Creative Play- 12 Ideas and Activities For Kids
Ever heard “I’m bored” ring through the air at your house? With four kids at home, I have heard this many times. Honestly, I think sometimes we give our kids too much stuff and they lose the ability for imaginative play. With the days of social media and online stores, I know I can get carried away with consumerism and wanting to buy all of the things for my kids. We have started our journey to being more minimalistic in our household and my hope is that my kids will come up with new ideas and creative thinking. I truly believe it will heighten communication skills, problem solving and critical thinking.
Creative play is crucial for child development as it provides numerous benefits like the following:
Social Skills
Imagination and creativity
Self-Confidence
Emotional Development
Problem-Solving Skills
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Cultural Understanding
So What are some ideas for creative play for kids? Below is a list of 12 ideas to help children to open up their imagination.
1. Fort building
This is a great way to get your children’s creative skills going! Grab some blankets, pillows, couch cushions and chairs and let the kids go wild with making the fort of their dreams. There is something so fun as a kid making up a fort and reading your favorite book by flashlight.
2. Art Display Wall
We all have them in our house, right? The overflowing art projects that are in drawers, on the fridge, in our kids bedrooms, in our bedrooms, on the countertops, etc. We love our kids and it’s hard to part with something they have made. Create an art display wall with their favorite drawings to display! When they make a new one, remove the old and display the new. I talk with my kids often and tell them that it’s ok not to keep every project or drawing. I explain that once they have made the creation, they are free to keep or enjoy it for a bit and move it on. Anything that is super special to them, I keep in a memory box for them. Showing their art on display is a great way to show a child’s creativity. Also, a bonus with drawings and paintings is that it helps with fine motor skills.
3. Outdoor play
There are plenty of opportunities for outdoor play! I believe getting kids outside and exploring can develop a love of learning and it’s fun to watch a child’s unique perspective on nature. My kids are outside always learning new things like a new insect or a new skill.
* A great way to get your kids outside is to give them a scavenger hunt. You can find my free nature scavenger hunt by clicking here. There are many options for scavenger hunts that you can do outside. Have kids gather leaves and twigs and small things like acorns and have them create bugs or animals with them.
* Grab some chairs, tables or other household items and make an outdoor obstacle course. Let your child pretend to become the next ninja warrior (safely, of course).
Obstacle courses help children with their problem-solving skills and are a great way for school-aged children to get their energy out after they have been working on academics.
* How about some sprinkler fun or splash pads in the summer?
4. Dramatic Play- Role Playing
Dramatic play is such a valuable tool for mental growth. One of my favorite ways to introduce this is through self-expressive activity. My kids love feeling like little business owners. We have a kid market stand in our play room that we turn into a shop once in a while and my kids love decorating it, and playing shop. You do not need to own a market stand to play. Just use any furniture piece to decorate. They can either just make their own signs and drawings or you can purchase an already premade set online. I currently have two available in my shop. My kids really love the bug shop!
5. Dramatic Play- Storytelling
Kids love being able to tell a good story. Give them some puppets or a few stuffed animals and let them enjoy showing you a fun puppet show whith their own unique story. Sometimes, they may need a little help, so have fun creating a story together! One of the ways my kids love to tell a story is to use create a story cards. We’ve used create a story dice for many years but this year I tried something new and made Create A Story Cards for my kids to try. They loved them and it has helped them to become creative thinkers and their stories have been so fun and silly. I have watched them expand their language development. You can make your own by finding photos and making a story from pictures or I have listed our Enchanted Theme Create A Story Cards to the right.
6. Cardboard Box Creations
Do I need to even say anything else? What kid doesn’t love a good sized cardboard box? Save larger boxers and watch your kids imagination go wild as they create rocket ships, homes, boats, hot air balloons, etc. Get some coloring or paint materials and let them bring their idea to life.
7. Lego Bricks, Blocks and Building Toys
These are a type of creative play where your child can build endless possibilities. Through the years we have owned blocks, lego bricks, building pipes, magna-tiles, marble runs, and so many other types of building toys. We love to use wooden toys as well. Toys that don’t have a specific purpose are great for early education because your child can make whatever they want with them. One thing I’ve noticed with my kids is that they don’t need a specific toy to make believe. If they are playing “farmer’s market” and they don’t have a specific vegetable, they’ll just use a block.
8. Treasure hunt
Hide an item and make clues for your kids to find the treasure! Kids love a good scavenger hunt so why not give then the ultimate one with a treasure at the end! This can easily be done inside or outside and as simple or hard as you want. Switch things up a bit and have the kids make their own treasure map and hide the treasure for you to find!
9. Dance Parties and Movement Activities
My kids love every year around Halloween sticking glow sticks on themselves to make the shape of a stick man and then turning off all of the lights and doing fun dances. What is more fun creative play than that? We have made this a tradition every year since my son’s birthday is around that time. You don’t have to do this to have a dance party though. Just crank up some music and get moving! Make instruments from household items like rubber bands stretched over a box, rice-filled bottles for shakers, or drums from pots and pans if you want to make your own music for dancing! We also love movement activities that involve being imaginative in our movements. You can call out different moves to your kids or use some of the cards below that I have created. We also love PE Bowman who has a YouTube channel and does lots up fun imaginative play with exercise.
10. DIY Board Games
Create your own board game using cardboard, paper, coloring or painting materials, and dice. Let kids design the rules and game pieces and have a family game night! This could be so much fun and also huge for cognitive development and problem solving as they figure out how to play the game and anything that needs to be worked on throughout.
11. Open-ended play
Open-ended play provides children with opportunities to explore, experiment, and create in a supportive environment. It nurtures their development cognitive skills, social skills, emotional development, and self directed play laying a strong foundation for a healthy development in early childhood education. Wooden toys like a stacking rainbow or Montessori blocks are great for this. Hand a child a scarf and it becomes a cape and then quickly becomes a veil or tail or whatever their little minds come up with. Play on your child’s interests and let them make believe with the simplest toys. My kids will make swords from paper or a paper airplane and have a contest! They brought home a duct tape ball one time and kept that thing forever.
12. Sensory Bins
These may seem like they are for young children but my older school-age children have been known to sneak some creative play with ours. Get some beans or rice, fill a shoebox and then put items inside for the kids to find and pull out. One our our favorites is kinetic sand but we also have a bean one that is loved as well.
There are so many more creative play ideas like family talent shows, chalk drawing, cooking together, playdoh…the list could really go on and on. Set up a fun lego challenge or a baking contest and let their creative side flow. They are only little for so long, so let’s embrace their playful side. Hopefully these ideas will get your kids up and playing!
