Just imagine
Inspire children's imaginative play with everyday resources such as cardboard boxes, tubes and fabric.
We are all individuals, each of us with a unique view of the world. Creativity is about communicating those views and sharing, and representing, our ideas. Through creativity children begin to make sense of their world, to connect with others and to develop an inner strength that will help them to deal with life's many challenges.
To enable children to develop their creativity we must allow them to explore and to play without imposing on them our own ideas and anticipated outcomes. Creativity is not just about painting and music, it is about thinking imaginatively, being resourceful and seeing potential for imaginative play in everyday objects.
The addition of a few simple, and often free or low-cost, items can help to take children further into their imaginary worlds.
Learning opportunities
With appropriate resources and sensitive adult intervention in this area, children can:
- be curious about, and interested in, objects and ideas
- initiate their own play activities
- explore and develop imaginative ideas
- explore feelings and experiences through imaginative and role play
- use objects to represent something else
- be active and use their senses.
Please recycle the following items to nursery...
- Cardboard boxes and tubes (various sizes and shapes)- Cardboard boxes are always popular and are very versatile, making them ideal for 'open-ended' learning. Children will need time to explore the boxes, probably climbing inside them and undoing some to find out how they are made. They may then decide to use the boxes and tubes to build, perhaps, a castle with a flagpole and a drawbridge. A 'king' is then appointed. Shouldn't the king have a throne? More boxes are needed and a story evolves!
- fabric pieces and scarves- these can be used as roofs for buildings, as tents, fields, magic carpets or even rivers. For example, children use a length of blue material to represent a crocodile-infested river. They then decide that they need to construct a wooden bridge to enable them to safely cross the 'water'.
- Toolbox and safe tools, hard hats- Children will 'become' the builders as they use their tools to 'join' and 'fix' the materials they are using to construct walls and roofs. Children may also make their own tools using components from construction kits. If a telephone is introduced into the area, adults and children can ring up with other 'jobs' for the builder.
- Disused steering wheels from real vehicles to use in building buses and cars that will take them to faraway places - there are no limits, but modifications to the vehicle design may have to be made if trips across the sea are to be attempted!
- Keys. A few old keys clipped on to a ring and kept on a hook on the wall open up a wealth of opportunities for imaginative play. They can unlock the door to a castle the children have built or start the engine of their aeroplane.
