With colder days on the horizon and more indoor activities on our radar, I have a feeling our boys’ already active imaginations are about to go into overdrive. Whenever we’re at home and the boys are left to their own devices to play and entertain themselves and each other, imagination games come out in full-force. As a mom, I get the biggest kick out of watching their imaginations run wild and listening to the scenarios and characters they create brings me a lot of joy.
Chase and Ryder’s imagination-related play is often based on stories we’ve read, things we’ve talked about or seen in our day-to-day lives and, of course, anything animal-related. And you better believe Rhett is already trying his very best to insert himself in the middle of all the imagination fun! For today’s blog post, I thought I’d round up a few of the boys’ favorite imagination games and scenarios in one place for any of you out there with kiddos on your hands who might be looking for some imagination game ideas to share with your children. I’d also love to hear from any of you out there whose kids love playing imagination games so I can share some of your ideas with our boys, too!
Playing Pretend: Our Boys’ Favorite Imagination Scenarios
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Animal Rescue
This is a game our boys play on repeat. They love to pretend to be animal rescuers and often look to me to tell them about a scenario involving an animal that needs help. They’ve “saved” sea turtles hit by boats, squirrels that fell out of trees, dolphins with injured fins… the list goes on and on! They often incorporate their stuffed animals into the game or will take turns being the animal in need of help and the rescuer.
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Post Office + Package Delivery
I’m pretty sure our whole family considers the delivery people who bring packages to our house friends at this point. The boys love sprinting to the door to bring packages inside and shouting “thank you” down the driveway so any imagination game involving mail and packages is right up their alley. I love this particular game because it tends to last a while since it can incorporate so many different things — writing letters, coloring, decorating old boxes, placing the packages on a cargo plane, delivering the packages to various rooms in the house, etc.
Our younger boys especially love playing post office with The Little Tikes® Activity Garden™ because it has a purple mailbox incorporated into the design that allows them to drop colorful shape “packages” through the corresponding shape holes.
It’s such a fun multi-functional play center and easily converts from a closed play center to an open, two-sided play center so our boys can play at the same time.
I don’t think Rhett quiiite understands the imagination games his older brothers are playing around him, but he loves this play center and is obsessed with dropping balls down the ball chute and banging on the colorful piano chimes. He crawls his way into it multiple times every day because there are so many different ways for him to play inside the play center and he can’t get enough of the play panel.
It’s such an awesome feature because the play panel is actually removable so you can take it with you for on-the-go fun and it features a bead tumbler, mirror, spinning gears and music. Rhett is a big-time fan!
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Fishing
One of our boys’ favorite activities is fishing at the local marina but they also love pretend fishing! They’ll fish off their beds, down our driveway, in the bathtub… you name it! The best part of pretend fishing is that they aren’t limited to catching only sunnies or catfish like they are when we fish in the lake. They’ve nabbed pretend groupers, sailfish and even a great white shark! Lately they’ve been using extra-long string that they’ll throw off their bed as “fishing line” and then Ryan or I will tie random household items or toys to the end of their strings. They get the biggest kick out of trying to guess what random items they’re “reeling” in!
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Restaurant
Playing restaurant is a classic and one of the first imagination games our boys began playing. They love making us pretend smoothies, sandwiches, pizza, ice cream sundaes and more! (Sometimes they even make real things with our help in the kitchen!) The boys always seem to get a big kick out of “ordering” food from each other with strange or disgusting ingredients.
This is another imagination game where The Little Tikes® Activity Garden™ comes in handy! The boys will flip the telescope upside down and use it as a pretend blender and open and shut the window shutters as their faux-drive through window!
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Doctor
Who knew the doctor’s kit Ryder “gave” to Chase when he was a newborn would get so much use?! We’ve had no shortage of checkups and visits to the imaginary doctor in our house. These days Rhett is often the patient but he’s becoming a little less cooperative for Drs. Chase and Ryder every day.
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Vacation
Does anyone else out there have kids who are obsessed with luggage? Our boys get the biggest kick out of going into our closet and pulling out our suitcases and filling them up with their “travel essentials” — ya know, things like stuffed animals, flashlights, blankets, puzzles and games. They love playing vacation and cart their bags and suitcases all over the house on various trips and adventures.
The Little Tikes® Activity Garden™ often becomes their mini airport with the little window shutters serving as the ticket booth and the slide serving as the luggage check-in conveyer belt! Ryder and Chase also like to use the telescope to spot incoming planes so they know when the airport runway is clear for takeoff!
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Dress Up Imagination Games
My mom got the boys a handful of costumes for Christmas last year and playing dress up is something that happens on an almost daily basis in our house. Their big basket of costumes gets a lot of use and the various costumes are the catalyst for so many different imagination games. We’ve also added all of their old Halloween costumes into the basket so they have a blast pretending to be everything from police officers and firemen to race car drivers, Paw Patrol characters, dragons and more. The boys definitely don’t shy away from blending costumes and we’ve seen more than our fair share of police officer dragons and race car driving puppies.
Question of the Day
What are some of your children’s favorite imagination games or pretend scenarios to act out around your house?
The post Playing Pretend: Our Boys’ Favorite Imagination Games appeared first on Peanut Butter Fingers.
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