5 Creative Ways To Improve Children's Imagination

Illustration of how to grow children's imagination (Unsplash/Jerry Wang)

JAKARTA – Cultivating imagination in children means having the potential to explore wider knowledge. There are various ways to grow it. But for sure, parents also need to be creative in sparking the imagination of their children.

The following activities, when packaged in an attractive manner, can help hone and increase children's imagination power. Want to try applying it? Check the list below.

1. Role play

Role playing activities, can be accompanied by parents. Can be practiced when the baby is 4 years old. Themes can vary, for example, work themes. Play a doctor, teacher, driver, or pilot.

Parents can provide an introduction to the work practiced by the child. Or, parents can also take acting courses that have programs for children.

2. Painting or drawing

When children are interested in the objects they come across, they can imitate or draw them. Can also draw compositions of animals and activities based on his imagination. For drawing activities, it can be started earlier than the previous activity.

Parents can facilitate simple drawing tools along with blank paper for children to appreciate their imagination. At the age of 2 years, drawing can hone the fine motor skills of his fingers.

3. Through stories

Not just by reading fairy tales. Children can also be sparked by their imagination by completing stories compiled by parents.

In making the storyline, parents need to know the children's abilities very well. For example, it can be started from a simple story, about an ant or a bird that stopped at the window of the house.

4. Crafting skills from objects at home

Many objects can be responded to or used as a trigger for children's imagination. For example, blankets, bolsters, or pillows that can be used as barriers or build houses. It can also be from functional equipment, from storage boxes to unused paper.

The output of making skills can also vary, for example, paper is cut and pasted so that it becomes one object that the child thinks about.

Since imagination is an adaptive ability, parents need to provide understanding in the process. Understanding can be from objects that are selected and created by the child. It could also be from the nature of the medium, such as flexible paper or tough plastic.

5. Watch animated movies

There are so many references to animated films that can foster a child's imagination. Such as superhero films to films based on local wisdom that teach values, such as films produced by Ghibli.

In addition to watching animated films, parents can also provide opportunities for children who enter elementary school to tour museums or virtual travel.

Of the five activities above, which ones have you tried to develop your child's imagination?