The importance of play

POD has the most wonderful imagination and I love her attitude to play. She can often be heard chatting away to her ‘friends’ and it’s great to hear even if she should be asleep! Baby Annabell is a firm favourite and POD is lucky that one of her grandmas has made a whole host of clothes for her. Baby Annabell’s outfits are shared among POD’s other dollies although on occasions teddies have been spotted donning woolly dresses and pretty bonnets!

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Indoor picnics see POD as the ‘Mummy’ with a selection of friends joining her around the table. A blanket is used as a tablecloth, the table set with teacups, sauces and an interesting combination of plastic food. Asparagus, egg and carrots is usually favoured along with cake. Baby Annabell is usually being bottle fed at this point or being rocked to sleep.

POD’s dollies are currently sporting ‘power hair bands’ around their foreheads to ward off any monsters. Quite apt given she had a dream this week about Daddy stealing sweets from pirates (although it was alright because he got rescued!).

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POD is also a huge fan of Playmobil so many a BBQ takes place before POD’s lights go off. POD will sit all the ‘peoples’ on chairs and chat away to them while she prepares their sausages. Once they’re done, it’s inside they go where they take off their shoes and get ready for bed.

I adore how everything POD plays with has a role to play and a name. She had a dolly named Boadicea and a unicorn called ‘donkey’ at the moment – the horn wasn’t discovered on the latter for a while.

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The great outdoors is the best playground anyone could ever ask for and we’re lucky we really are spoilt for choice in Surrey. There are trees to climb, animals to spot and insects to discover. Similarly at the beach there are sandcastles to build, shells to collect and the sea to paddle in.

Making your own entertainment is the best form of play and we were lucky enough to witness POD doing a spot of impromptu dancing recently.

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She had spent a few days with her grandparents in Suffolk when she finished at pre-school. There she got to do all kinds of fun things like going to the zoo and crab fishing (not at the same time I might add!). The day we arrived we were treated to POD doing a spot of flamenco dancing complete with castanets.

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Little did we know how much effort she’d put into it once she got going! I’m so grateful I already had my camera in my hand and was able to capture it all, she was just brilliant. It just goes to show, you really don’t need very much to totally appreciate play – in whatever form it may take!

Who knew she was able to stand on tippy tip toes like this or wave her fan like a pro! One thing’s for certain, there’s definitely a little performer in our midst!

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Those three and a half years at pre-school and reading from a very young age have no doubt done wonders for POD. Not only does she have the most fantastic imagination (we have dragon feet on our bath!), she’s creative, confident and has excellent communication skills. She’s also incredibly happy.

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Joining in with Mum Turned Mom for #ThePrompt which this week is “It is a happy talent to know how to play” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

mumturnedmom

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  • Sonia August 26, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    I just love watching kids play, just no interaction for technology and sitting back and watching them use their imaginations. I could watch them for hours x

  • Sara | mumturnedmom August 26, 2015 at 3:30 pm

    It is so wonderful to watch and listen when your children have made up a game, I love it. Especially when all three of mine get involved, it can get very elaborate 🙂 Those are fabulous photos of POD, the wee girl likes to give us impromptu dance performances too, we’ve yet to see flamenco though! Imaginative play is so important x Thank you so much for sharing with #ThePrompt x

  • Emma August 26, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    I love watching their imaginations work at that age, so so sweet! We are huge playmobil fans in our house and my two still play with it now even at 10 and 8! 🙂

  • Sarah Bailey August 26, 2015 at 5:29 pm

    It looks like she is having the most wonderful time playing. Oh to relive the imagination of childhood. x

  • JuggleMum, Nadine Hill August 26, 2015 at 7:35 pm

    I love how creative children get when they play with toys. My son loves role play and talking to his ‘friends’ too!

  • Pinkoddy August 26, 2015 at 9:00 pm

    I love how she is able to create her own entertainment so well, and use her own imagination. I fear my boys play too many computer games and are sadly missing out.

  • Michelle August 27, 2015 at 9:23 am

    I love the imagination of children – I saw it in my son as he grew from toddler into young child, and seeing the same with my niece. It never fails to amaze me how imaginative kids are!

  • Susie Dove August 27, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    A heart warming performance, beautifully captured on camera.

  • Jen August 27, 2015 at 10:20 pm

    Children are just amazing. I love how involved they get and we should embrace and nurture this stage in their development. She is adorable.

  • Adele August 28, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    How sweet! Kids do love castanets.

  • Fritha Strickland August 28, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    that is some fantastic flamenco dancing POD! I so wish I had the same imagination as I did as a child, it’s amazing! x

  • Mary Louise August 28, 2015 at 9:18 pm

    Such a lovely little imagination – i love to watch my Daughter play and i am always amazed how they can entertain themselves!
    Your pictures are lovely and i love the image sequence on the header of this post!

  • Kara August 28, 2015 at 9:34 pm

    Oh bless her. Little girls are so different to boys and I love seeing Eliza’s imagination firing. Hope she gets to do dance at school

  • Erica Price August 29, 2015 at 7:13 am

    She is looking grown up in these pictures – sounds like she has an amazing imagination.

  • Sonya Cisco August 31, 2015 at 9:22 am

    Gorgeous photos! It is such a brilliant age isn’t it! Syd has invisible monsters friends currently!

  • lisa prince September 2, 2015 at 10:11 am

    there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your child grow and seeing them having an amazing playful time doing so

  • Abi - Angel Eden Blog September 2, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    What lovely pics, play is so important and unfortunately seems to often be shortlived