Creative play is a very  important part of children’s development.

Creative play is important for your child to grow well.

Dance, music, visual arts and pretend or dramatic play can help your young child develop their senses, self-reliance, positive esteem and well-being.

Play can also be a way for your child to communicate their feelings and work on developing emotional intelligence. Toddlers and preschoolers don’t always know exactly  how to explain what they’re feeling.  Play and creative outlets can be the perfect way for a child to show you how they are dealing with feelings such as anger, sadness, worry and even happiness.

Painting, dancing, singing, crafting all can be a positive learning experience as well as a way for you to connect with your child and step into your child’s world.

Creative Play Fosters Cooperation and Understanding

When you engage with your child in creative activities you can also foster cooperation, understanding and togetherness.

Six Benefits of Creative Play for Young Children and Parents

1. An opportunity to work together: setting up and cleaning up activities can be done collaboratively
2. Learning to respecting each other’s creativity & thought processes (especially when you allow your child creative freedom)
3. Practicing how to navigate conflicts: Stay calm when paint goes flying and seek to engage with your child to problem solve
4. Autonomy for your child as they experiment with sorting, reaching, passing, measuring supplies and so on.
5. Improved communication when you use activities to work on listening, acknowledging, encouraging and appreciating your child
6. Building mutual respect for limits by being kind and clear when there are challenges such as a child painting on the walls vs painting on the paper.

Here are some creative play ideas to do with toddlers, preschoolers and school aged children to practice positive parenting and have loads of fun.

Picklebums From a former preschool teacher and mum  shares Simple water play ideas.

 Let the Children Play  celebrates the importance of play in the lives and education of our children by sharing experiences in a play-based preschool and providing inspiration, tips and information to help parents and teachers. Here is a lovely waterfall project that offers opportunities to practice cooperation.

Adventures at Home with Mum Kid friendly blog with all sorts of messy, fun and creative play ideas. This Dinosaur Egg painting activity is great for creativity, motor skills and conversation building.

Red Ted Art:One of the best websites for finding creative, playful and art based activities for children.  You can find an entire HandPrint Alphabet.

NurtureStore is packed full of creative play, activities and fun ideas, including a weekly play planner you can receive via email which is fantastic!

Foot print painting!

Making Egg Carton Bugs is simple and you can make many variations of this activity as well.

The Imagination Tree From a former primary school teacher and mom, a site full of neat ideas like coloring soap and making slime. Particularly good activities for young children.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Ariadne Brill

Coach

Ariadne is a happy and busy mama to three children. She practices peaceful, playful, responsive parenting and is passionate about all things parenting and chocolate. Ariadne has a Masters in Psychology and is a certified Positive Discipline Parenting Educator. She lives on top of a beautiful mountain with her family, and one cuddly dog.

Latest posts by Ariadne Brill (see all)

• One Word To Boost Your Child’s Self-Esteem - October 9, 2022
• How to correct your child’s ‘bad’ behaviour with positive parenting - July 4, 2022
• Child Misbehavior: Here’s How to Make Lasting Changes and Teach your Child How to Behave Better. - May 18, 2022