Growing Imagination and a Grand Adventure

Having a great imagination is a gift. Exploring the undiscovered experiences of make believe is an activity you can do with your children or grandchildren as a planned activity or on a whim. The world of imagination can turn an ordinary Saturday morning into a GRAND ADVENTURE.

Our culture is so programmed to think that the way to entertain children is to have  non-stop activities planned out of the house on weekends. We shuttle our kids from one thing to the next and to make matters worse, we are drawn to fill up any spaces of in between activity time with video games , television shows, iPads, iPhones, tablets or electronic gadgets. I am not against all technology for kids but I do think there is a time and place for it and I do believe that parents should have a really good handle on the time allowed and monitor their children’s  technology activities carefully.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of spending time with 4 of my fantastic grandchildren. Our GRAND ADVENTURE began with the building of a fort and with a tiny bit of creativity and few things from around their house we began an imaginary Pirate Adventure that will be in their memory for years to come. They could not wait to tell their mom all about it when she returned.

SIMPLE SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR PIRATE ADVENTURE
white computer paper
felt pens-sharpees and water color markers
crayons
scissors
tape
4 old fashioned clothes pins
4 colored scarves or pieces of cloth (we used rolled up t-shirts)
cardstock cut into any shape for pirate name badges
variety of healthy kid snacks-anything will do
favorite food prepared ahead of time so you do not have to stop the adventure to make their lunch
any kind of lunch box or backpack to be used for the hidden treasure

The idea for the adventure came from one of the kids favorite shows “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”. The indoor pirate fort was built, the characters were assigned, the name badges were made (Jake, Cubby, Skully and Izzy) and attached to their outfits with simple scotch tape and their pirate scarves were in place and each member of Jake’s band of good pirates was given a special secret weapon made out of a clothes pin with their character’s name on it. I sent the kids outside to make their outdoor fort while I quickly wrote out the first clues and hid them inside. I drew a treasure map of the outside area and filled the treasure box with the first treasure-a simple snack of graham crackers. When I called them in they were giddy with excitement. Our GRAND ADVENTURE was about to begin. The clues were torn into small pieces and numbered so they could piece them together and practice recognizing their numbers while we were playing. They put the pieces in order and I read them the clue and handed them their first treasure map. The morning progressed with fun and excitement and it was incredible to watch and see how the adventure evolved as we played. The children learned how to navigate a pirate ship, how to follow a map and orient themselves in their backyard by readjusting the treasure map each time they arrived at a specific destination. Each one of the children had an opportunity to create a mini adventure within our GRAND ADVENTURE. We ended up fighting off the bad pirates, rescuing a zebra and camel that had fallen into quick sand and saving a tiger that had run away. We sailed in a pirate ship, protected their outside fort and watched for rescue planes that were coming to help get us all to safety.

Three hours of fun…..no money spent…..no technology used…..lots of learning activities…. GROWING IMAGINATION and a GRAND ADVENTURE!!!

When is the last time you used your imagination to create a day full of fun? What did you create and how did it feel to use your imagination?

It is not necessary to buy any supplies for your grand adventure but if you want to see a few of our favorite arts and craft supplies that we keep on hand all the time for the kids…here are some of our favorites, with links to buy from Amazon and have shipped to your home.
1. Sharpies

2. Water color markers

3. Old fashioned clothes pins

4. Construction paper

5. Children’s scissors