Why imaginative play is so important
If there would be one activity that I would encourage the most in kids, it would be imaginative play. And kids nowadays engage so much less in imaginative play then the kids in the past! With screen time on one hand, and overcharged schedule on the other, imaginative play gets left behind by parents and kids.
But it’s not the screen time activities that’ll teach you kids social skills, and it’s not the pricey yoga for kids, nor organised sports/art classes that’ll teach them about who they are and who they want to become.
It’s imaginative play.
The only moment when children can partially stop being themselves, when they can escape from the rules of the society, it’s while engaging in imaginative play. It’s the time for discovering, for forming identity and for trying on different roles. And it leaves children more confident, more focused and happier.
Because engaging in imaginative play is actually growing up, one little step at a time. It’s replaying what happened, and how to react to that in the future. It’s replaying the tensions, and the misbehaving. It’s replaying the rules that we want them to learn, and it’s replaying their behavior, the good and the bad.
It’s the space of no judgment, and no pressure. It’s a space to explore their personality and imagine the life they want to live.
So we ought to help our kids, by letting them play, by providing them time for the unstructured play, and by arranging their space in a way that leaves space for imagination.
And one of a great tools for that is a simple teepee.
It’s a perfect hiding place. A temporary castle. A house. A reading nook. A bed. A cave. A monsters belly. A rocket. A cozy nest. It can be anything that you child will imagine. Or it can simply be a teepee.
Why I prefer this, more than lets say, a real little play house? Because it is simple. There’s a way in. There’s a place to hide. And it leaves space for imagination.
And my teepee is from TipTopTeepeeShop It’s hand-made, from organic materials, without any chemical dyes. It’s super light and easy to fold, transport and re-set in a different space. And there’s a huge choice of colors and patterns. I really love it. And I know that it’ll be serving us for years to come.
So if you ever wondered if you should get a teepee for your kids, I really think that it’s a great investment! Perfect for imaginative play, and a great piece in any playroom, bedroom or even living room.
And I couldn’t be happier, looking at my kids reading, playing and I imagining things in this simple white canvas teepee.
Disclosure: I received this product free for review, all opinions remain my own.