Getting back to creative and imaginative Play with Very #AD

**Posted in collaboration with Very**

Despite what you may think, creativity and the use of our imaginations are both skills which we’re all capable of. While it may be in different ways, we all have the ability to think innovatively and come up with our own ideas, especially when given free rein to do so. Playtime during childhood is probably the BEST time to develop these skills by getting back to creative and imaginative play.

These are fundamental skills needed for problem-solving and critical thinking, so they are vital to work on with children from an early age.

Toys that can be manipulated in various ways are often the best for boosting your child’s imaginative skills. Most open-ended toys that do not run on batteries fall into this category. This is because they give your child uninterrupted engagement during playtime. Open-ended toys such as Lego bricks or trigger toys help improve cognitive function in children of all ages by developing their creative centres and teaching them about multiple ways of utilising one item.

We have teamed up with Very to take a closer look at just a few toys which can help promote imaginative and creative play for children. These toys take children away from screens and can be used in a number of different ways to help boost their imaginations and aid their creativity.

Lego

Lego is an excellent toy for children of all ages. It comes in all shapes and sizes and offers endless building opportunities meaning that children aren’t limited in their creativity. An active imagination is all they need to create a world of their own.

For younger children, Lego bricks may be too small so they can start off with Duplo Blocks progressing to Lego as they get older. There are so many Lego sets these days that it is a toy that lasts from childhood all the way up through to adulthood, providing entertainment the whole family can enjoy.

While playing with these fun toys, children are also learning and developing core skills without even realising they are developing skills such as:

• Fine motor skills
• Hand-Eye coordination
• Dexterity
• Imagination
• Learning colours and shapes
• Boosting creativity
• Problem-solving
• Following instructions – copying the instruction booklets
• Storytelling – you can make up stories together as they create a castle to live in, or they build the biggest wall to keep the monsters out

Very have a huge range of Lego sets to suit all age ranges, from boxes of Lego which you can use over and over again to create anything you like to Harry Potter Lego to be displayed and even flower bouquets, which are my new Lego obsessession and I think I need to fill my home with Lego flowers which can be enjoyed forever without wilting or needing to be watered.

Painting

I know letting the children have paint at home isn’t for everyone; I get it; they are messy enough at the best of times without adding in something, which is guaranteed to require lots of cleaning up afterwards. The key, however, is all in the preparation. Get EVERYTHING ready in advance and it really does make the cleaning up process easier. Putting newspaper down on your workspace/table means instead of washing paint from your table you can just put it into the bin. Have the bin close by so you aren’t dripping paint across the floor. Wear old clothes, roll up sleeves and wearing an apron are advisable for young children. Also, having a sink/bowl full of soapy water ready for hand-washing will hopefully mean no paint hand prints over the cupboards (although it’s not guaranteed).

Painting helps to teach children a great number of skills, including:

• Fine motor skills
• Hand-eye coordination
• Colours, including what happens when you mix colours
• Creativity
• Shapes
• Textures
• Spacial awareness
• Cognitive skills such as decision-making and problem-solving
• Emotional development

Children can paint from a very early age, hand and footprints can easily be turned into keepsake pictures, and with Christmas fast approaching, they make wonderful personal cards for all the family. This is something I have always done with my children. Here are a few simple hand and foot printing ideas for Christmas cards.

As children get older, they can explore different painting techniques – Harry really enjoyed this Art LAb Pouring Art Studio Kit over the half term, using it to explore different ways of creating beautiful artwork on canvas, and the kit is pretty mess-free too, which is always a bonus. It contains everything needed to create 4 pieces of original and unique art, with a booklet showing 6 different techniques which could be used to do so. These would make lovely Christmas presents for children and in turn they can gift their artwork to friends and family members – get them to sign and date the back for when they are rich and famous artists!

Drawing & Colouring

Getting really back to the basics here, drawing can be enjoyed by all age groups. Even the youngest children love to explore with crayons, pencils or pens. It is such a great way for them to explore colours, shapes and different techniques by using different mark makers on paper, card, canvas’ (and sadly at times in the much younger years walls, books and surfaces they really shouldn’t be drawing on – it’s almost a right of passage that at some point you’ll be cleaning crayons from walls or cupboard doors).

I learned my lesson early on when Emmy was a toddler: to hide away the crayons and only let her use them when supervised. She drew on the wall of her playroom in crayons. It was my fault, I had given her some bath crayons to use one bathtime and she loved drawing on the tiles and bathtub, then washing them off and starting over again. I didn’t think ahead to tell her that only these can be used and only in the bath, she was recreating the fun she’d enjoyed, only this time on my walls. I would love to say they grow out of this stage….well, they do, until they are teenagers and then they start drawing all over their hands and legs in biro while in class!

Drawing and colouring offer the same developmental skills which they learn through painting, as well as learning patience and with the added bonus of having to sit still to do these activities.

They can be enjoyed by all age groups too – I still love to get out my adult colouring books when I want to relax and unwind.

For those who love to draw and colour but want a little helping hand, this Dinosaur Light Up Tracing Pad is perfect. It comes with 7 printed dinosaur sheets each containing 2 different dinosaurs, 3 scenery sheets, plain paper, a pencil and colouring pencils. You just have to put in 3 AA batteries (not included) and you are all set to go. It is an excellent tool for encouraging reluctant drawers to create beautiful pictures, and you don’t have to tell anyone you traced the image either. They would make perfect birthday cards for friends, just cut out and stick onto some card.

Of course, this tracing pad doesn’t only have to be used for dinosaur pictures, you can print any picture you want to draw and then trace it. Overlay a few different images, one at a time and create a beautiful and unique drawing.

Water Play

Timeless fun and again this can be for all age groups. Babies and toddlers love playing with toys in their baths, and once older this extends to paddling pools, hose pipes, or even a couple of jugs/cups and a bucket of water (of course, well supervised).

You can add food colouring to outside water tables for children to explore the changing colours and water play provides educational value while being great fun too. They will be enhancing:

• Gross motor skills through splashing, swimming and even pouring water
• Develop hand-eye coordination by grabbing toys under the water
• Math skills can also be taught through play here – measuring, counting, etc

Even when you think your children are too old for water play, there are still activities you can do together and they will enjoy – ball games in the swimming pool, a home spa day for older children/teens – who doesn’t enjoy a foot spa and a face mask?

Or make your own Squeeze Balls using The Squeeze Ball Creator which Harry who is now 11 really enjoyed over the half term. These are squashy gel-type balls which are reusable. They have a screw cap on the top which you undo with the key provided and then fill with either the emojis included and water or use anything you have at home – your imagination is your only limitation here.

The kit comes with 3 reusable squeeze balls and 21 different emojis. The emojis are packed into 3 separate bags so you can undo one at a time and fill your ball with them. You slot the machine together, open the ball and add whatever you want to put inside – this could be the emojis included in the kit, or you could use glitter, food colouring, or beads. It really is up to you but nothing sharp as you don’t want the balls to pop when you squeeze them.

You then slide the ball under the bottom of the machine, click into place and add water to the top, open the value and your ball will fill. Then, replace the cap and remove your ball.

These are great fun to make and can be a sensory toy and used for stress relief/anxiety too.

As you can see, lots of toys provide educational values which your child has fun, all they need is to use their creativity and imagination and the play options are endless.