Pretend Play and Dress Up Encourages Imaginative Play

Written by Valerie Giles


A child’s imagination is something to be encouraged and treasured. Young children learn many skills through imagination, from independent play, interactive play, language and cognitive skills to name a few. Pretend play and dress up are wonderful ways to allow your child to dream and act out all sorts of fun adventures.

There are a wide variety of excellent toys available to enhance their imaginative experiences some of which include; cooking and baking toys, dress-up costumes, gardening toys, housekeeping toys, money and banking sets, spy gadgetry toys, tools and puppets.

Your child probably watches you preparing and cooking meals everyday. There are many cooking and baking toys available that allow your child to have hours of entertainment. Some ofrepparttar wonderful toys manufactured are; picnic baskets (complete with play bread, cheese, lettuce, hot dog and bun, ketchup, corn onrepparttar 144835 cob etc.), bakery sets, plastic food sets, a wide variety of tea pot sets, pots and pans, dinnerware sets (complete with plates, utensils, bowls and cups) and coffee sets. It’s easy for your child to set up their own little imaginary kitchen with ovens that actually bake cookies, working mini refrigerators, plastic refrigerators, microwaves, stoves, barbecue’s and toasters. Little shopping markets complete with plastic store items and cash registers can be purchased, along with gum ball machines and sno-cone machines,repparttar 144836 list really is endless.

Dress up play is a favorite among all ages of children, whether it’s dressing up in dad’s baseball uniform or having fun with mom’s closet. There is a great variety of all sorts of different types of costumes, masks and accessories for children to select from. Costumes come in designs such as fireman and police uniforms, doctor and veterinarian uniforms, engineer suits, magic hats with cape and gloves, dresses, waitress outfits, cherubs, devils, witches, ballerina and popular character suits with capes and muscle chests to name a few. Great accessories such as crowns, tiara sets, ninja swords, light sabers, cowboy hats, purses complete with keys and cell phones, doctor and medical kits and magic kits can be found. Dress up play allows your child to use their imagination in a fun way through role play and acting out adventures.

For allrepparttar 144837 young outdoor landscaping enthusiasts there are wonderful gardening tools and accessories available. Little wheelbarrows are made in plastic and metal designs (tiny metal designs look and work as well asrepparttar 144838 adult counterparts), both helpful at removing dirt, weeds and gravel aroundrepparttar 144839 yard. Metal and plastic gardening pails, watering cans, mini gardening sets (complete with mini rake, shovel and trowels), gardening aprons, gardening totes with seeds (mini rake, shovel, trowel and pail), gardening rakes, shovels and gardening gloves can also be purchased. Other adorable gardening sets include planters, seeds and tiny fairy cottages ready for planting around.

Probablyrepparttar 144840 only time your child will enjoy housekeeping is when they are young. Most children seem to love helping out mom or dad with cleaning and simple household chores. With this said you’ll find many housekeeping toys to keep your child busy and entertained for hours on end. Vacuums, cleaning sets (complete with broom, mops, gloves and pails), talking irons and ironing boards, working sewing machines and clothes washers are a few ofrepparttar 144841 items to be found.

Save Money & Time... Plan Home Decorating Projects

Written by Bonnie P. Carrier


Why is planning home decorating projects important? Let’s start by askingrepparttar following question.

What dorepparttar 144834 following have in common? 1) Boxes of odds & ends collecting dust inrepparttar 144835 basement

2) Bags of discarded curtains, bedspreads and pillows inrepparttar 144836 attic

3) Half empty paint cans stacked against a wall inrepparttar 144837 garage

It could mean you have a hard time parting with anything, however, in this case all these point to decorating attempts gone astray.

Let me continue with a short story: “The Discovery” Once upon a time there was a very cluttered basement. Overrepparttar 144838 yearsrepparttar 144839 occupants ofrepparttar 144840 home had done nothing but toss things down there.

When it finally became obvious thatrepparttar 144841 only way to get from one side torepparttar 144842 other was withrepparttar 144843 use of a road map, Mom decided it was time to clean house.

As she began going throughrepparttar 144844 numerous boxes and after opening an infinite number of storage bags, she began to realize that one particular phrase was continually being repeated, “Why did I buy this”.

After what seemed like an eternity inrepparttar 144845 basement, she moved on to check other parts ofrepparttar 144846 house.

What she discovered probably could have been used in a Steven King novel,repparttar 144847 abandoned items inrepparttar 144848 basement has multiplied and had taken up residence in every out ofrepparttar 144849 way space they could find.

There were signs of them in allrepparttar 144850 closets, cupboards, underrepparttar 144851 beds even inrepparttar 144852 garage.

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