With the weather getting colder in many places, how about an inside activity to promote kindergarten readiness? Imaginary play develops in preschool children and needs some complex thinking and memory skills. Kids need to remember their role and what actions are taking place even when they can’t ‘see’ them. While they have countless possibilities when pretending, they need to search through their own memories to come up with likely situations. Children are creating their own scenarios but they need to remember what would usually happen. This requires them to predict others’ reactions and respond to them, even if one child is playing all alone.
Kids pretend just about anything: tea party, going on a plane, cooking, space, race cars, trains, hockey, house, camping, etc. They’ll even pretend to sleep! At many homes, I bet kids are still imagining trick or treat and likely did so a few times before Halloween.
Imaginative play encourages brain development and is an essential part of children’s development. Exploring, problem solving, and language are also enhanced with play. These all contribute to readiness for kindergarten. Maybe we could imagine warmer weather?