How to raise an imaginative child

• Your child's imagination: nature or nurture?
• What to expect when
• Why do children love imaginative play?
• Why is imagination important?
• How to foster your child's imagination
• Living with your child's imagination ... and their imaginary friends!
• Quote, unquote

We are all born with an imagination; how we use it is another matter. You only have to watch a group of toddlers for a few seconds to see that imaginative play comes naturally to them - their innate sense of curiosity and wonderment at the world around them inspires them to think of a hundred different uses for a cardboard box! However, if this fantastic and freeing gift that all children possess is not encouraged or appreciated, chances are that, over time, they will turn less to their imagination for entertainment and enjoyment and will, instead, rely on more passive means of discovery, such as the television, DVDs or computer games.

It's pretty difficult to assess the imaginative abilities of a young baby but curiosity is definitely evident as soon as they find their hands and can't stop admiring them. Bright colours, different sounds and contrasting textures will fascinate a baby and it is this interest in their surroundings that helps to foster a great imagination. By the toddler years, your child's imagination will become more evident in the ways in which they can take a simple object and find many different uses and ways of playing with it. However, the most important years for imaginative development, according to paediatrician Dr Spock, are three-to six: 'Children's curiosity at this age is intense,' he states in his book Baby and Child Care . 'They want to know the meaning of everything they encounter. Their imagination is rich... They're not sure where the real ends and the unreal begins.' The development of verbal skills no doubt plays a large role in this, as you will probably notice when the inevitable and interminable question 'Why?' becomes a regular feature in your household!

Esther Boylan Wolfson, preschool teacher, writer and early childhood development director, states on www.wholefamily.com that young children love imaginative play because they can be whoever or whatever they want to be in it, away from the restrictions of normal daily life. 'The life of a young child is extremely limited and structured,' she explains. 'No three-year-old can go out for a walk by herself, choose her own food, or buy her own clothes. A young child is totally dependent on a parent or caretaker. True, he can express an opinion, but the bottom line is, the parent decides.

Apart from being a wonderful source of entertainment for your child, their imagination can provide them with useful skills for later on in life. They experience a sense of independence and what it means to be responsible for others as they go to the shops to buy some food. They can develop invaluable social skills such as empathy and patience while pretending to fix teddy's broken arm. As they swoop in to save the day they know what behaviour is unacceptable and how it can hurt people. Imaginative play allows children to freely explore these situations in ways that they would never be able to achieve in real life and, therefore, it is more instructive and useful than other skills, as Tessa Livingstone, author of Child of Our Time declares. 'Play is more important that reading and writing for developing confidence and extending interests, because in play the rules are optional; it is self-directed and explanatory...'

The great news is it's incredibly easy to help develop your child's imagination - all you need to do is encourage their innate inquisitive nature. The following can help:

• Reading: You can start from birth with this one! Choose board books that offer visual, tactile and auditory stimulation; your baby will be absorbed by the shiny pictures, crinkly material and buttons that make sounds. At toddlerdom, introduce proper stories in which a tale is told. Take your child to their local library and let them select the books that appeal to them most, thereby delegating control in what they would like to read. As your child gets older, the stories can get increasingly longer, which will not only help their imagination but also their concentration skills. Children often like stories in which a child is the hero so keep an eye open for them and let them participate in the telling of the tale.

• Listening: No one disputes the benefits of reading to your child but by taking away visual stimulation and telling them either a made-up story of your own or a favourite tale that you know you can spark their imagination into producing the pictures. This process can be even more rewarding than the one they experience as a passive storybook reader as they create the world of the story and can take that with them wherever they are. You can use this as a starting point to encourage your child to make up their own stories to tell you in the car, at bedtime, anywhere and everywhere.
• Dressing-up: Children love to dress up and the great news is you don't have to have stacks of cash to let them indulge in this fantasy. Old clothes are great props and are more inventive and creative than any princess outfit you can buy in a shop. After all, dressed as Cinderella all your child can be is ... Cinderella! But with one of your old dresses and a pair of shoes she can be anything she chooses. If you are low on clothes, pop down to a charity shop where things are cheap and your money will go to a good cause.
• Creating: Give your child a designated area in the house where he or she can be creative. Keep crayons, pens, paper, glue and other artistic material there so they can sit down and make things whenever the mood takes them.
• Acting: Allowing your child to perform is a fantastic way to encourage their imagination, as Esther points out. 'Put on a play with your child based on a story she knows or, even better, based on a story that the child makes up herself. You can relate this to a holiday, wedding or other event.' Puppet shows are also a good way to get your child thinking of their own stories and inventing funny voices to portray different characters.
• Observing: Often our most creative moments occur when we are quietly observing what is going on around us. Nature walks, picnics in the park, or just sitting in the garden listening to the birds can be inspirational, plus they give us all time to calm down and be reflective. Ask your child to draw what they can see or hear, either during this time or later, when you are at home.
• Stimulating: Our imaginations work best when we have props to interest them. Let your child collect (safe) objects that inspire them, from pine cones to sea shells, rocks to leaves. Always have a set of different-sized containers to hand such as plastic bowls and cardboard boxes. Then let your child's imagination take over!
• Participating: This one is for you - the adult! Children get very excited when their parents join in their imaginative games and a whole new world of possibilities opens up, as Esther confirms: 'If your child wants you to, get involved in his fantasy. Get on that imaginary boat, be a second-in-command on that spaceship, be the Daddy in the pretend family. Be sure to let your child take the lead.' You may feel silly at first but remember - you were once a child playing these same games so it's not an alien concept after all! (You never know, you may find yourself enjoying being a spaceman after all...)
  

Imaginary friends are apparently more common in firstborns and only children but any child can have one ... or several, normally from age three upwards. Imaginary friends can be a real asset to your child, helping to develop their creativity, providing friendship and giving your child a way in which to explore their own emotions, thoughts and actions. Sometimes they also provide emotional safety, for children to talk to about their problems, to express anger or fear, or to be in charge when they might be feeling out of control or helpless. They also give children the chance to be part of a life that is separate from their parents', thereby affording them some degree of independence and secrecy!

The best way to deal with imaginary friends is to accept their reality for your child and observe any sensible requests your child may have (eg not to sit on them on the sofa!) but not to get too caught-up with the illusion so that you are the anchor of reality for your child. Imaginary friends often disappear at school age when children make plenty of their own real friends but they may continue for some time to help children through difficult stages.

If you needed any more proof as to why imagination is so important, just absorb what great intellectual Albert Einstein had to say about it: 'Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.' We couldn't have put it better ourselves!

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