"I'm bored mommy. There's nothing to do."
Are you hearing that from your 9 year old too often? It could be that they are over-programmed. Encourage their imagination, especially when they are young, and boredom will not happen as often.
Here are 5 ways to encourage imagination in a pre-schooler.
Buy Simpler Toys
If it requires a battery, do NOT buy it. A blunt comment from Grandpa Richard. The simpler, the better, in my mind.
What toy do I remember the most from my childhood? Popsicle sticks and dinky cars. When we ate popsicles, we would clean and dry the sticks and save them. Then, on rainy days we would go into the basement and use the popsicle sticks to be the outline of roads, buildings, and parking lots. Then, out came the dinky cars which were "driven" around the city.
Go to a dollar store and buy nice simple toys. Popsicle sticks, building blocks (Legos if you can afford them), toy cars and trucks, little plastic animals (for playing zoo or farm with), etc. Why, I even save the plastic containers from yogurt. My grand daughter and I build BIG walls with them.
If you have a higher budget, then I vote strongly for Lego blocks. See my two articles at Lego - Perfect for Boy Or Girl and
Selecting the Best Lego Set.
Turn the TV Off
Do I really need to explain myself here???
Encourage Drawing
Encourage your child to draw pictures. I bring home used paper from work (make sure there is no sensitive info on the printed side!!!) and I also make sure there are plenty of crayons and markers available for Jasmine. Sometimes I draw with her, and other times I encourage her to go solo. Make positive comments when they bring the finished work to you, and ask questions about what is happening in their drawing. The questions can encourage story telling behaviour.
Encourage "Make Believe" Play
Whatever happened to allowing children to make believe? As if their parents never day dream about what it would be like if ...
When my daughter was young, she had a child sized table and 4 chairs. That was a focal point for so many "play house" sessions with her friends. In one case, they were not just playing house, they were playing work as well. My daughter's chosen career was librarian (she was a reader at a young age) and she would read stories to the others.
Read Them Stories
When my children were pre-school I would read them stories as often as I could. Not only did I read the story, but I would also add voice inflections. If it was some kind of a negative character talking, I would lower my voice and try to sound like a bad guy. If it was a lady in the story, I would raise my voice to a higher pitch. My daughters loved it, and we would also discuss the characters from the story, trying to describe them, and their surroundings. This can then lead to the drawings I mentioned earlier. They may even play out the story in their make believe play times.
More ...
Those five (5) are just a starting point. Give your children a variety of experiences. Don't just buy an educational video for them, get them out into the world. Sure it takes time, but who said parenting would be easy. There will be amazing positive benefits from an increased imagination. One of the resources below suggests a few of the benefits.
Here are some further resources.
