Pretend Play

It always amazes me to watch my children's imaginations take control.  My son who is now 8 has been playing what we call, "space boy" since he's been about 2 years old.  He just runs around the house pretending to be attacked or invaded by aliens or spacemen or whatever his mind conjures up.  My daughter who is 3.5 pretends daily to be a Princess and I her Queen!  She puts on a crown, jewelry and then gracefully prances around the house in her princess dress.  In the next moment she is "Pirate Tiffany" and I am "Pirate Mommy" and we are searching for treasure.  It makes me smile to write this as I think about the fun they are having in addition to all the benefits pretend play offers them.

The other day my daughter asked me to build a castle with her using her blocks.  We built the castle together and then she asked for her basket of princesses.  As I was going about my business I would occasionally check in to see how she was doing.  What I found was this......

I should mention both of my children LOVE Disney World and we are planning our 3rd visit in a few months.  Apparently, my daughter decided to line up all of her Disney Princesses and then invite her other 'friends' for a meet and greet.  She included Sesame Street figures, other Disney characters, Dora even some of her brother's Pokemon figures.

She put her figures in a line in front of the Princess they wanted to meet.  She told me that Minnie wanted to meet Sleeping Beauty and that all of the others had to wait their turn in line.  She would even tell them when they had enough time and moved her figures to another line to meet a different Princess.  Hmmm, hopefully this might help her learn some patience when we are standing in line waiting for our real meet and greet in just a few months!

Like I said I am always amazed at imaginative play.  Most of the time I am the one planning for and thinking up the next activity or craft but nothing compares to the activity of pretend play that is thought up strictly by the child!