Boost Your Child’s Creativity With These 5 At-Home Materials
Free play doesn’t require any special or fancy materials …
In the last article titled ‘3 Effects of Lack of Play in Children,’ I talked about how free play does not require any organised activities or pre-determined outcomes. Based on the comments from some of you, I am happy to debunk the myth that playing needs commercially purchased toys or games. That could confuse some parents — so, if not toys or games or organized activities, what can children play with?
Materials for play can be easily found at home. The purpose is to give children a launchpad for their creativity, and then let them take the lead. When these are natural materials, their varied colours, texture, sizes etc. facilitate sensory play.
Here are 5 easily available items at home that children can begin to play with to boost their imagination and creativity:
1. Elements from Nature: Twigs, Branches, Leaves, Flowers, Large Seed Pods, Feathers
These easily accessible items make for great play material. Ensuring that the logs and branches are cut up into smaller pieces and removing any thorns is a must before handing these to children. These can have various uses for children, according to Petite Journey, such as:
Create a sensory treasure tray for younger children to begin exploring using their sense of touch, smell, vision while developing their motor skills.
Make an outdoor or indoor fairy garden where children combine imaginative play with natural materials.
Paint with nature brushes (twigs with dry leaves attached, collages using flower petals, paint with vegetables and fruit).
2. Cardboard and Paper:
These are a no-brainer. Children engage with paper using crayons, markers, chalk, etc. Pieces of cardboard can be used to build forts, paint on, turn them into a cosy nook or as a backdrop for a game etc.
Remember though that these ideas about what to ultimately do with the material should not be imposed on children. As parents, we need to simply provide them with these items to use as they wish as long as it is not a safety or health hazard.
3. Packaging Materials:
We often discard packaging material such as boxes, wrapping paper, styrofoam, ribbons etc. without a second thought. But these can make for wonderful play material.
Look around the house — do you have any spare boxes, packages from Amazon or a wedding card box or a waste jewellery box etc.? Next time, you can save these and hand them to your children. You will be surprised by how children can mould some of these into interesting objects.
At Learning Matters, we have seen children use all sorts of creative ideas as they explore their imagination. Boxes are painted on, used to glue different types of sensory materials like textured paper, pom poms, old buttons etc., turned into haunted houses etc.
4. Fabric or Pieces of Clothing:
Once again, fabric ranges widely in variety. One can easily find different materials of fabric such as chiffon, velvet, satin, silk etc. and an assortment of colours. Find pieces of clothing in the house that are no longer in use. It could be a cut-out bedsheet or a piece of saree or simply an old table cloth.
Allow children the independence to play with these items. They
might want to paint on fabric, use small cut pieces of fabric for decoration, wash fabrics with soap and water, or enjoy dressing up their teddy or dolls with old t-shirts or skirts!
5. Bowls and Spoons:
Sound is an equally important sensory experience for children. Ensure you give them material that makes different sounds. This could be spoons and bowls or any other kitchen items such as beads in an empty salt cellar.
Similarly, cups and thread can be used in the age-old experiment to show children how sound can be transmitted.
Conclusion:
The important thing to remember is that play does not require store-bought expensive toys. Children can learn much more through everyday household items. And as parents or educators, don’t limit yourself to the ones mentioned above.
A thorough look around the house will lead to many materials children can play with. Use your creativity and then, once children have access to this playing material, watch their creativity unfold.
