Play time with Conscious Craft & Marlena
Wooden figures were one of the first types of toy that we started stocking at Conscious Craft, having grown up with and then watched our own children enjoy the open-ended play that they invite, as well as their lovely tactile feel. Here, Marlena talks about the role that wooden figures play in her daughter Ella's imaginative life...
Hi it’s Marlena from @with.marlena,
I’m here to share our imagination play journey with you and the importance of it.
Imaginative play is inclusive and invites everyone to join in, teaching your child the basic skills to share and take turns. It lets your child express their creativity, sometimes… especially for young children like my daughter Ella who is 2 years old, they need you to spark their creativity. It will only take a few plays where you give them a few ideas of how to play and they will keep coming up with their own ideas based on something they experienced in real life. In time they will become more independent and eventually play and create their own imaginary worlds all by themselves, but for now I play the part too. Engaging in fantasy play with your child for fun is essential. However, you want to be sure you give them the space they need to solve their problems. Adding open-ended toys, like Eric and Albert wooden figurines from Conscious Craft enhances their creative play. Furthermore, it supports their independence and strengthens their language and social skills. It also helps develop problem solving which requires creativity.
So if you have yet to introduce imaginative play to your child I’d strongly suggest to start asap ☺️
I like to set up Ella’s Montessori shelf with everything she may need to help create her world. In the picture above you can see Sarah's Silks which we use as our ocean, as well as the selection of sea/ocean related figures and Grimm's wooden toy pebbles. We take it all and set up our play on the floor. I don’t say anything and let her choose the characters for us both. One time I may be the snail 🐌 next I may get lucky and be the mermaid 🧜♀️ and off on the adventure we go!
We play hide and seek with our figures, we talk about our day, we eat and we sleep when we feel tired, which strengthens her understanding of our day-to-day life. I love how big Eric & Albert figures are as it makes it easier for little hands to navigate with.
To keep things interesting we change up our resources every few days or at least once a week.
