A chef. A pirate. A fireman. A policeman. A doctor. A garbage collector. A baseball player. A monster truck. A football player. These are just a few of the things that Lucas pretends to be on a daily...no...hourly basis. Kids are imaginative beings. This is how they learn. By pretending to do the things they can't yet do. As parents, it's important that we encourage our kids to use their vivid imaginations and sometimes that means putting the battery operated toys with all the bells and whistles away for a little while.


Lucas loves to "build" things so we make forts with sheets and pillows and blankets. Nothing fancy, but all of a sudden that "nothing" becomes a pirate ship sailing the seas in search of lost treasure. An old wooden box becomes the treasure chest and plastic trinkets...our treasure.


Pretend play is fun and a great way for parents and kids to spend time quality time together bonding. Plus, they are learning and developing important life skills such as:

* Planning, including organizing the type of pretend play, roles, and items/objects needed for the activity
* How to solve problems and compromise (e.g., "This time I'll be the lifeguard who rescues you and next time you can rescue me.")
* How to communicate through words and actions
* How to express emotions (e.g., fear in the face of a child pretending to be a scary animal; delight (or jealousy) when a new baby comes home from the hospital
* Creativity and imagination; pretend experiences get more complicated and fantastic as children get older (e.g., instead of simply being a fisherman, they become deep sea explorers, searching for lost treasures on a sunken ship)
* Memory skills, as favorite experiences are acted out over and over again (e.g., getting a new pet, eating at a restaurant, taking a trip to the zoo)

from  MissouriFamilies.org

A great way to encourage imaginative play is to provide them with the props and things they will need such as costumes, accessories such as purses, bags, jewelry, shoes, sunglasses, miscellaneous items like junk mail, magazines, kitchen items, instruments, cardboard boxes, etc. Whatever you can think of that can add to their fun!

Another way to encourage pretend play is by the parents getting involved as well. I find that Lucas' imagination gets even more fantastical when Mike or I play with him. We can ask him questions like "who is he? where is he going?" and get him really involved in the story.