I is for Imagination

Thank you for joining me as I blog through the alphabet. You can read more of my homeschool AtoZ posts.

I is for Imagination

One worry I have about IntelliGent's rapid mental development is he will be so focused on academic learning that he misses cultivating his imagination.

While other children seem to be content playing, IntelliGent focuses on letters and numbers. Does he play? Yes. But even his self-directed games have an educational bent. He loves to count things, discuss the beginning sounds of words, and has recently taken an interest in spelling. All these things are wonderful, but it does leave me a little concerned. Imagination is such an important part of life.

I've encouraged IntelliGent to play imagination games. He loves his train set, and we make elaborate tracks for Thomas and his friends to go on. He'll reenact the adventures he's seen on the show, but doesn't make up his own story. He's only two-and-a-half, but I would love to see some original creativity come out of his playtime.

Last week, I finally saw the first real glimpse of his imagination. He was eating his Pb&J when he looked at the piece in his hand. "Look! It's a boat." He spent the next few moments pushing his boat along the table. I don't usually allow him to play with his food, but I was too excited to see his imagination at work to stop him. That time.