Tag Archives: imagination

Magic Paint Sparks Imagination

Want a fun activity that is easy to do, sparks imagination, and will get your preschooler interested in playing outside? Give them some “Magic Paint”! This has been a big hit with the preschoolers I have worked with in my years as a day care teacher. Feel free to rename this activity if you don’t approve of the word “magic”. You will need the following items: small plastic containers that will hold water old paint brushes of any size, shape, and quality water a safe outdoor space to play in Gather all of these things, and your preschooler, and head … Continue reading →

Toddler Imaginations

I have read in many articles that it is wise to support children in their imaginary play. I have tried to do this with my son. I have found his imaginary play very entertaining and amusing. Only in one scenario do I find it to be a problem. My son has decided that, at meal times, he wants to pretend to be a cat. We have cats and my son has played with them since he was old enough to walk. My son has recently started placing his plate on the floor and eating on all fours. This bothers me. … Continue reading →

The King and I (1999)

You all know how much I love the story of “The King and I.” The multitude of times I’ve mentioned it here on Families.com is a testament to that. When I saw that an animated version of the film had been done, I was curious, but skeptical. After watching it this last week, I’m no longer curious, and the skepticism was proven to be well-founded. Of course we have the basic elements of the story. Anna Leonowens, a young widow woman, is hired to travel from England to Siam to teach the king’s children. She takes with her Louie, her … Continue reading →

Is There a Touch of the Visionary in You?

What does it mean to be a visionary—especially as it relates to running a home business? A visionary is someone who is forward thinking; a person who can keep at least one eye turned toward the future and who is always on the lookout for ways to make improvements and changes. A visionary is able to tap into imagination and creativity and come up with new ideas. Like anything, too much “visionary” can make a person dreamy and unrealistic, but a little dose of that dreamy imagination can be great for our home business operations. Tapping into the visionary in … Continue reading →

What is “Real” to You and What is “Real” to Your Child May Differ

“There’s a monster under my bed!” Or “I saw a fairy today!” Fantasies and imaginations run wild with small children. Even the young toddler may start to tell grand “tales” and have nightmares and fantasies. Our first inclination as parents may be to reprimand our child and try to get him to understand that his fantasies and imaginings are not “real”—but what is real and obvious to us may not be the same “real” that our child is experiencing. Common advice for a parent who is dealing with a three-year-old who has developed a fear of “imaginary” ghosts is to … Continue reading →

Dealing with Invisible Demons and Made-Up Problems

There are plenty of real life dragons for all of us to wrestle with—single parents and partnered parents alike—so many, in fact, that I think it can be a good thing periodically if we ask ourselves if we are wrestling with real issues or if we are clinging to long-gone or invisible demons or are spending our energy working on problems we have actually made up ourselves. I know this might not be a very popular way to look at things, but sometimes we single parents might be clinging to outdated modes of thinking about our lives and/or fighting battles … Continue reading →

Playing Shop

Over the past several weeks the toy cash register, a gift from Santa Claus for Christmas 2006, has finally been seeing it’s first major action this year. This is as a result of the toy-repositioning project of autumn ’07 (also called never-ending home reconstruction). The cash register has helped turn our home, and virtually everything in it, into a pretend retail superstore – like Wal-Mart only with employee health insurance and really low prices – most everything in our house apparently will cost you somewhere between one and 8 cents! My girl, wife and I take turns playing customer and … Continue reading →

The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat – Catherine Ann Cullen

“The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat” is the story of a girl and her favorite piece of outerwear. She lists six reasons why it’s a magical coat. You see, there are six buttons that march down the front. The first one is labeled “cold,” the second, “warm,” and the third plays music. The fourth is shaped like a star, while the fifth is like a stone. The sixth button is a little tiny doll, who is also wearing a coat. One day, she went out to see what she could see. She came upon a giant who was miserable. Being so … Continue reading →

What Shall We Play? – Sue Heap

It’s time to play pretend! In “What Shall We Play?” by Sue Heap, we explore the wonderful world of imagination and all the fun we can have there. Lily Mae wants to play fairies, but Matt wants to pretend to be trees. He acts the role of a big tree, while Martha is a shaky tree and Lily Mae is a quiet tree. They all reached their arms up to the sky, pretending that their branches were climbing toward the sun. Their impersonations are really quite good – I nearly mistook them for actual trees. Lily Mae would like to … Continue reading →

Imagination Counts in Exercise

Recently, during a stint subbing, one of the children asked me what imagination was. Imagination is a huge word and we talk to our kids about their imagination all the time, yet as adults – we don’t really talk about our imagination. At least, we don’t talk about it much. Imagination is a wonderful facility that humans have. We utilize our imagination in many different ways whether we are suspending our disbelief when watching a movie, reading a book or creating our own stories. But we can use imagination in many other ways too. Music and Imagination Now I am … Continue reading →