Imaginative Play

When I was a child, most of my time was spent doing one of three things. Napping, (I was iron deficient), doing chores, or imagining. Whether playing with dolls, or sitting in my grandmother's third wedding dress at my vanity brushing my hair and pretending I was late for the ball, I was definitely big on the imagination.  I wish I had a picture of that vanity to show you. I spent a lot of time sitting at it with some fairy tale or another going on in my head.  It has been an old wooden one that had seen better days, so my mom took it down into the basement for some tough love, and it reemerged bright white with hand-painted bows on the drawers.  I loved it.
As I have watched my daughter grow up, (can you believe she's a tween now?) I always felt it was very important to surround her with things which encouraged creative play. Whether it was costumes, fairy wands or a hobby horse, or toys and sheets she could use to build her imaginary castle, I wanted to encourage her to recreate the world in her own mind. My favorite? When she imagines herself into a corner and has to use those problem solving skills to find a solution.  

Snapdragon imagines he's the ruler of the jungle AND the universe, because that's how he rolls.

I love the confidence imaginative play gives a child, and I love the way it helps them see problems from more perspectives than one.
My goal is to let Snapdragon grow up imagining, playing, and being as creative as he wants to.  
To that end, I'm excited to let you know that in the not too distant future, you can check back here for a review of something imagination inspiring from CSNStores.com, the parent company of www.justvanities.com, because I'm thinking Snapdragon needs some creative outlets, and I'm very excited about it.


Disclosure: To date I have not been compensated to write this though I will be reviewing something in the future.  All opinions and nostalgic musings are entirely my own. You may have had a different experience as a child.  Who knows, maybe your imaginary friends didn't like you, or maybe they never went away. :-)