Imaginary Play: Ocean Diving

Today we did some imaginary play during our Structured Play time! I love that Jacob can use his imagination! Through my experience teaching, I saw child after child that did not know how to pretend! I remember spending day after day pretending as a child and when I met kids that didn't or couldn't it made me so sad! I started thinking of why they were not able to play! Now I know that it comes down to modeling behavior. My mom sat on the floor with us and played, she showed us how to play and how to pretend at a very early age. Then we were able to pretend for the rest of our lives!

Jake has already mastered the skill! Today when we started playing he picked it up without a hesitation! I cut out fish from foam and placed them on the floor with a blanket over them. I told Jake we were going to dive under the water and catch fish. I modeled for him how to do it, pretending to swim under the blanket then picking up a fish and coming out.

I told him to try! He loved it and 'jumped' right in! He caught his fish and was proud of himself! We took turns diving and catching fish. When we caught all of the fish Jake did not want to stop and went to get the fish off of our Story Board. He took them down put them on the floor and covered them with the blanket. I just watched what he was doing, when he was finished he pointed at the blanket and said, "water." Then he dove under and caught a fish. He knew exactly what we were doing and continued pretending without my help.

He added the fish to his pile of caught fish and went back to work! The imaginary play activities are some of my favorite activities we do during Structured Play because I see so much in him during this time!

*He takes turns without me prompting him to do so

*He makes neat little piles

*He can mimic an act after a short demonstration

*He loves playing!

All of these are things that I see everyday but sometimes just don't take the time to notice!

Spend some time using your imagination today!

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