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 […]
Imagination
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 […]
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 […]
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 – […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]