Fostering Your Toddler's Imagination and Language Abilities

Props for magic moments

Your toddler's new ability to create and use ideas strengthens his ability to interpret the information he receives from his senses as well as the way he uses his muscles and sequences his behaviors. His delight in using words and pretend play to express his ideas and feelings will bring him running to you to share his good times. He'll be honing his fine-motor skills, too, as he manipulates action figures with you in mock battles. Because pretending to be Daddy or Mommy is lots of fun for him, your child will enjoy putting together complicated patterns of behavior as he plays make-believe. When he decides to tuck his teddy bear into bed, he'll be able to put together a whole string of different actions. Watch him turn down the covers, sing a lullaby to his bear, and give him a kiss goodnight, just as he's seen you do. In turn, your toddler's pretend play and conversations will gain polish from all this additional exercise of his muscles and senses, and over time will become more elaborate and nuanced. You'll see him incorporate telling gestures or use a tone of voice that's right on the money as he acts out different make-believe roles.

In this way, your child's continuing social interaction with you and the growth of his physical and mental abilities become intertwined. It may be easier to conceptualize this amazing interdependence by thinking of your toddler's new capacity for generating ideas as a braided rope that consists of his sensory skills, motor abilities, and interactive experiences with you. This rope is as strong as the sum of its interwoven strands. You thus have a wonderful opportunity to influence the strength of the braid, by offering your child many opportunities to build castles in the air as well as forts on the ground. As you talk about your creations together, and express your feelings, too, you will be strengthening one strand of the braid. However, you'll also be looking for opportunities to help your toddler voluntarily stretch reluctant muscles, and more actively take in the wonders of the world around him. Let's take a closer look now at specific ways in which your interactions with your toddler can raise the bar on his ability to explore this exciting world of ideas.

Props for Magic Moments
The best way to give your toddler more practice in building up his symbolic world is to spend more time with him. If you plan ahead and carve out 20- or 30-minute blocks of time during less-frenzied parts of your day, you'll feel more relaxed and your child will, too. Remember that it's perfectly all right to "hang out" and quietly relish your downtime together. Let your child enjoy your presence for a little while before adding complexities to the situation.

Try to have enough props on hand that will intrigue your toddler and stimulate him to express his ideas and feelings. Everyday objects that are safe to handle, such as combs, pots and pans and other cooking utensils, and toothbrushes will attract your toddler's attention because he's seen you use them often. Also, make plenty of room in your toy chest for play telephones, tea-party sets, plastic cookware, toy vacuum cleaners and brooms, and pretend rakes and shovels. It's important to have such household objects and toys available so your child can play out real-life experiences. You can respond to your child's real desires by using pretend toys and implements. For example, if he's thirsty, playfully offer him an empty toy cup. If he wants to go for a ride in the car, hand him a set of plastic keys.

Your toddler will probably copy your own everyday activities before he is able to put his own creative spin on what he sees. If there are a few dolls, puppets, or stuffed animals near at hand, he will use them to stage domestic dramas that arise out of his real experiences with everyday objects. As his play unfolds, and dolls start using telephones, or puppets start to cook spaghetti, look for ways to insert your own doll into the make-believe action. Get involved in the drama! Talk to the dolls, action figures, and stuffed animals directly. You could have your puppet pick up the receiver of one of the toy phones and announce that Mickey Mouse is on the phone and wishes to speak to your child's Donald Duck puppet, if he can pull himself away from the spaghetti preparations for a moment. Later on, a specific set of action figures, puppets, or dolls can represent members of your family or other familiar figures in your child's life.

It's important to give meaning to the objects your child is using in his play. Ask who is driving his racing car, and whether the rocket ship has enough fuel to travel to the moon. You might wonder out loud who's cooking dinner tonight, and whether any guests are coming over to the house or whether anyone has set the table yet, and so on. Expand the conversation as long as you can! Declare your living-room sofa to be a mountain, and use a spoon as a birthday candle.

Although your toddler may pattern many of his pretend dramas on the domestic activities he sees going on at home, he also gets some of his material from the fantasy worlds he sees and hears about in fairy tales and from the special children's programs he sees on television or in the movies. You can easily use characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, Peter Rabbit, or Barney to generate symbolic play. By reenacting familiar scenes or songs from these stories, programs, and films with your child, you can create new ideas and take special note of any characters or themes that your child may be afraid of or avoiding.

Don't forget to mine the many real-world experiences that are awaiting you and your child just outside the front door. Let him experience the thrill of riding a bus or subway train with you, of seeing airplanes take off from a runway, of splashing in a brook, of watching a chipmunk or a squirrel, or of going on a noisy merry-go-round ride. Before you know it, he'll be expressing his thoughts and feelings about these occasions in the make-believe games you play together. The two of you can flap your arms like airplanes coming in for a landing, drive a fantasy bus, or be puppies chasing a squirrel.

Sometimes you have to work a little harder than others to create magical moments during your pretend play together. If your three-year-old often seems disinterested in using props or initiating any play, first try to get a simple exchange of gestures going. You might hand him a favorite stuffed animal or doll, and wait quietly. Perhaps he'll silently nod his head, or turn away, and thus begin a gestural exchange with you. This small gestural opening is all the invitation you need. You could then try putting a doll on his lap and using a high-pitched voice to say, "I'm so sleepy now- will you rock me to sleep?" See what your child does next, without directing the action yourself. Remember, it's not important how your child responds or whether it is in a strictly logical, realistic way. The important thing is for him to take an interest in continuing your play together. The longer your make-believe sessions last, the more opportunities there will be for shared symbolic communication.

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