How to trigger your Child’s imagination this winter

I personally do not believe in entertaining my kids 24/7. Meanwhile, I do believe that you can trigger your child’s imagination to help teach them to entertain themselves in a healthy, “non electronic”, old fashioned way.

With that said, some kids have an amazing imagination, whilst others not so much. Me and my sister are perfect examples of this. My sister could of been found any time of the day playing with her imaginary friends for hours. I, on the other hand, was the child, when not able to go outside, was whining “but mom..I’m bored!”😂. My Mother had never read a post on how to trigger your Childs imagination but she didn’t have to, she was a pro and maybe you are too! If so, I would love to hear in the comments below what kind of “trigger” activities you use in your home. I am always on the look out for more to add to my newly growing list.

The goal of a trigger activity

The goal here, is to take a few minutes of preparation in providing your child with a trigger activity that will result in a longer period of imaginative and independent play. You want to “trigger” the imagination of your child, and teach them to use it more in the future.

I have noticed that STEM activities, hands on games, and toys that require thinking such as blocks and Legos are all awesome triggers

When you trigger your Childs imagination, you are simply giving their mind a boost of insinuative.

I have been guilty in stating that some kids have great imagination while others, like myself, just don’t have one at all, but in reality I really believe that most of us, child and adult alike, have an imagination deep down inside that God gave us. Some of us are just better at using it while others need a little initiative, myself included!

This initiative can come in many ways, for me, it may be surfing the web for craft or party ideas to get my brain rolling. I eventually come up with my own personalized ideas that were “triggered” by someone else’s. This is a good example of imaginary initiative or as I like to call a “trigger”.

For a child, imaginary insinuative may look something like some Play-Doh and cookie cutters or simple craft supplies. Just something, anything, that will trigger an idea.

Why should you trigger your Child’s imagination when they have so many toys?

You may be wondering why you should trigger your child’s imagination when they have so many toys. After living a somewhat minimalist ‘full time RV” life, I am a firm believer that most of our children have way too many toys.

Having too much of something does a couple things to our brains. First of all, it can be downright overwhelming. Think of the last time you looked around your home when it needed some cleaning out. When we have to much stuff, things get our of hand. Things begin to pile up, feel messy, and even get lost. The same goes for our children’s toy rooms. If you are interested in more on my outlook of toy many toys and how to minimize then I encourage your to read my toy posts linked below.

The second thing I have experienced with to many toys in our home, is that my kids forget what they have and cannot find what they want. Once we limited the toy bins to what they actually play with and imputed a very simple form of organization, my children play much better with their toys.

If my children play better with their toys, why am I encouraging trigger activities, right?

Because, lets be real, Most kids with a lot of toys or even less toys end up bored at some point in time. And boredom usually breeds but one thing in youngsters and that is TROUBLE.

There’s been times when shut indoors due to weather etc. that I expect my kids to use their imagination with the toys they already had and even got frustrated when the they constantly act bored or begged to turn to electronics to entertain themselves instead. That’s when I began to incorporate initiative or AKA .. trigger activities and so far, they work great for us!

I have found that trigger activities actually help my kids to play with their toys MORE. The more they use their imagination, the more it comes alive in their day to day play.

Trigger your Child’s imagination with these 14 FREE trigger activities!

Stop fighting your kid’s boredom with electronics or useless comments and try the 14 trigger activities, I have included at the bottom of this post.

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Now for your FREE starter list of trigger activities…

Yes, many of them are very simple! Simple seems to work best for these type of things. They should be cost effective and quick for me to pull together while leaving room for your Childs imagination to blossom. No more asking how to trigger your Childs imagination, lets do it!

1. Blow up some balloons!

Balloons can entertain young children for hours. Occationally we even pick up a helium baloon from dollar tree.

2. Make cards for someone.

Set out the paper and colors, Let your children use their own imagination to make someone a card.

3. Dig out the Pladough

Or make some homemade and add a new “playdough assesorie”. This could be cookie cutters, rolling pins, or even hot wheels.

4. Build a blanket fort.

Anybody need a explanation? Back to my childhood days here!

5. Set up ‘minute to win it’ style competition of any type.

The silliest things can become a competition whether aginst eachother or aginst the clock. See who can stack the most cups or blow the most pom poms across the table to the finish line the fastest.

6. Make animal mask from paper plates with very few supplies.

Don’t stop there, turn the animals into live animal actors when finished!

7. Cut snowflakes from printer paper.

This traditional fun craft can be found anywhere on the web and they are soo cute! Don’t forget to let them “decorate” with the snowflakes when finished.

8. Finger paint.

Make your own or find some in the craft section. Depending on your childs age, you may wits to monitor a little closer on this one. I prefer to put a plastic table cloth down and stay in the same room myself lol. Also, make sure your using washible paint helps!

9. Record a funny video.

Older kids love this. Making their own video with a old phone, tablet, or camera can be quite fun. Althoug this does reqire an electronic devise, if done corectly, it can still encourage creativity and even learning.

10. Make hot wheel tracks with painters tape.

My children LOVE when the painteres tape comes out! I do recomend not sticking it to wooden surfaces but besides that, it is amazing for creative play. They usually go from making hot wheel tracks to limbo bars and even mazes.

11.Make play money and set up a “store”.

After shopping once or twice yourself, leave it to them to continue the play.

12. Unroll some old Christmas wrapping paper.

Use old wrapping paper or pick up a roll of brown packing paper from dollar tree and tape it down to the table or floor with the back/blank side facing up. You now have the coolest, longest coloring book ever.

13. Turn that same long “coloring book” into a indoor hop scotch!

14. Make a paper airplane track.

Again with the long paper roll.. draw some lines and add some scores. Now you have a paper airplane racing track. Help/teach your child how to make a good paper airplane and let them have endless fun racing it down the flying track . Supply extra paper and encourage them to make different airplanes to see show far they go.

Related links and post

How to manage toys in my home?

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