Let's talk giving gifts that will encourage imagination and pretend play. I've been searching for the best recommendations for you -- products that are new, exciting, and open-ended. See what you think! Give Artsy Gifts 1. Spirograph Deluxe Design Set Mix designs and patterns to create unique images using the gears and Spirograph. 2. Rainbow Loom In case you don't already have this -- … [Read more...]
Toys That Require Imagination . . . Cardboard
Kids are naturally wired to play and imagine. But when we (I'm guilty of this myself) give them tons of toys that do everything, they don't need to imagine anything. So give your kids a cardboard challenge - to find the hidden objects in the boxes like Michelangelo did with blocks of granite. The boxes require imagination. They won't do anything without it. Cardboard! It's NOT a box, but it … [Read more...]
Lost and Found – Small World Play
Hello! I'm Ness, and I blog at One Perfect Day where I share ideas for learning through play, arts and craft ideas, cooking with kids, children's books and parenting tips. I am so excited to be guest posting at Imagination Soup. Melissa's site is my go-to source of information and inspiration for everything related to kids and parenting and I'm honored to be writing here today. Today, I thought … [Read more...]
Creativity Gift Guide: Play, Art, Music, and Nature Gifts for Kids
(*Update: 2012 Education Gift Guide for Kids.) I'm so excited to share with you some wonderful gift ideas to encourage creative play and imagination! Don't miss PuppeTees t-shirts with snap-on puppets (super cute,) or the art journals from Strathmore, or how about the edible finger paints? Yum! :) Links to all the gift guides below - happy learning, writing, reading, and living! I'm taking … [Read more...]
New Recommended Books for Your Nightstand: Food, Imagination, & Outside
Don't miss this post today. These five books have make my life richer, and I want to tell you all about them. There's Smart Parenting for Smart Kids, my newest favorite parenting book, 15 Minutes Outside, a quick daily outside ideas book, The Family Dinner, a cookbook of inspiration, Where Children Sleep, forced reflection on the meaning of our lives, and The Power of Your Child's Imagination, a … [Read more...]
Household Object Challenges
Guest post by Cathy Sheafor, mother, teacher, and blogger at Think!, a blog that inspires children of all ages to think outside of the box, evolved from my desire to create new challenges. Household Object Challenges Research shows that we learn best by doing. Author Daniel Pink in his book, A Whole New Mind, argues that we are better prepared for the future if we embrace these concepts: … [Read more...]
We Need Playful Children
by: Megan Rosker, mom, writer, teacher and education advocate. The everyday monotony of life can pull a mom and dad down, allowing them to fall out of touch with their playful side, the side they naturally exhibited as children. However, while our role is to now be responsible to our families, we also have a responsibility to show with our children how to play. Our kids push us to be … [Read more...]
Encourage Reading and Pretend Play With Let’s Pretend Balloon Toons
Zoe and Robot Let's Pretend written by Ryan Sias totally captures what we want for our children - to develop and use their imaginations! The gist of this colorful cartoon is that Zoe wants to pretend play play climbing a mountain (also known as a large pile of pillows) with Robot. Robot tells her, "Zoe, Robot is a robot. Robots do not know how to pretend." But Zoe knows how to pretend. … [Read more...]
Writer’s Block? Play the What if Game
Guest post by Natasha Wing, author of picture book, How to Raise a Dinosaur. A question writers are often asked is, “How do you get your ideas?” and "How do you overcome writer's block?" Many of my ideas come from reading. Sometimes I’ll read an article in the newspaper and am curious to know more. That’s what happened when I read about the founder of the Girl Scouts in my Sunday newspaper. I … [Read more...]
Family Activity to Spark Creativity From Author T.A. Barron
Guest post by T.A. Barron, Colorado YA and children's author, dad and naturalist. As a writer and a father of five great kids—I’ve decided that my favorite job ever is simply being a dad. My only complaint about having children is that they grow up too fast—but there’s nothing I can do about that. There is, however, something every parent can do to help our young people grow into the mature, … [Read more...]
Imagination is More than Child’s Play
Turns Out, it’s Free Play that Feeds Your Child’s Cognitive Development by Frieda B. Herself author, Renata Bowers So I’ll admit it right off the bat. I’m biased. I’m a proponent of books, board games, pretend play and plenty of downtime in a child’s life. And I’m leery – really leery – of anything that comes along to lure these away. Especially during those precious, impressionable years … [Read more...]