When I was a child I loved imaginative play. I played House
and I had a little desk I would pretend to go to school. Any kind of game that
would allow me and my friends to make up scripts as we went along was my
favorite game.
me and my Barbies Barbie dolls were my toy of choice. I had tubs of Barbie stuff, houses, outfits, cars, McDonald's, and of course, the actual dolls. I used to do their hair and act out whatever I was thinking about that day.
I used to play Dress Up. I still have all my old dress up
clothes that I hope to play with my niece and my future children. Things I’ve
collected through the years: old dance costumes, bridesmaid dresses, an old
chef uniform from high school, etc. I
have a picture of me at our local children’s museum, in an old dress and
playing on the stage. When I was
applying to college I was offered a theater scholarship. I doubt that would
have happened had I not been able to explore through dramatic play.
Me in the leaves
Children's Museum
Me in the leavesMy dad used to play with me whenever I wanted. There are many things we did together. I would do his hair. He would let me clip a towel on his head so I could give him a ponytail. We also played what has affectionately become known as Diving Board. This was an elaborate set up followed by me jumping on my Dad. He would be sitting on the couch and I would come over to him and act like I was being really nice, tucking him a blanket and putting pillows around him. Obviously he could see right through this and knew what was coming but he played along. My brother says that there were many steps to Diving Board but it always ended the same. I would “surprise” my dad by diving onto him. Thankfully I didn’t weigh that much.
As you can tell I lived in my imagination.
I like to think this has been a good thing in
my life. Now this isn’t one of those - things
were so much better when I was your age - tales. I had computer games and
VHS tapes and cd’s and other assorted “modern” technologies.
But to me, these things helped fuel my imaginative play. I watched The Mighty Ducks and then when I was rollerblading the next day I would pretend to be a hockey player. I listened to the radio and then tried to make up my own songs, one of which is written down and is called “Universe Man”. I won’t sing it for you because you can’t hear me.
From what I see around me, I think play is basically the same but with different tools. Children in my class still want to wear hats and play with purses and act like they are going shopping. My cousin is in elementary school and he plays with a family iPad. He loves Star Wars. He has a toy light saber and he pretends to be a Jedi. So what? I like to think that sometimes children need a starting point. How can we expect children to imagine things if they have never seen anything before?
