Let's play pretend for a moment...

HIT THAT ♥️ BUTTON IF PLAYING PRETEND WAS A VITAL PART OF YOUR CHILDHOOD🙌

Mine too ♥️ I am 38 so my #childhood spanned the early 80's to the mid 90's. A time before CDs, ipods, Sattelite TV, personal computers, smart devices Streaming TV, cell phones, even the internet!

We simply played! #Freeplay was our everyday go to. and our favorite thing to do was #pretendplay. My sister and I played for hours outside with our imaginary friends, then came inside to play with our dolls and toys. We spent our days playing and within that it did something amazing for us...it taught us. And OH WHAT A FAVOR it did us! Do you know what allowing your children to be #freeplaybabies and use their #imagination does? Its forces them to problem solve, sort, create, analyze, predict, hypothesize, dream, play out different adult roles and plan ahead ALL WITHOUT ANY WORKSHEETS/APPS OR ADULT INTERFERENCE!

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Don’t you remember pretending the floor was lava? You threw pillows down and had to jump to them, you fought off imaginary enemies and usually your siblings or cousins would throw out impossible tasks like “your leg is broken, you have to cross without only one leg now!”. So then you found ways to move your body with said imaginary broken leg. Problem solving, even as silly as it sounds, was developed in those games. You even used the scientific method during pretend play, you just don’t know it. Pretend play begins with hypothesizing what situation to play out, throwing out scenarios to make that situation come to life, problem solving through them until you get the perfect recipe for the game then jumping full on into the solution and enjoying the pretend play. See how useful pretending is to a child’s brain?

Pretending is intense huh? And magical? Well, its actually #biology ♥️ You see, a child's brain was wired to not just play for fun but play for learning! Yes, a #playingpreschool, a #playinghome and #freeplaykids really do learn SO MUCH MORE through that hands on and #freespirited play experience than you realize:)

Pretend play expands their web of knowledge through the use of all five senses along with social interaction. When a child picks up a rock and throws it notices it breaks a pile of mud or makes a certain sound when hitting the ground, their visual and auditory senses record that and begin to form the attributes of that rock in their mind. When they encounter objects very similar to a rock’s feel their brain makes the connection that it probably has the same properties such as weight, hardness and the way it reacts with other objects. No textbook is needed, no worksheets, no teacher.... their time playing taught them that!

Playing is still so important in a world where our children have SO many opportunities to learn. E-learning rose in popularity during 2020 due to COVID and it has its place as well, but chaining a child to a tablet or computer all day is as ineffective as chaining them to a desk in a classroom with worksheet. Children NEED to play, its how they are wired to learn. So let them go. Let them play pretend...even if they pretend "wrong" in your eyes. 🙄 That is the processed adult in you, remember they are not adults, they are children still forming their web of #knowledge.Please curve the urge to direct freeplay. ✋There is no wrong way to play pretend....that's why call its called pretend!! So set them free and let them learn:)

#sensoryplaytime

#outdoorskids #instamom #instapreschool #outdoorpreschool #freerangeparenting #freeplayrocks #reggioemiliaapproach #sensoryplay #getkidsoutside #alternativestoscreentime #happykids #playwithtoys #imaginaryplay #siblingplay

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