7 Ways to Spark Your Child’s Imagination

The IMAGINATION is such a wonderful thing!  It is a valuable tool that helps to make anything we think about or dream possible!  It brings shape and action to our thoughts. 

One of my favorite childhood songs is “Pure Imagination” from the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  The writers of this song certainly used their IMAGINATIONS to bring shape and action to the lyrics that we still enjoy hearing and singing today:

“Hold your breath.

Make a wish.

Count to three.

Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of PURE IMAGINATION!

Take a look, and you’ll see, into your IMAGINATION.

We’ll begin, with a spin, traveling in the world of my creation.

What we’ll see will defy explanation.

If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.

Anything you want to - do it!

Want to change the world?  There’s nothing to it!

There is no life I know to compare with PURE IMAGINATION.

Living there, you’ll be free if you truly wish to be!”

(– lyrics for “Pure Imagination” from the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

IMAGINE THAT!

EVERYTHING begins with a thought.  Look around you!  What can you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell?  Whatever it is, that thing was first a thought in someone’s mind.  Then the thing took shape, it was acted upon, and it became reality.   IMAGINATION is the beginning of everything that is accomplished.

The whole world opens to you through IMAGINATION!  If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  Would you drive there, or fly, or sail, or take a train?  All these methods of transportation are now possible because someone first imagined them.  

Once you arrive wherever you imagined, would you stay in a hotel, a house, a cabin, a tent, or an RV?  All these residences began in someone’s imagination. 

Once there, what would you wear?  What would you eat?  What would you do?

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!

Can you see yourself traveling where you want to be and living where you want to live?  Did you imagine a method of transportation or a residence that has not been created yet?  Perhaps you have an idea about how to make something easier or faster to complete.  The possibilities are endless in your IMAGINATION!

There’s so much more to do when you use your IMAGINATION!  Your imagined ideas can bring joy, laughter, healing, comfort, peace, prosperity, and productivity to people all around the world! 

Imagination Helped Me Become a Children’s Book Author

For a long time, I imagined myself writing and publishing children’s books.  I had so many ideas to share with children that would make them laugh, cry, experience adventures, and even learn something new.  But I did not allow myself to believe that I could write children’s books, and I did not act on what I visualized in my imagination.

My Daddy believed that I could write and publish children’s books!  He remains my inspiration!  My Daddy repeatedly shared that I could create any book that I imagined.  He said that if I could see it in my mind, it could become a book that I could hold in my hands.  He taught me that my only limitations were my thinking and my imagination.

That’s what I want for you and your children to know and believe!

YOUR ONLY LIMITATIONS ARE YOUR THINKING AND YOUR IMAGINATION!

Your dreams and your children’s dreams can become reality!  You and your children, like Mary Poppins, can jump inside the sidewalk chalk drawing of your IMAGINATION and dance with the penguins, have a SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS adventure, or do anything that your hearts desire!  OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

Here are 7 easy ways to spark your child’s imagination:

1. Encourage

Encourage your children to pretend and play happily, imagining who they want to be, where they want to go, and what they want to do! Join them on their fun and adventurous journeys, whether real or fantastical, to IMAGINATION LAND! 

2. Listen 

Listen to and talk with your children about their play, and you will begin to hear what they truly desire to do and to be.  

3. Share

Share books with your children that talk about that which they love and enjoy. 

4. Go on Adventures

Take your children to places that share what they want to do or to be.  

5. Watch YouTube

Share YouTube videos with your children that show the places and things they love and enjoy. Let their imaginations inspire them to dream without limitations!  

6. Write

Write down the stories that your children share and let them dress up, act out, and pretend their stories are real.  

7. Draw a Picture

Encourage your children to DREAM BIG and support them in their creativity.  Let them draw a picture of what they see in their imagination or find pictures in magazines that show what they desire to be or do.

What your children imagine can truly be what they become in real life!  They, and you, can experience a dream fulfilled!

This acronym for IMAGINATION says it all.  I Make A Great Image Now About Things I Obtain Next.  Keep making those great images in your mind about what you want to obtain next!  Repeat this process often.  Eventually, you will be able to see farther than your eyes can look, and you will have whatever you IMAGINE!

All the very best to you and your children!