Imaginative play ideas for toddlers/preschoolers

From the thread about the glut of toys taking over so many of our households, I thought I'd ask for everyone else's great ideas for less toys and more imagination.

What does your child play with that doesn't use batteries and encourages them to use their imagination?

I'll go first:

1. DD played outside this morning with a tub half full of water, a toy teapot and a couple of ducks from her bath. I have no idea what she was doing out there, but it involved some sitting in the water and some not!

2. DD loves boxes, she currently has two very large boxes that are covered in drawings and stuck on bits of paper that constitute her 'caravans'. She fills them with blankets and bits of material, creating beds, etc. We also got a set of wheels that attaches to the side of any box and that's turned boxes into wagons and a bus!

3. One of her favourite things to do is to do 'craft'. She has a box that I fill with torn out pages from magazines, old toilet rolls, bits and pieces (the end of the alfoil roll, odd scraps of material, feathers, etc), glue, scissors, stickytape and paper. She will amuse herself for ages designing and building her creations!

4. Her dress up box, which is mostly full of old hats, bags, costume jewellery, old clothes and some different helmets/hats (which I did buy).

When she was little she also loved a tin of different coloured bottle tops that I collected (she still gets it out sometimes - mostly it's for 'food' and 'money'). I also cleaned and kept different containers and tins (saved from recycling bin!) that she loved to play with.

DD2 has a soft cotton square scarf - it's about 60cm x 60cm - in bright gypsy-type colours. She dances with it, it's wings, it's princess dress, it's something to hide under, a blanket for dolly, etc - it entertains her for hours.

In fact it was a handmedown from DD1 who had it when she was about 2 yo - and she played with it just as much, and for years. Best $3 I ever spent at the op shop. :)

1. DD1 has our washing machine box with a hole cut in the side as a window, she takes all sorts of things in there and hides.

2. a potato and a big bucket of water, was the funniest thing i have ever seen, she spent 2hrs coming and going from this, throwing the potato in the bucket to make the water splash, was in front of MIL who bought her quite a few cheap plastic toys for x-mas and she laughed about how she doesn't play with them :rofl:

3. Not for everyone but our DOGS... yep she will chase them for ages, if she goes to far they round her up, she follows them into the paddock, spends hours trying to hand feed them.

Messy play. Anything like sand, goop, playdough, slime, water, mud.....all of the messy stuff. Put the kids outside with it and let them loose. Mine will find sticks, leaves, stones, anything laying around to add to it to extend it.

When I cook sometimes, I give the kids some rice and measuring cups/spoons ect to play with. Or flour and water in separate containers for them to mix together. It will keep them entertained for ages! And they learn so much from this sort of play- maths concepts (measuring...), science concepts (wet/dry mixtures...), language (discussing what they're doing...), imaginitive play. And above all else, it is stuff you have in the house and it is non toxic, edible and FUN!!! Yes it is messy, but cleaning is easy when you know how much they gain from it. Plus the kids love to help clean up too!

(BTW, I have recipes for playdough, goop and slime if anyone wants them.)

My 3 yr old will tie one of my scarfs loosley around my 2yr olds neck, and pretend she's walking her doggy/pussy cat/lamb......:o

DD#3 will go in her room, shut the door, DD#2 will go in her room and shut the door...and they then pretend to go visiting...and knock on each others door and pretend its their home.....:o

DD is easily occupied in the backyard with a bucket, spade and the lemon tree. She walks around collecting all the lemons that have fallen off the tree, filling the bucket with them, balancing them on the spade, rolling them down her slide... She also like throwing them in the paddling pool and seeing how big she can make the splash! :D

When I am cooking she has a game where she stands next to me and plays with the salt and pepper shakers and herb jars that are on the bench. Usually they are a family and go out for a picnic on the teatowel :lol:

DD loves to put an old hand bag over her arm, a big floppy hat on, a pair of shoes and fill the washing basket with 'stuff' and push it round the house....she tells me she is going to the shops! This takes a good few hours.

We love water play....i have one of those high chairs your attach to the table and she will sit there for hours on the balcony with a few jugs of water and different jars, cups and pots and tip water from on place to another...then all over her self, perfect for a hot day!

Like i said in the other thread, cooking is the new fave thing....and she asks to do it every day, starting to run out of things to cook!!! We have a herb garden and we pick some herbs and then make a quiche or a pie or a cake...she likes to help measure, weigh, crack eggs...although i have to pick all the bits of shell out, and taste everything as it goes in! It so much fun, then we spend the next how ever long sitting at the oven door watching it!! then eating it ofcourse!

When its not too hot we make a den/cubby in the house with blankets etc, fill it with teddies and have lunch in there and read. When DP gets involved it tends to get a bit extream, last time our entire front room was a big tent, like a maze around the chairs and sofa with blankets, secret doors and teddies in all corners, took me hours to put back to normal, but was the best fun!

We tend to go out ALOT....we all get a bit cabin feverish if we stay home to much....DD loves to go to the super market so i tend to leave a few things off my list so we can go to the shops a few times a week. She likes to pick the fruit and stuff of the shelves.

Painting things outside with water
Playing cafe's/pretend tea parties/picnics with the plastics cupboard
Making up dances

DD loves her tea set.. makes everyone cakes and cups of tea asnd dinner, when im cooking she raids the draws and cooks aswell stealing boxes and jars out of the recycling bin lol

water is fun. the trampolene with some cars becomes fun for hours, picnics etc..

playdough..
cleaning, she will "clean" all day

Great thread!! Been feeling sad my little girl is growing up so fast, but look at what I have to look forward to! These posts are sooooo cute!

Silk scarves have provided the best play- they are sarongs for DD, wraps for dolly, bed linen, veils, wings, 'rivers' for DD to swim in- it goes on and on!
Also, DH picked up a roadside branch, sawed off pieces of diff sizes and sanded them. Well!! These have become people, plates and cups, playground equipment, animals, fences, chairs for small toys etc etc And completely free!
DD also loves her real (from the Salvos) muffin tins, cake tins, spoons, sieves etc in her sand pit.

My little one is only 9 months old but she's obsessed with the empty pawpaw ointment tub i washed out. She'd grab the full one and drop it on her face during change time so I saved an empty one for this purpose. After change time she'll roll it around the floor for a good 20 mins and then slug around after it. She also likes tea towels and will rub them against her face and pile her blocks into them like a sack.

I mentioned in the other thread that DD has been playing with a cardbox quite a lot recently. Today, she was sat in it with her 4 night time teddies for ages.

She's beginning to get into the tea set and ideas of tea parties, and she loves the blocks/duplo - in fact, I think the duplo is one of her most requested toys.

She loves play dough - I have a great home made recipe, which keeps really well.

I haven't tried cooking or craft yet, but probably will before long. Love some of the ideas from the slightly older toddlers!

Great thread! I've noticed that alot of the replies are from those with girls...those with boys, do you find they play different or the same?

My boy loves the messy play, but does play differently to DD. He loves the mud messy play more than the painting and playdough. DD will play with dough (and has done so for a year or so) for up to an hour or sometimes even more! Where as DS will play with it but for about 20-30mins. DS loves to drive his cars in nannys garden through puddles and stuff like that, and DD will play with the mud with cups and pots and stuff like that.

Another great idea for older kids is to give them some nails and off cuts of wood and building things to create with. They can then paint it after they build it. I remember making 'bird feeders' (a post of wood with a platform to put a bowl of food/water on,lol!) when I was about 7ish with a little help from dad. I painted them and decorated them with glitter or beads, or sparkles or whatever we had.