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Encouraging imagination and creativity: how do I do it?

You may have noticed that your toddler has a very fertile imagination. From imagining dragons in the clouds to monsters under the bed, your child’s brain is a creative force to be reckoned with.

The science behind that imagination is pretty impressive too. You see, all that imagining is actually your toddler’s brain helping itself to form connections. In fact, by the time he or she’s three, your child’s 100 billion brain cells will have created 1,000 trillion connections. Everything he or she does, and thinks about, every day, is helping to form those.

That’s why imagination is so important to a child. It allows their developing brains to explore new possibilities, and those explorations help their brain to make new and interesting connections.

You might not realise it, but your child’s been imagining since they were around 18 to 20 months. Every time they copy something, or pretends to put their doll to sleep, it’s their imagination at work.

Your child’s imagination has an important role to play in many areas of mental development. It will help build vocabulary, teach problem solving skills, and allow them to create fantasy worlds for herself, where they can be, and do anything they want to.

In fact, imagination is one of your toddler’s most impressive developmental tools.
To help your child foster and grow their imagination, you can play games with them, where you pretend to be, or do anything you can think of. You can give him or her books that teach them to think outside the box. Draw pictures of fantastic creatures that exist only in their mind and more.

Even lying on the grass, finding pictures in the clouds, helps your child’s imagination to grow.
Imaginative children grow up to be imaginative and creative adults, so do your child a favour, and learn to pretend with them.

More questions

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As long as your toddler has plenty of space and time to play, and practice all their new physical skills, they’re probably doing just fine with her development!
Toddlers are naturally curious about everything. Instead of stifling that curiosity, you should be making every effort to promote it!
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For toddlers, as with older children and adults, happiness comes from inside, not from outside.

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