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Relearning How to Play Pretend Games
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Terry Daniels
Terry Daniels has a PHD in computer science and has written hundreds of articles relating to computer skills. He recommends (http://www.mlatc.edu/) for your computer classes today. computer school Utah. He has been an expert in computer science for nearly 24 years. Contact Info: Terry Daniels TerryDaniels09@gmail.com http://www.mlatc.edu

Distributed
by Content Crooner 
By Terry Daniels
Published on 01/28/2011
 
Games of pretend and make believe are critical to the growth and development of children. Too many adults have forgotten how to play these kinds of games.

There are many different activities that can be a lot of fun to do with your children. These things include baking cookies, playing checkers, flying paper airplanes, building sand castles, collecting bugs, reading books, drawing pictures, building with Lego and Linkin' Logs.

Many parents do these things with their children every day to build meaningful relationships with them. However, too many parents have forgotten the art of pretending.

Children love to pretend to be characters from storybooks and princesses from fairytales. Most parents probably pretended to princesses or noble princes when they were young as well.

The art of pretending offers many things to your children that will help them when they enter the adult world. Two of the most notable things that it has to offer your children are social skills and creativity skills.

Creativity is not enhanced by watching television or playing video games. However, it is very important that children learn how to pretend so that they can develop creative skills.

These creative skills will help them get good grades on their school projects and it will help them be successful in the work place. In addition, as they pretend with other children, they will be able to practice their social skills by talking with them and resolving problems.

If you pretend with them, they will be able to learn new words and learn how to properly speak as well. These skills will be very important in the work place and throughout life in general.

It is important that other's who work with your child also learn how to play pretend games. This will include day care personnel, nannies, preschool teachers, and so forth.

Young girls may love acting out various princess stories and they may aid their imaginations by putting on a beautiful, dress up princess dress. They may even be able to convince young boys to play the part of princes, dragons, kings, and villains.

Likewise, young boys may enjoy pretending to be police officers, firefighters, pirates, robbers, cowboys, and so forth. Numerous stories can be made up as these games continue.

If you are in the process of choosing a good daycare, be sure to ask what percentage of the day is devoted to play time. The best daycares incorporate learning into playtime, but this is not always possible.

When learning is part of playtime, the child can learn at the same pace as he or she is developing and growing. Children are natural learners as they are very curious, active, and unafraid to try new things.

However, when learning becomes dry and boring without play, they often lose their desire to learn. Play can enhance learning tremendously, particularly play that encourages the use of the imagination.

There are various things that children can do to learn while playing and each thing focuses on the development of specific skill and abilities. One of these things is singing.

Singing helps children improve their memory as when you sing, you have to remember the words to song, especially if you cannot read. New words are also often learned through new songs as well.

Likewise, singing often involves interaction with other people. Skills of imitation, rhythm, rhyme, and awareness of different parts of the body are also developed through this activity.

Play that is not dominated by one individual also helps develop problem solving social skills. For example, cooperation, sharing, taking turns, following instructions, and so forth are all skills that are learned through interaction between children.

Coloring and drawing can also be a part of pretend games as well. These things teach children how to hold a pencil, color in the lines, and to develop other artistic abilities.

Children may draw monsters or other obstacles that they have to overcome in order to enhance their pretend game. In addition, pretend games also involve physical activity, which can teach children how to use their bodies and how to get exercise.

This is very important, particularly with the rising rates of childhood obesity. The best way for an adult to enter a pretend play game is to watch it for several minutes to get an idea of what is going on.

When you more or less understand what is going on, simply ask the children "What are we playing?" Children can usually incorporate you into the game easily and so you will be working on developing all of these skills as well.

Even though you probably already have many of these skills, there is always room to get better. Pretending with your children can be a lot of fun and can take you back to the days when you made up prince and princess games yourself.