaudier they are for the kids, the better they like them. Watch after Halloween for the lowest prices and purchase a few costumes for your dress-up bin. When your children start throwing themselves into dressing-up, the stories of who they are and what they're doing start to develop, usually turning into a production of sorts in which you, the audience, is now invited to attend. Enjoy the show!
Doll-houses - There is something very enduring about a child making up their own little stories as they move their dolls around inside a doll house. It's so precious to see them play-act all the parts of the family members and it's interesting to hear their view of the world through their dolls. Decorating your dollhouse is also an added benefit and creates a whole other method for sparking imagination. Using some wallpaper scraps, carpet remnants, bits of lace, or any other craft item you have laying around, your child can imagine the doll family fixing up their house just like you do yours. This fun could provide your family with an heirloom if you put enough love into it.
Puppet Shows - Turn your mismatched socks into hand puppets. You'll need some markers and some scraps of fabric for hair, hats, or whatever you want to add. You could also use paper bags, cloth, felt or even make little puppets out of popsicle sticks. One fun trick is to take an old glove, cut all the fingers off the glove, and turn each finger into a little puppet. Then, you put the completed finger puppet on your fingers and you have a whole family of puppets right there together. Help your child create a theater for their puppet show and relax and watch the crazy fun begin!
Kitchen Play - If you look around your kitchen right now, you'll probably see quite a few plastic utensils that could be pretty fun in the bathtub. Or, you may want to take a stroll through a thrift shop and pick up a supply of plastic bowls, cups, and utensils at a reasonable price. Fill a tub with water, add some plastic containers, and your child will play "cooking" until they get pruny. Add some bubbles, and they can imagine they're whipping up batter for a cake. Yummy!
Old fashioned play can most certainly spark a child's imagination. Without someone or something showing your child what comes next or what to expect, the story they tell and the games they play can surprise even them. This age of technology has produced a lot of answers, but your creative child will learn that it's not always about the answers... it's about the search, and the fun they had on the journey.
About the Author:
Nicole Dean is a work at home mom of two and owner of http://ShowKidstheFun.com which specializes in quality family time. If you're looking for a way to earn money online, she recommends ShowMOMtheMoney.com providing work at home info since 2004.
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