When you think of your life, going back to the happy days of childhood, think about what made them so happy; why, play, of course! As adults, we often tend to forget how great it felt to spend hours and hours playing, hearing the voices of our impatient parents calling out for us to remind us it’s meal time.
Play isn’t mere fun though, what makes it important is how it affects a child’s development of skills. As there are all kinds of play, not every play is the same, there are some that stand out, like imaginary play.
This is the type of play that makes children understand the world around them, and suitable toys that can help them do so, apart from the playhouse, are toy mailbox for playhouse, furniture, food sets, and medical kits, anything that’s authentic in details and would help make their play more realistic and enjoyable.
From a perspective that’s important for the parents, it’s advisable to choose toys, like the toy mailbox for playhouse, in materials that are eco-friendly, as is wood, so you can be sure there are no chemicals used (no toxic paint) to make them. Besides, wood is durable, so quality is guaranteed.
You can increase the fun if you give them some items you no longer use at home, as long as they aren’t dangerous for them to use, from fabrics to boxes, and writing materials for signs, letters, and shopping lists for example.
What makes this play essential is, as its name suggests, boosting kids’ imagination. What we as parents don’t notice is our kids take in most of the words we say, the gestures we make, and then they use them in their play, regardless of whether or not they know their meaning.
Along with the imagination, what you can hope for is the development of social skills as well as the improvement in vocabulary. Imaginary play leaves the freedom to be played alone or with others, so even parents can participate.
Where there’s the development of language skills, there’s the development of emotional skills too, learning how to interact with others, how to behave, how to respond to others’ emotions.
Though it might not seem like the kind of play that involves cognitive thinking, there are many situations leading to the development of problem-solving skills. The scope of these skills is essential for every aspect of life in their childhood as much as later on, so what you can take from this as a lesson is to motivate them to have as much of imaginative play as they can.