Children are creative beings by nature. It is worth taking advantage of this by nurturing their creative development. In our material you will find original ideas for games and activities that will encourage your child to draw, build, create stories and improvise.
Prepare 4-6 medium or large sized cardboard boxes, as well as puppets, animal figures, or soft toys.
Set up the cardboard boxes in a large room or put them out in the garden and show your child how to play: Build a tower out of the boxes or line them up and put the toys inside. Now let your child play by herself. Watch what kind of house he builds and who lives in it.
Make up ten words or story topics and write them on pieces of paper. Fold the pieces of paper in half and put them in a basket.
Ask your child to choose one of them. Make up a short fable or story using the word you chose. The story should be funny and uncomplicated, and it should be about everyday events familiar to your child. Enrich your story with facial expressions and gestures. Arouse your child’s interest by modulating your voice, switching to a whisper, and making different sounds.
A simple and fun game to create unheard stories with your child.
Explain to your child that you will create a fun story about animals, people, or imaginary creatures. Ask your child six questions and write the answers on a piece of paper.
1. Who will be the main character in your story?
2. What is his or her name?
3. Where does he live?
4. What color is his house?
5. What does he like to do in his free time?
6. What does he like to eat the most?
Based on the answers, start creating! But don’t drag out the story – a 3 or 5-year-old will stop listening after 3 minutes!
Sit with your child at the table and draw a character on a piece of paper. Decorate the drawing with pieces of fabric, glitter glue, wool thread and colored paper. When the drawing is ready, carefully cut it out along the outline. On the back of the drawing, attach a wooden stick – and the puppet is ready! It is fun to create several of these puppets and arrange a theater on the kitchen table (for example, stage your favorite children’s story).
This is a very fun and useful exercise to develop imagination. Choose a classic fairy tale and ask your child to invent a new ending! Have them write it down or tell it out loud. Good materials to play with are, for example, “Snow White,” “Cinderella,” “The Ugly Duckling,” or “The Princess in the Pea Sack.
Between the ages of 6 and 12, children love to take photographs. Collections of original photos can be kept as souvenirs or made into a collage.
Give your child a task: Let him look for and photograph interesting places or objects of a certain color. Use the following as a theme:
Main Photo: Artem Kniaz/unsplash.com
