importance of childens imagination

Below is a section of research i did looking into the importance of children's imagination and play.


"Does imagination play a role in learning and success in life? In a word, yes.

According to Dorothy Singer, professor of psychology at Yale University and co-author of The House of Make Believe: Children's Play and the Developing Imagination, children who actively use their imagination reap a host of benefits, such as playing cooperatively and being successful in school.

Do children still have the time and initiative today to fight pretend dragons, have an imaginary friend, or dress up as a fairy tale princess? Or is plain old imagination fighting a losing battle with iPods, video games, organized sports and T.V. shows? Just what is so important about imagination?

Here are some amazing benefits that come from developing the imagination:

* Imagination helps school-age children solve problems by helping them think through different outcomes to various situations and role playing ways to cope with difficult or new circumstances.
* Imagination allows children to practice real-life skills. From shopping at a pretend grocery store to assigning roles and dialogue to dolls or puppets, children's pretend play helps them practice and apply new learning and better understand how those skills are used in the real world.
* Imagination encourages a rich vocabulary. Telling and hearing real or made-up stories, reading books and pretend play help children learn and retain new words.
* Imagination helps children grow up to be adults who are creative thinkers. Adults who were imaginative children often become problem solvers, innovators and creative thinkers.

As you can see, imagination can often be as important as math, science or reading. Despite how it sometimes looks to adults, imaginative and pretend play helps develop many important skills that boost a child's learning and success."
from Why Children Need Imagination to Help Them Get Ahead Socially and Mentally in Today's Technology Based World © Jaime L. Hebert


This research was really interesting and useful for me, it proves the importance of our imagination, and that it really does need to be saved.