Imaginative games and activities
Dressing up
Any old clothes can be used for dressing up; it doesn’t matter
if they don’t fit! Scraps of material are also useful as they can
be whatever a child wants them to be. Accessories are also
important - old beads, hats and makeup.
Why not try making masks or headdresses out of paper plates,
card or paper and decorate them with feathers, sequins, material,
leaves and anything else you can find!
- Old nighties (they make great princess outfits)
- Hats of any kind (pretty essential)
- Jewellery, beads, bracelets, chains, brooches, glasses,
masks
- Anything with feathers, fake fur or tassels on
- Large pieces of scrap material
- Old cushions for stuffing inside your costume to change your
shape
- Bedspreads, blankets and sheets
- Sparkly, shiny clothes, fairy wings and wands
- Wet-weather gear
- Umbrellas, walking sticks, plastic swords
- Headscarves, woolly scarves
- Ribbons, belts, ties
- Old shoes and boots, clippy-cloppy shoes (essential)
- Old make-up.
Cat
walk
Play this just before recycling day when there is plenty of
newspaper lying around the house - you will need lots of it.
The aim of the game is to design and make a piece of clothing
out of nothing but newspaper and Sellotape. You will also need a
willing model who must be prepared to stand still for a few minutes
and parade up and down a catwalk showing off your creations.
When you are happy with the finished product, put on some loud
music and ask your glamorous model to mess up their hair and
swagger up and down the room with lips pouting and hands on their
hips. A pair of oversized high heels can often help the model
perfect their walk. Take plenty of pictures with a flash camera and
remember to do lots of air-kissing, telling everyone how fabulous
they look, darling.
Hand
shadows
Position a lamp or a torch so that it lights up an empty wall.
Put your hands in front of it in various positions and experiment
with the shadows you can make. Don't just stick to the usual bird
flapping its wings or rabbit with two long ears. Move your fingers
and arms into different shapes and you will soon find yourself with
tarantulas, pigs, snails, witches with hooky noses, and
rabbits.
Bash bash
bash
Take one wooden spoon, one pan and a child. Turn the pan upside
down, give the spoon to your child and encourage them to get
bashing. A lovely, noisy pastime that will keep them going for
ages.
Big box
There's not a lot of things that are more exciting to a child
than a big box. And we mean a BIG box - tall enough for them to
stand up in.
Children will love to decorate the box for hours and hours,
drawing chimneys, smoke, climbing roses, Santa Claus, bricks,
graffiti and garden fences. Once the outside is finished, there's
always the inside to decorate too. Pictures and photos can be stuck
on to walls, a rough square shape drawn on for the TV, bedrooms can
be coloured in either bright pink or dinosaur green, and a cushion
shoved inside to make life in the house more comfortable.
Children will knock on the door, leave visiting toys on the
porch, post letters through a letterbox, be the tea delivery man
bringing snacks to enjoy in their house and have plenty of passing
conversations through windows. Days of enjoyment guaranteed.
Homemade
band
The more people there are to play this, then the noisier and
merrier it becomes, but you can easily play it by yourself and,
what's more, you don't have to be even remotely musical.
Take a little look around the house and you will be amazed at
how many musical instruments can be created. Here are a few
examples:
- Put a handful of dried beans into a jar or empty plastic
bottle, replace the lid and shake to and fro in a groovy way.
Instant homemade maracas!
- Take a wine glass with a stem. Put a bit of water in it and
then run a wet finger around the rim, holding onto the base with
your other hand. You may need to experiment with the speed and the
pressure that you use in order to elicit a ringing note. You can
line up lots of glasses next to each other, each with different
amounts of water in them and see if you can play an actual
tune.
- Find an empty bottle and place it just below your lips. Then
blow in a gentle, slightly peculiar way, top lip a bit more sticky
out then the bottom one. Different shaped bottles will make
different notes, and you can also fill bottles with varying amounts
of water to alter the note.
- Saucepans turned upside down make extremely good homemade drums
to be banged with wooden spoons...particularly good for very young
children. Pan lids make excellent cymbals.
- Stretch a thick elastic band over a door handle, pulling down
with one hand and plucking it with the other. The more you stretch
it, the higher the note.
- Fill a washing-up bowl with water and then take a metal
saucepan lid and hold it by the handle so that that it's vertical.
To make a wobbly sound now start tapping the lid with a metal or
wooden spoon while you dip the lid in and out of the water.
- Blow down the spout of a clean watering can. Blowing, in this
case, means making a farty noise with your mouth. The watering can
acts as a great amplifier.
- Take a rack from the oven, and then drag a metal egg whisk up
and down it.
- Try sweeping a hairbrush over a sieve.
- If you have a comb lying around you can fold a piece of
greaseproof paper over it, and then hum into it. This is a good way
of keeping the tune going.
- Gently slap your cheeks while you make an O-shape with your
mouth. As you open your mouth wider the note changes pitch.
When you have set up your band and you are all ready to go, then
decide on a song to do. Start out with something simple like 'Happy
Birthday'. Swap around so that you each get a go on different
instruments. You could put a CD on and play along with it too.
Mud pies
Find a patch of earth that hasn't been planted! Dig up some
earth with a spade or trowel and put it in a bucket or bowl. Then
add just enough water to form a thick, squelchy, sticky lump. Let
it ooze through your fingers (or toes!) and add more water or earth
until it is the right consistency to make a little cake. Flatten
and mould as you see fit, before laying it on a flat surface such
as an old plate.
As it dries in the sun, decorate it with daisies and dandelions
or sticks and stones. You can write letters on the top too, or try
to carve a drawing. Hands will get filthy during all of this, so
wash them really well before tea, using soap AND a scrubbing brush
and no complaining.
Noughts
and crosses
If you are in the park or on a patch of lawn, find four twigs of
a similar length and lay them down to form a grid for a game of
noughts and crosses. Now find some stones to use as noughts and
some leaves to use as crosses.
At the Post Office
You don't have to own a toy post office to enjoy this pretend
game. All you really need is lots of scrap paper and a few pens,
some coins and an empty box of some kind (a cereal box is ideal).
You will also need some stamps. These can be made out of sticky
labels with smiley, crowned faces drawn on them, or small squares
of coloured paper and a glue stick at the ready.
Take it in turns to be the person behind the counter and the
customer. If you are the customer, scribble a quick letter to
someone and shove into an envelope. You can either recycle old
envelopes and seal them down with tape, or create new ones using
scrap paper that has been folded in half and stapled up the sides.
Write some lines of address on the envelope and then take to the
imaginary post office.
Back to
school
Playing schools at home is very popular. The children will
decide the rules for themselves, but it’s a good idea to have some
paper, pens, pencils, a table and chairs to create that all
important learning environment!!!
Chinese whisper
Player 1 thinks up a sentence or phrase about a member of the
family. Ten words or so with something silly in it works a treat.
They whisper their sentence as quietly as possible, and once only,
into the ear of the next player. Player 2 should listen carefully,
remember the phrase as best they can and whisper it to the next
player. The game continues until the phrase has been repeated to
everyone around the table. The last person who hears it announces
out loud what they have just heard, which probably be wildly
different from the original phrase, which is revealed by player
1.
Tell a
story
It doesn't matter what it is about, it can be a fairy tale that
everyone recognises, a true story, or just something you make up as
you go along. Spooky stories that aren't really scary are always a
hit with us. As you tell the story, include lots of noisy things
that happen, and everyone else must do the sound effects.
Rainy day
den
This is perfect for days when you're stuck indoors. Get some
sheets or blankets and drape them between some sturdy chairs to
make a secret den. Encourage your little one to get involved and
help.
We put our favourite books and little toys in, along with some
cushions. Then we play peek-a-boo and hide and seek. At lunchtime
we have a rainy day picnic with our teddies in our secret den. If
you have a tunnel you can use that as your secret entrance to make
it even more fun.
Tents
There is no doubt that tents have a magical quality that give
most games or toys a new lease of life. Being able to close the
curtains, play in secret and get up to all sorts of mischief
without being disturbed will always spark the imagination.
First find a spare sheet or blanket or even an enormous dressing
gown. Then get a couple of chairs and place them a few feet apart
or find a table big enough to sit underneath. Throw the blanket
over the top and crawl inside. To ensure complete privacy, make a
sign to hang up outside that makes it very clear that this is a
secret tent and that everyone else should keep out.
If the tent feels big enough, grab a couple of pillows or
cushions to sit or lie on. They will immediately make any den feel
very cosy, and if your children are recovering from a bug, or just
feeling a bit small, it's the perfect place for a bit of quiet time
with some books. Alternatively, if everyone is in a more lively
mood, squeeze as many toys or friends that will fit in and hold a
noisy tent-warming party serving pretend cups of tea or glasses of
wine.
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Last Updated: 18.11.2010 at 12:12