Childhood101

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Living With An Imaginative Child…

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,

imaginative play

Constructing Faraway Trees from Lego that feature mini-figs wearing elaborate headwear,

Collecting coins to fill a money box so that one day she can visit Disneyland to meet Rapunzel,

imaginative play

Interesting discoveries… and explanations (they’re fairy paint pots for painting flowers),

Dreams of visiting the Land of Treats or flying in a wishing chair,

Impromptu stories, such as…

“Tinkerbell’s Colourful Rainbow Day
One evening Tinkerbell decided she had red wings and shoes. Meanwhile, Rosetta realised she had green on instead of pink and Fawn decided she had purple instead of white skin and meanwhile some of Iridessa’s dress turned brown! Tinker bell decided to get out her wand and change everything back to the way it was again.”

Waking to discover trails of pixie dust down your hallway,

And that the most intense disappointment is felt when one cannot wear glass slippers to kindy or find the perfect floor length, pink dress that spins in one’s wardrobe.

But it also means, that as a parent you learn..

That a simple bowl of porridge is transformed with the lightest dusting of magic fairy sprinkles,

That most disliked tasks like washing hair become much simpler when the Fairy Godmother visits to help transform Cinderella for the ball,

That lessons are best shared and learned through the telling of stories,

That a puppet or soft toy offering to help a small person clean up their room or put on their pyjamas results in  everyday chores being completed a whole lot faster and with much more laughter.

That living with an imaginative child often makes you feel childlike too.

What does imaginative play look like in your house???

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Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.

Read more of Christie's adventures at https://childhood101.com.

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. Cath@leafjournals says

    March 19, 2012 at 7:33 PM

    That no matter how good your wizardly defences, the aliens will find a way to infiltrate and outwit your defences. In other words... you cannot win! Ever! I like your world of Rapunzel and Faraway Trees. It is so much more restful than that of evil alien creatures determined to exterminate your existence in some cruel and intolerable way. Or some dreadful disease that completely eliminates your family. Or some hideous war that ravages your country. Or even that Cat's Grandpa set fire to the house yet again by smoking in bed. One year and a change of sex makes all the difference! Enjoy Christie... this is a beautiful (if exhausting) life.

    • Christie Burnett says

      March 19, 2012 at 7:51 PM

      Aaah, yes, but we have irrational, inconsolable grief when her dreams cannot be her reality, complete with tears and much gnashing of teeth. It is beautiful... and exhausting :)

  3. GrowingPlay says

    March 20, 2012 at 12:23 AM

    I can remember when my oldest would make us constantly change all of our names. Finally we had to ask her to stop for a bit because her younger sister was going to think she was named something else. LOL. My children range in age from 12 through 18 months. Now the older ones like to change their identities at the mall for fun requesting us to call them different names or they pretend to speak in another language. The 2 middle ones still enjoy some good fantasy play. They create these crazy games. The youngest one is not there yet but loves pretend play with her toys.

  4. Erin says

    March 20, 2012 at 8:00 AM

    Oh thank goodness! I thought it was just my child and I constantly changing identities! In a day my identity changes from characters in the Faraway Tree, to the Magic Wishing Chair, to Mike the Knight, to Octonauts, to a kitten, a puppy or a vet...it makes my head spin! Although it sounds like my almost four year old and your little girl would get along famously :) (And then perhaps their mums could get a bit of a rest)

  5. Mel says

    March 20, 2012 at 8:25 AM

    Oh, I adore the Faraway Tree references in your little ones play. Can I ask how old she was when you started reading those stories? I can't wait to introduce them to my book loving little girl. She's 2.5yrs and does a lot of imaginative play with her toys so far, often revolving around families and the structure of our day ('baby frog goes to childcare, mummy frog goes to work, daddy frog goes to school, don't forget your wallet'), with a good dose of pretending to be her favourite animals. I'm curious to see what the next stages of her play will be.

  6. Debs says

    March 20, 2012 at 9:03 AM

    I can't wait till we have Enid Blyton themed imaginitive play! What age did you introduce your daughter to her books? I have sooo many and can't wait to start. Am thinking perhaps my recently turned 3 year old might be ready. She is certainly one of the most imaginitive people I know! She is constantly commentating everything she does and plays multiple different roles each day. I love to encourage it as it leads us to the most interesting conversations and allows us to practice different behaviour and appropriate and varied responses to all types of situations. The hardest part is figuring out who I am each day, lol. Answering, "Hello, my name is *so-and-so*, what's your name?" is very tricky, as I almost never get the answer correct! She always knows who I'm supposed to be and won't let me in on it until I try guessing at least once. haha

  7. Melissa says

    March 20, 2012 at 10:45 AM

    Silky and Moonface make regular appearances in our play as well. Very popular with both my 2 year old and my four year old. :D

  8. Jane says

    March 20, 2012 at 11:46 AM

    My 3 and 5 year old play the "baby game" constantly. One is the mummy, the other one the baby. When they call "Mum, mum" I always get tricked into answering to get the response of "Not you". Now they call "Real Mummy" when they really need me! The other day they were both being mummies and I was the baby - it was great I got them to put all their own washing away in the drawers while I lay on the couch under a blanket! Because that's what mummies do (and babies) do!!! We also have a "Faraway tree" on one of our regular walks where we have to run past in case Mrs Washalot is throwing down a bucket of water, a fence railing outside a neighbours house where we play 'shops' (I live in fear they are going to come out one day and ask exactly what we are doing!) and a little raised boardwalk where they are the troll and I am the mummy goat trip trapping across on our way to the library! Certainly livens up the day!

  9. Naamah says

    March 20, 2012 at 6:24 PM

    Having only turned 2 in December we are not at the stage where we are inhabiting the imaginary worlds yet. There are far too many things to learn and comment on about her real world at the moment. I can identify however with your suggestions of including favourite toys/characters in cleanup jobs. For us it's the newly acquired baby doll from her great-grandma. If that baby sits and watches Riley eat breakfast it's amazing how much quicker it gets down. The baby looks after her vitamin bear until she has finished. Then the baby has to watch while she gets dressed and if she is asked to show her baby how she can put her shoes on, Riley gets it done in record time. I am starting to learn how to milk the situation! :o)

  10. Karen says

    March 21, 2012 at 6:28 PM

    Sometimes my 8yo son is a spy. Sometimes my 2yo son is a cat. My 5yo daughter, however, can change from a princess to a flower fairy to a teacher to a mum to an artist to a book character (currently Milly-Molly-Mandy) in the space of an hour! And yes, sometimes a princess is more likely to stay still to have her hair brushed and a teacher must organise her classroom for her class, so I do turn her imagination to the task at hand - reality and imagination can exist in harmony sometimes!

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