10 Toys That Can Nurture Your Child’s Imagination And Creativity
Inside: Tips and techniques that can help you improve your child’s imagination. 10 toys that naturally aims at fostering their imagination and learning.
Do you like hearing your child’s version of a story or an event? More than the fact that it’s cute and adorable, they paint a bright, vivid picture with their words and imaginative skills.
Every kid is naturally blessed with this ability to imagine things wildly to an incredible extent. The more we encourage this ability to imagine; the more creative they become.
As they grow; school, activities, family time, TV, games and other stuff influences them so much- that all of it certainly reduces their imagination.
And imagination is one important trait of childhood that develops great problem solving skills, better communications and flexibility as adults.
If you are interested in knowing more about how you can nurture their imaginative skills, hop into the article. We have a lot to talk about.
How Can I Work On Improving My Child’s Imagination Right From The Start?
Though toys and activity sets play a huge role, a little push from your end and slight changes in routine goes a long way. Following are some ways you can work on their imagination capacity.
Reading
I cannot stress this more! Reading is absolutely any child’s favorite before they get introduced to all those gadgets. And you can start this even before they are born.
I used to read comics and stories with moral emphasis when I was pregnant. And after my kids were born, I invested in age-appropriate reading materials like black and white cards, board books with classic stories, cloth books, flashcards, etc.
Books with bright and large pictures on one side and text on the other side helps a lot for children from 4 to 8 years old. They can learn to read while also focusing on the picture and develop a story in their mind.
Role Plays And Pretend Plays
This is golden if you are a mother of two or more children. You can assign them roles and make them have conversations their character does.
Why I love this the most is, you can do this without any resources or materials. When your child is too bored, try role plays like doctor and the patient, teacher and the student etc.
This makes them think as it happens impromptu. Nothing excites and brings a smile to their face than this.
You can also get them to pretend-play sets like doctor set, kitchen or ice cream shop set, carpenter tools set etc. In many cases, it influences the kid to follow the profession later in future.
Crafts
Though we don’t have the patience to sit through this, motherhood beats it and lets us build better DIY kits for our kids, doesn’t it?
Teach your kids some creative crafts or art works like origami, popsicle stick decorations, painting old vases, shell jewelry etc.
This not just turns them into super imaginative but also works on their patience and creativity. At the end, it turns into something attractive too.
Start with a simple, two or three steps procedure and slowly increase the complexity. There are tons of YouTube videos they can refer to.
Doodling
Great way to boost their creativity as well as keep stress at bay. There are many online and offline classes if you want them to get a good start.
They can start with basic designs and slowly start doodling everything that comes to their mind.
It can also help them to present their school projects in an appealing manner. Hand them a notebook and sketch and let them paint the sky on it literally.
Free Play
They don’t always have to play with toys or physical materials but engage in free play too. Like playing with mud, running around the garden and exploring it, arranging or organizing their toys, etc.
This sets their mind free and brings out the best in them as well. Set aside some time every day so that they can be themselves and learn about their surroundings and environment. This makes them the most imaginative as they process things in their mind.
10 Toys To Improve Imaginative Skills in Kids
1. Compatible Magnetic Tiles Building Blocks
Magnetic tiles are so engaging and fun for kids of all ages, honestly they’re so hard for me to resist myself. Probably one of the reasons you find them at libraries and children’s museums so much!
The magnetic pull is very fascinating to kids, especially younger ones, and for older school goi g kids the elaborate shapes that can be made with them are very encouraging!
Compatible Magnetic Tiles Building Blocks are the ones I recommend, for it’s a very large set for a very good price.
The best things about this that every mom would love are,
- It is made of non-toxic materials.
- Round and smooth edges.
As this is an open-ended toy, they have endless possibilities in creating objects they wish. From pyramids to castles, they can make anything they want effortlessly. And the attractive colors it comes in takes this to another level, plus it has a bag that it comes in.
2. Melissa & Doug Let’s Play House Dust! Sweep! Mop!
This is such a great hit, and if you want to instill some independence in your kids with imaginative skills.
Melissa and Doug are the foremost choice for any kind of creative play sets for moms here. This pretend play cleaning set is worth the money and in the right size that children can actually use this to clean the surface.
What a cleaning has to do with improving imagination? You might ask!
Pretend play sets in general give kids the liberty to be and act on their own and lead their play. It lets them think and imagine real life scenarios where they might have observed their parents doing those work.
There is a floor mop, broom, duster, dust pan and a stand to carry everything. They can do much more than cleaning with this kit.
#Play tip: Encourage them to use the set to clean up after snacks, after play, help you with cleanup!
3. Mega Blocks Big Building Bag with Big Building Blocks
This is a classic toy that you can spot in almost every child’s toy collection. It works great on stimulating their senses and thinking ability turning them into a brainy creator.
This is a perfect set that will suit your budget. Your kid would love the colors and shapes it comes in. They can start stacking and building while having fun with their friends and siblings.
The size of the blocks are in the right size that your child wouldn’t feel slippery while being able to handle correctly.
With the storage bag, there is no chance that you will lose the pieces or step over them and get hurt. (this cannot be guaranteed, but the pieces are big enough to spot)
Play tip: Clearly, blocks can do anything. You can put different colored blocks in different boxes and ask them to create something monochromatic.
Or ask them to create unique shapes like a unicorn, truck, castle, their favorite superhero while you can guess what it is.
CUTE STONE Color Changing Kitchen Sink
For someone who is obsessed with getting pretend play sets for their kids, this unique dishwasher set is a treasure.
This dishwasher set has an automatic flowing water system and color changing kitchen apparels that shows that the dishes are clean.
They learn organizational skills along with how they can be creative while storing washed dishes in place.
Presence of water can instantly light up any child’s mood. And they will have fun thinking about how it changes color before and after washing.
This is also safe for children as they are made with high quality ABS plastic and have smooth and rounded corners.
The suitable age to use this is 3 to 6 years. You can also combine this along with kitchen sets, grocery store or restaurant sets.
BIRANCO. Flower Garden Building Toys
Flowers are the best and inexpensive option to provoke kids imagination and offer natural, sensory experience. This garden building toy comes with a set of flower petals, stems and a green base where they can arrange this.
They can arrange the flowers in a ton of ways, giving food to their imagination and creativity. It improves their hand-eye coordination and lets them think creatively to make their garden and bouquet attractive.
You can also teach them about parts of plants and flowers with this. It comes with a big storage box too.
Play tip: They can combine your favorite colors in the same flower and create a custom bouquet for you. With the help of gardening toys, they can plant them in their actual garden as well.
You can ask them to recreate a real flower every day by showing its picture.
MindWare Imagination Magnets
Kids love puzzles. But what about the ones that have no definite outline and just the shapes they can combine and create their own? Sounds like a perfect kit to improve their imaginative skills, right?
This set has different shaped magnetic puzzles that fit in a board and for reference, they have given 42 images.
Kids can follow the images and recreate them on the board with magnetic shapes. They are colorful, come in different patterns and are easy to handle.
They can create their own shapes too as there are 80 puzzle pieces. Learning shapes and colors can never be this fun-filled.
Due to small pieces, the minimum suitable age to use this is 3 and above.
Play tip: Ask them to create something unique that’s not in the image. They can create any object that’s lying around them too.
IQ BUILDER | STEM Learning Toys
What’s better than an activity set that combines both Engineering and creativity? This set contains different shaped pieces that children can combine together to form any object.
It also comes with e-books that they can follow to create objects in beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
They can create unique objects with this set which makes them think hard on which piece works where.
They can play along with their friends or siblings and find out more shapes together. Help them learn science and technology in a unique, creative way.
Play tip: Help them create unique shapes with connectors and couplers. Help them create their favorite vehicles, animals, plants with it.
Air Dry Clay for Kids Modeling Kit
If you are looking for a safe and colorful clay modeling kit for kids, this will be the best choice. This set has 30 sets of colored clay, googly eyes to attach and three clay tools that they can use to form shapes.
Clay works best in improving their fine motor skills and dexterity. When they attempt to create shapes, join together to form something, their creativity reaches its peak too.
With the help of keychain rings, they can gift the shapes they create to someone.
To help them, it comes with a booklet too which can teach them how to use this.
This doesn’t contain any harmful materials and is safe for your child’s skin. So you can choose this product without any hesitation.
Play tip: Due to air drying facilities, they can create more than normal shapes with this model. Ask them to create your favorite object as a keychain present for you.
Kid Made Modern Arts and Crafts Supply Library – Coloring Arts and Crafts Kit
Every kid needs one such kit like this to bring out the artist in them. If you are tired of buying art supplies every time, invest in this vibrant kid that can drive away your kids boredom.
This kit will make them addicted to DIY and crafting which will enhance their imagination and creativity.
It has everything from colorful pom poms, beads, glue, scissors, fuzzy sticks, wooden pieces etc.
They just need their imagination to create anything amazing out of this box. With a carrying case, there is a place for everything in this kit.
There is no instruction pamphlet attached with this which means it is up to kids imagination to create something stellar out of this.
Let them be creative and play independently while you can enjoy everything they create for you.
KidKraft Chelsea Wooden Doll Cottage with 16 Accessories
The excitement level that anyone gets after seeing a dollhouse is unmatchable (Even incase of adults). This beautiful dollhouse comes with accessories too that your little children can enjoy playing with.
A dollhouse gives them umpteen play options and possibilities to spend time with. They can create any play scenario while playing with this.
With their vivid imagination, they can come up with interesting scenarios bringing together their other toys. And who said only girls can have fun with dollhouses?!
This equally works with boys too and they can fill the house with any objects they want.
This dollhouse comes with additional wooden accessories like bedding, dressing table, dining table etc. Your child can create their own miniature furniture by recreating some of the objects too.
Like a water bottle cap as a table, stacked matchboxes as drawers etc.
Play tip: Ask them to come up with crazy games where they turn this house into something else (like zoo, hospital etc) and ask them to find objects related to that and do a role play themselves.
Finally,
More than toys, children need nurturing and encouraging environments where they can think freely. As parents, it is our duty to help them be themselves and think soundly.
Let them ask more questions, scribble more, create a mess or even break and recreate things. These are the processes that let them think more and grow their imaginative skills.
Our mind expands when we explore more and try different things. The same goes with children. Break routines often for healthy reasons and you will find them bloom and blossom beautifully.
Other Related Articles on the blog –
Top 8 Best Water Table Available On Amazon To Enhance Your Child’s Play Experience
Improve Your Kids Motor Skills! 10 Best And Inexpensive Wooden Puzzles For Kids
