Combatting Half Term Boredom with Imaginative Afternoons

As parents, we all know just how important it is to install imaginative and creative play into our child’s lives, with reports suggesting it not only improves social skills, but their understanding and expands their learning too. However with busy lives, this can sometimes be more difficult than it seems.

This half term, ban boredom (and turning to the TV) and instead, get creative – here’s a few ideas to get your imaginative afternoons started:

Get Arty

Grab those paints and colouring crayons and let their creativity flow! Make pictures of family members, their favourite activity or go abstract with patterns and colour. To really unleash their imagination, use homemade potato prints or stencils, getting them to help out. After you’ve created your masterpieces, talk through them and let your child explain what they have made – they could just surprise you!

It’s Showtime!

Children love putting on a performance! Encourage them to host their own show with acting, singing, dancing or even magic tricks, turning your living room into their very own theatre. Role play, such as this, lets a child get into character and is a key part of developing their knowledge, allowing them to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and learn through imaginative play.

Make Something Out Of Nothing

Go on an adventure through your home to find things you no longer use, or perhaps are throwing out. Whether it’s old mismatching socks, tired t-shirts or even empty toilet rolls, challenge your child to make something out of these items, with a little help from your sewing box and the arts and crafts cupboard! Ask them to tell you about their creation; what’s their name? Where do they live? What do they eat? This activity is guaranteed to be a great way of spending a few imaginative hours.

Special Effects Story Time

Children of all ages enjoy a story, especially when it’s read-out with expression! Bring their favourite books to life by getting into character, or better still; if your child can read – get them to voice the story. To make story time last longer, incorporate toys for extra creative role play. We’re sure you’ll enjoy it just as much as them!