3 Benefits Of Imaginative Play

Children love to play, and they love to have fun. For parents, it’s crucial to understand that playtime isn’t just about unwinding and enjoying themselves; children are learning as they play. In fact, for the most part, children are learning all the time – parents have to bear this in mind when they are interacting with their children or doing anything around them.

When it comes to play, imaginative play is hugely beneficial. Whether your child likes to pretend they are someone else, plays make believe with their dolls and bears, or creates entire imaginary scenarios, their imagination is a crucial tool that needs to be nurtured. Here are some of the benefits of imaginative play to help you understand more and encourage it further.

Imaginative Play Boosts Language Development

When children are learning to talk, and even later, when they have a good grasp of language but want or need to enhance their vocabulary, imaginative play allows this to happen. When they are happily playing with their tea set or pretending to be a teacher with their toys or saving the world from disaster – or anything else they might be doing, because children’s imaginations are incredible – they can also develop better language skills at the same time.

This is because the child playing will try out new words and phrases, and they will feel happier and freer to do so, knowing that they don’t need to feel bad for saying something in the wrong way or using the wrong context. Although there will clearly need to be some fine-tuning by parents because of this, in general, when playing an imaginary game, a child tends to use more words than in conversation.

Imaginative Play Leads To Emotional Development

Imaginative play in whatever form it might take allows your child to put themselves in someone else’s situation. They can imagine themselves as the princess or teacher or construction worker with their CreateOn Magnatiles and imagine how they would react to the things that are happening in the game.

The interesting thing is that children won’t consciously put their characters in these situations; it’s something that will happen organically as the game goes on. This means they won’t have a chance to think things through ahead of time, and they will need to imagine what the thoughts and feelings of that person are. This will boost their emotional development and not only make them more empathetic but also help them to understand their own emotions better, too.

Imaginative Play Boosts Creativity

Creativity is a massively important part of life. Even adults who don’t work in what might be termed creative roles will still need to use creative thinking at some point. Plus, creativity is an ideal outlet for your thoughts and feelings, not to mention the fact that being creative or enjoying creative things is fun.

Creativity also helps with problem-solving. If a child is playing an imaginative game and they don’t have a component they need to make something, they will work out a way to get past the issue and come up with a creative solution for the problem. This is a skill that will serve them well later in life.