Posts Tagged ‘Pretend Play’
Are your kids crazy for Star Wars? It is just creeping in to our house but it’s taken over playtime at some friends’ house . With an upcoming play date I knew I had to turn the extra bubble wands from my daughter’s birthday party into some bubble wand lightsabers . This would be a great craft for a Star Wars themed birthday party. My son was happily playing batman and politely declined playing with the finished craft because ” Batman doesn’t play with lightsabers mom.” Oh how silly of me.
- Gather your materials. You will need an empty bubble wand, black duct or electrical tape, a silver pipe cleaner and a round sticker/ label.
- Start by taking the wand out of the handle, throw it away or recycle it if you are able to.
- Next wrap the silver pipe cleaner around the handle.
- Add tape, make sure to secure the ends of the pipe cleaner under a few layers of tape.
- Repeat on the other side.
- Add the circle label.
Ready to play …just not with Batman
My mom returned from an Alaskan cruise with this super cool mining hat for my son and I knew I wanted to use it as a prop for an activity. He is all about pretend play and dress up The same way I use super heroes to get him excited to write I used this new hat for this fun sensory activity. Even though we used magnets you could do this with pinchers , a small scoop or just wee little hands! Older kids ready for magnets though will love how the wand helps them mine for the ” diamonds”.
- Gather your materials. You will need some dried beans , lentils or rice, a container, a magnetic wand with steel ringed chips or marbles .
- Pour the dried beans/ rice in the container. A lot of parents email me saying that they are shocked that their 4-7 year olds still like sensory bins. I am not surprised in the least. Especially when you have them help make them and there is a little task involved ( though never required!).
- Add the magnetic chips – we were pretending they were diamonds.
- Start mining. Count, sort do whatever you want with the treasures you mine.
- The only thing you must do is have fun!
Book
Mole Music
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My son is all about pretend play and we had so much fun yesterday mixing art and pretend playtime as we played Pizza Parlor. I hope this post shows how low key pretend play can be and still be fun . I know that sometimes pretend play can be hard for some parents to get into but when you play scenarios like this one it’s easy to be a customer and the play helps kids try on different roles, get comfy with social interactions and be in control of things they are normally not.
- Gather your materials. You will need some paper plates, sticky back foam, crayons and scissors for the pizzas. The extra props like the pizza box came from our local store and the oven was made from a box, a marker , a sheet of construction paper and tape.
- Start by cutting or having your child cut the foam into pizza toppings. We made pineapple, peperoni, green peppers and olives.
- I made the oven by flipping a box over, cutting one side out and adding some buttons and clock on a sheet of construction paper and taping it on.
- First call in the order
- Start making some pizza – my son started by throwing the dough.
- Add the sauce with crayons.
- Add the toppings.
- Pop it in the oven!
- Into the box and into the delivery car.
We played for a long time calling in different types of pizzas. He never made me pay for my orders saying pizza was free every Monday, Tuesday and all weekend. Now that is my kind of pizza!
Book
Pizza at Sally’s
This was not a planned activity, I went to the dollar store to grab some Easter Candy for a hunt my son’s school organizes and as I left the car he asked for a treat ( don’t worry I don’t leave him in there alone , his dad and sleeping sister were there too!) He’d been asking for a batman belt since we’d gotten him some PJs with a cape so I figured I’d gather some things to make a utility belt. The mask… well that was an after thought. It’s not my finest craft but it is the most used. He takes it off for baths and bed as well as church and school. That’s it. Not bad for a pair of undies!
The Belt
- Gather your materials. You will need a belt , some cell phone belt clips from the dollar store, flashing reflectors ( Bat-Signal) and a pedometer( Bat-Communicator) , both from the dollar store as well. Everything I bought had belt clips so it was easy on and off.
- Attach everything.
- Fill the belt with useful bat-tools.
- Try it on to make sure it fits.
Mask
I really didn’t think that I’d post this but seriously it’s on him all.the.time ( see the collection of pictures below).
- Gather your materials. You will need a pair of spandex undies , 3 hair ties, and scissors.
- Gather some of the bum fabric on either side of the leg holes in the elastics to make bat-ears.
- Cut eye holes just above the waist band. I did nothing special , they aren’t reinforced and so far not an issue.
- Gather the extra fabric in the back with the third elastic.
- Wear it daily for weeks.
Batman Books
Batman: The Story of the Dark Knight
Batman Classic: Meet the Super Heroes: With Superman and Wonder Woman 
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Dressing up is a must at our house. My son is never just chilling in his own clothes there is almost always a costume, some accessories or at the very least a hat to support his pretend play that starts when he wakes up and ends when we wrestle him into his PJs for bed. This craft was done spur of the moment when my scarf wrapped around his shoulders was simply not enough costume to be a superhero. It was so easy and if you don’t have foam on hand , felt, paper or even stickers would be great options. The foam has held up really well , we made this almost a month ago and it’s still going strong.
- Gather your materials. You will need a toilet paper roll ( or wrapping paper / paper towel tube ), some paint , sparkly sticky back foam ( great option for those afraid of letting your kids loose with glitter shakers), scissors and a paint brush.
- Start by cutting some buttons out of the foam. I asked my son what shapes he wanted but did the cutting myself.
- Next cut the roll open. Round the edges with scissors.
- Add the foam. When making props to play with skipping things that need to be glued on is usually a safe way to go. Also anything they have to peel the backing off is a great fine motor skill activity so it’s fast and worthwhile!
- Add paint – this is optional. We chose to paint after the foam because sticking the foam on wet paint is futile and painting around the shapes is another good fire motor skill activity as well as hand eye coordination which is your child is a beginning writer like mine they will benefit from as much pressure free practice as possible.
- Let dry … a little tip I use sometimes when I need things to dry faster for pictures … or eager kids who want to play superhero before bedtime( can you tell he was crying in the picture above? The tears were instantaneous when I told him he’d have to wait for the paint to dry.) Take some paper towel and blot the paint. If you are careful only the excess comes off.
- Play!
Superhero Picture Books
Super Duck (Duck in the Truck)
Supersister
Eliot Jones, Midnight Superhero
