I remember watching playtime with my daughter really transition when she turned three. Sure, she always loved playing with her babies and stuffed animals-feeding them, rocking them, putting them night-night, etc., but at age three, she started playing out real-life situations. We became animals, grown ups, went to restaurants, hosted the beginning of many, many tea parties, and dressed up as fairies. She is five now, and the pretend-play is stronger than ever.
Now, there’s menus created to go with her restaurants, counting money to pay for things in her shop, and even signage for her bakeshop she created. I really wanted to hone in on all this imaginary play. Most times she completely takes the lead during her brothers’ nap time, and I’m shocked at what her brain creates when left alone in a playroom with time and freedom to think of all kinds of ideas. She’ll be six this Fall, and I don’t want to rush this sweet time in her childhood. Her brothers are now (for the most part) cooperative and willing to play along with whatever game/situation she creates.
In this post, I’m sharing ideas to foster this imaginary, dramatic play. They may be just what you need too to help enjoy days at home this summer when it’s rainy or really, just too hot to be outside! I’m a very strong believer in allowing children to get bored, because truly wonderful ideas come from it.
The ideas in this post are game-starters, or prompts if you will, to help boost some great imaginary play.
In all of these ideas, it only took me scouring our house to pull certain things like gardening gloves, construction paper, and wooden spoons, stopping by the dollar store to grab some pans or plastic bottles, and in some situations, using this great resource for dramatic play. Nothing was time consuming or laborious. I just had to think outside the box a little.
A few years ago, I wrote a whole post on how to create these beautiful butterfly wings. And guess what? This has become my most pinned pin on Pinterest! This project was one of our first real diy play projects, and look how gorgeous! You can read the whole post here in order to create these wings.
My daughter fluttered all around the house and neighborhood wearing these things on sunny days. They allowed her to be a butterfly, a fairy in an enchanted forest, and more. They were another way of playing dress up, and mom got to create it-win!
Another part of pretend play in our house is “birthday party”. For the last two years, I think we’ve hosted birthday parties for each and every doll and animal in our house at least three times a week! I’m not quite sure where she gets her love of party-planning from *wink*.
We made this fantastic birthday cake out of cardboard boxes, and used it as THE cake for a lot of parties. You can read the whole post on how we created it here. It’s a great project whose creation stage lasted a few days, so it was worth it in the engagement department!
Coinciding with the party-planning play, I started gathering party supplies when they went on clearance at Hobby Lobby or the dollar store whenever I would see a cute pattern or item. I started filling a container with party napkins, plates, plastic silverware, number candles, and party hats. Before I knew it, she had a whole party-planning pack ready to create a whole new party scheme for some lucky toy that day!
Lastly, this summer I am really focused on protecting time for play as we break from our homeschool routine. Last month, I shared all that we are doing for this summer in this post.
I printed out the dramatic playsets from Moffatt Girls Preschool Morning Bins bundle, and couldn’t believe I had skipped them this school year! (It’s fine, I had enough on my plate this past school year, and summer is a great time to use these!) Nonetheless, they’re a GREAT fit for our summer plans while also being boredom busters! I printed out 6 of the sets in this bundle, laminated them, and also subbed some “real” items such as wooden spoons and pie pans to help cultivate the realness in play.
Right now, I have Farmer’s Market pack ready, a Vet Clinic (with x-rays!), a Dentist Office, an Ice Cream Shoppe, and a Garden Center! These were so incredibly simple to pull together, and I’m simply storing them in gallon-sized Ziploc bags.
On days when we need a jump start (nope, we can’t just lounge in front of the TV in our jammies today…), I’ll break out a pack and leave it on the playroom table. It’s just enough of a kickstart to get my daughter’s imagination going. I allow her to create it, and set it up. Her rules. Her ideas. I’m just helping to get it going somedays. (Mom = facilitator)
These sets are part of the Preschool Morning Bins bundle (which is fabulous by the way) BUT they’re also available on their own if you don’t need all the other resources in the big bundle. You can find them here, and they’re so easy to print and prep!
Although we are using these printable resources primarily this summer, I plan to break them out a few times over the next couple years as my boys enter this stage of play, and even though my daughter will be eight when the boys are her age now, I’m sure she’ll still get something out of these play ideas then too. At that point in her life, she’ll have even more to contribute…and what a way to honor her childhood by helping her continue to create!
This is the time to take back childhood, because kids learn through play. Turn off the tablet and the TV and foster those imaginations-you’ll be shocked at what their minds create!
Happy Summer!
