Have you ever seen how children’s eyes light up when they are engrossed in a world of imaginative play? Have you ever had to answer a child’s numerous questions on how the world works? If you have, it probably put a smile on your face, and with good reason too. Not only is their wonderment of the world pure and lovely, it’s also a fabulous way to bring about the future ability to create, learn, ask questions and solve problems. While it might seem like simple ‘play’ to adults, imagination and curiosity in children is an essential part of lifelong learning skills.
Why is Encouraging Imagination and Curiosity in Your Children Important?
As adults, it might be tempting to stifle your little one’s imagination, worrying about their ability to differ between what’s real and what’s not. However, imagination is a breeding ground for creative thinking and where creative thinking lives, ingenuity can often be found. It’s more often worth letting your child pretend, to see how far their imaginations can go! When your child is using their imagination and curiosity, they are:
- Aiding their cognitive and social development
- Problem solving
- Becoming more confident in their ability to learn something new
- Boosting their motor and sensory development.
How Can You Spark the Imagination and Curiosity of Your Children?
While for many children, imagination and curiosity comes naturally, too much screen time, staying indoors and lack of socialisation can all hinder their creative development by not giving them enough opportunities to play. Here’s how you can help at home:
- Get outdoors: The world around us is a magical place. Let your children explore, climb, dig and ask plenty of questions!
- Travel: You don’t need to go far, but your children will relish in new experiences. A train ride to Melbourne or even just a trip to a Bendigo park to go bug hunting will have them bursting with imaginative play and curiosity.
- Read together: Reading to children opens a whole new world of imagination for them. It gives them the ability to build a picture in their mind based on words. Ask them what they would do if they were the main character in the story or role-play the story with costumes or puppets.
- Give your child the gift of boredom: In a world where children are often as busy as adults with numerous extra-curricular activities, don’t forget to give your child the feeling of boredom! It can be hard at first, but from boredom comes the ability to invent your ideas, and that’s an important lifelong skill.
At Jenny’s Early Learning Centre, we highly encourage imagination and curiosity in all children. Our educational program taught by high quality educators gives learning opportunities that foster your child’s wonderment of life. Your child will feel confident and safe to explore their curiosity in our care. Located across the Bendigo area, contact us to book a tour today.