| Children love to be alone because alone is where | | | | should: |
| they know themselves, and where they dream." | | | | - Encourage active playtime. Just like the muscles |
| -Roger Rosenblatt, The Man in the Water, 1994 | | | | in their arms and legs, the imagination needs to be |
| Allowing a child's imagination to blossom is as | | | | exercised. |
| simple as letting them express themselves | | | | - Provide lots of safe supplies. Think of |
| through good old-fashioned play. Whether it's | | | | storybooks, finger paints, and miniature tea sets |
| learning to problem solve by "selling groceries," | | | | as the tools of the trade. |
| demonstrating self-expression while pouring tea | | | | - Let your child make the decisions. This is not the |
| for their favorite dolls, or concentrating on sliding | | | | time to teach them about the "grown-up way" of |
| down the pole of their firehouse, young minds | | | | doing things. Let their imaginations soar! |
| need frequent opportunities to freely express | | | | - Have realistic expectations. Don't force your |
| themselves. | | | | children when or how to be creative. Part of the |
| "All children can and should learn how to tap into | | | | learning process is in letting them find their own |
| their own creativity," says Torie Seeger, a senior | | | | way. |
| program specialist at the Early Childhood Education | | | | - Participate in creative play. Studies have found |
| and Training Program of the State University of | | | | that children whose parents participate in creative |
| New York at Albany. "Some of them simply need | | | | play with them develop broader vocabularies and |
| more opportunities and more guidance than | | | | more flexible thinking skills, says Judy Lyden, |
| others." | | | | director of the Garden School in Evansville, Indiana. |
| Lilliput Play Homes of Finleyville, PA, is leading the | | | | Children learn to respond, explore, communicate |
| industry in offering distinctive children's play | | | | their ideas, and use their imagination when they |
| homes. In addition to offering eleven standard | | | | have sufficient time to explore and research their |
| models ranging from the spacious Cotton Candy | | | | ideas, states the Curriculum Guidance for The |
| Manor to the rugged Olde Firehouse, Lilliput Play | | | | Foundation Stage, published in May, 2000. Whether |
| Homes also offers custom play structures. | | | | it is "selling groceries" in their Neighborhood |
| Whether it's a making fantasy structures based | | | | Market, holding a club meeting in their Lil Raskal's |
| on a child's dream or recreating the family's home | | | | Lookout, or merely finger-painting a picture to |
| in miniature, founder and president Stephen K. | | | | hang on the refrigerator, it is vital to nurture a |
| Chernicky has designed and constructed it. Popular | | | | child's creativity and innate curiosity by providing |
| standard models include the Princess Cottage, | | | | the tools necessary for emotional and mental |
| featuring a loft, skylight, stenciling, and hardwood | | | | growth. |
| floors, and the Neighborhood Market, whose | | | | So the next time your son or daughter invites |
| checkout counter, shelves, and display case are | | | | you into their playhouse to see their latest artistic |
| destined to bring out the creativity in children of all | | | | creation, asks you to help them play dress-up, or |
| ages. | | | | wants to sell you some produce, smile and |
| Creative play provides a rich learning environment | | | | remember what Anatole France said, "The whole |
| where children should be encouraged to think and | | | | art of teaching is only the art of awakening the |
| create on their own. To provide children the best | | | | natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose |
| opportunities for creative development, parents | | | | of satisfying it afterwards. |