Jump in the Picture

This is one of my favourite games to play, this game uses your imagination and teaches children visualisation. Showing them that you can go anywhere using your imagination. Our brains do not know the difference between real and imaginary, that’s why this game works! 

Try to focus on all your senses to really embody the experience.

All play is an opportunity for parent-child quality time, building healthy parent-child relationships and practicing positive parenting tips and effective parenting strategies.

Resources

Travel magazines or images from different scenery, or your child can draw their favourite place real or imagined.

If drawing your own pictures you will need paper, paint, crayons, markers, colouring pencils. Maybe glitter  – A child once told me “everything is better with glitter”!

Explain to your child that if we imagine our favourite food our brain starts to think of it, our mouth starts to water and we get a lovely sensation in our body. We can see it, we can taste it we can smell it we can feel it.

Take turns to choose a picture or draw your own picture 

Count to 3 and jump , when you land you have to imagine you are in the picture.

Describe everything you can see, touch, smell and hear. How do you feel in your body when you are there?

Stay there as long as your child needs. Say to your child “I wonder are you ready to jump back out or would you like to stay for another while longer”?. Be guided by your child as to how long you spend there.

Further play

Your child may want to write about their picture about how they felt, what they saw etc or they might not. Don’t force it if they don’t want to. 

The pictures can be kept and together decide the best place for them, they can be hung up or put in a scrapbook as a reminder of how your imagination can take you anywhere.

The clean up can be fun too,  so sharing the jobs and tidying together. Keeping it playful and nurturing is key…play is about fun, no judgment, expectations or shoulds.