Let's encourage "pretend play".

Salam to all,
                When my eldest daughter turned four, I started to notice that she pretended to be someone else or something. She talked to her soft toys; doll and the bears and pretended to be the mom. And now, her little sister has started to join in and they usually had nice time in their pretend play.
(well, there were times when they bickered, shouting or hitting each other. I guess that's normal)

                 I've never been educated in the pre-school education but I had some experiences teaching
in a kindergarten when I was a student in UKM. I remember that I loved to bring my little soft toys to the class and the children can't wait to play with the toys. I used the toys as their rewards if they listenedto me and finished their writing in their workbook.(provided by their class teacher). They loved to use the toys in their pretend play.

                So, what have I done to encourage my daughters the "pretend play"? The playcentre has
helped me with heaps of ideas since there are so many interesting materials that I never thought could be used in children play.

Here are some ideas for the "pretend play":

• Keep some clean rubbish like egg cartons, cardboard, tissue boxes etc.

         -they can use those things as their home appliances like Fathini used an egg carton to be her
          stove top.

• Give them your old clothes, scarves, hats, table cloth etc.

        -they can become someone by using the clothes like becoming a superhero by tying an old scarf
         on the neck.

• Give them dolls, stuffed animals.

       -they can become doctors or vets by checking on their dolls or stuffed animals.

• Give them shopping bags, bagpacks or any kind of bags.

        -they can pretend to go shopping, go to school with the bagpacks or just going out somewhere
         by using different bags.

• Give them unused lunchboxes, containers, dishes etc.

        -they can use the containers to pretend having a picnic, cooking or any other thing.

• Use any furniture in your house to be a ship, a car, a plane etc.

        -they love it more if you can join them and pretend to be in a journey with them!


Would you like to know the benefits of "pretend play"?

1. It helps our children to be creative. (promote thinking skills)

         Their brain is definitely has to work when they are pretending to be someone or something.
         We can help by asking open ended questions to challenge them to think more. We can also
         say "what about....., how about.... or what if......"
  
    2. It helps our children in developing their language skills.
   
       When they are pretending, they have to talk in a certain ways and you might be surprised
        to hear what they've picked up from you!

    3. It helps our children in building their social and emotional skills.

        They learn to play certain roles when they are pretending. Socially they know that everyone
        has their own function in the society. They would definitely learn about other children feelings
        when they have to take turns or share some responsibilities in when they are pretending.

 I hope that this entry would give some ideas to those who are reading this. I'm just glad to share
the things that I've learnt theoretically and practically from the playcentre and also from my own experiences dealing with my two princesses.