The Imaginative Child

Living With An Imaginative Child…

March 19, 2012
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Means that your days are often filled with… “Mama, you’ll be Dame Washalot and I will be Silky. And you are coming for tea,” Visits to the park… but only the one with the rolling hill and the magical forest, Constructing Faraway Trees from Lego that feature mini-figs wearing elaborate headwear, Collecting coins to fill [...]

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Our Everyday Play: Loose Parts for Creative & Imaginative Play

February 9, 2012
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Matchsticks and story stones I am a big fan of open ended toys, toys that allow a child to respond in a myriad of spontaneous, unstructured ways. Fortunately these resources don’t have to be expensive. In fact, a collection of everyday bits and bobs can provide preschoolers with hours of creative and imaginative play. A [...]

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Our Play Space: The Coffee Shop

December 11, 2011
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A peek inside a reader’s play space… Each week, my three year old nephew comes over to play and when I have the time, I try to come up with interesting ways to promote new kinds of play. Being a preschool teacher, play and creativity is always on my mind but I tend to leave [...]

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From Mudpies to Magpies: 10 Super Sandpit Ideas

October 28, 2011

This post was first published in June 2009 when Childhood 101 was only a month old. With the sun shining in our backyard today, I thought it was a great post to revisit for some encouragement to get the kids outdoors! Many Mums I know groan when they see their child heading for the sandpit, [...]

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A Play Scene All of Her Own

September 23, 2011
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Immy was quietly busy in her playroom earlier this week and I peeked in to discover her creating her very own play scene – a fairy garden.  She had laid out a green scarf (we keep a box of coloured scarves in the playroom) and was collecting and arranging all sort of bits and bobs [...]

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The Case for Imaginative Play: Emotions and Fears

August 17, 2011
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Immy (aged 3 1/2) “teaching school” in the cubby house this week… “Today we are going to learn about not being afraid of the rain. This is the grey cloud and the rain coming down. There is nothing to be scared of in the rain. It’s just rain.” – insert short pause – “And you [...]

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Dramatic and Imaginative Play: Cardboard Box Project Round Up

July 25, 2011
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I once thought about starting a second blog called ‘Girl With a Box‘ because I love the challenge of creating playful resources from something as simple as a cardboard box. There is a new project underway at our house at the moment so I thought there seemed like no better time to present a round [...]

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DIY Kids: Puppet Stand

June 21, 2011

On the weekend, Dad 101 got busy with a quick and easy project that has been on my to do list for a little while now. A piece of wood (ours is 42cms x 20cm), a broomstick cut into seven lengths and seven screws… … became a puppet stand. An easy way to organise our [...]

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