Fishing often plays an exciting role in family summer adventures and can be super exhilarating for kids. The combination of waiting patiently and then being rewarded with the big, exciting surprise of a tug on the end of the fishing line is great fun for kids.
The good news is, with just a stick and a piece of twine, kids can create their own pretend fishing experience at any time and in any outdoor space, even when a big fishing trip is not in the plans. Here’s how to create a simple fishing tool that is sure to spark imaginative play:
The Guide
Step 1: Find a fishing stick.
Search around your outdoor space together to find a good fishing stick (long enough to give your child the feel of the real fishing experience, but not so long that it can’t be easily maneuvered).
Step 2: Add your fishing line.
Help your child tie one end of a piece of twine or string to the end of the stick. If your child wants to add a little weight to the line, you can tie a small rock or pinecone to the end.
Step 3: Find your fishing spot.
Wonder where you could go fishing together? Is there a puddle or stream nearby? A patch of dirt or grassy area your child could pretend is a pond? You can also bring a blanket or towel outside and use it as a pretend body of water.
Step 4: Spark imaginative play.
Pretend that you spot a big fish in the water and invite your child to put their fishing pole in the pond to try to catch it. Prompt imaginative thinking by asking things like: Is the fish pulling on your line? Is it heavy? What kind of fish do you think you caught? Kids can pretend to cook their fish over a campsite fire. Or, you can model “catch and release” and invite your child to throw back their pretend fish.
Extend Play!
Try out some of these fun ways to extend fishing play:
Frozen treasure fish: Fill an ice cube tray, muffin tin or other container with water and place one end of a piece of twine into the water before putting into the freezer. Once frozen, tie the other end to a stick and you have a fishing pole complete with cool fish.
Magnetic fish: Tie a magnet to the end of the twine and turn the metal lids from glass jars into fish.
Build a boat: Offer your child a cardboard box or two, some tape and some markers and invite them to make their own fishing boat.
Explore fishing tools: Add a few floating objects (pine cones, leaves, sliced fruit) to a container of water and invite kids to fish them out using a variety of tools (i.e. large cooking spoons, strainer, netting or a piece of fabric). Which fishing tool works best?
Why is this activity great for kids?
Creating a pretend fishing play scenario is a super way to engage kids’ imaginations. And, when kids turn an everyday object like a stick into a fishing pole, they are developing their divergent thinking, a key component to creativity.
By creativity, we mean the ability to both imagine original ideas or solutions to problems and actually do what needs to be done to make them happen. So, to help kids develop creativity, we parents need to nurture kids' imaginations and give them lots of chances to design, test, redesign and implement their ideas.
"Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”
Why, you ask? For one, it is through being creative that a person is able to get senses, sensibility and spirit working together. Simply put, without creativity, we don't think our kids will live a full life.
On a more practical level, it's also the means by which humans of all ages make an impact on the world and other people around them. A lot of heavy stuff is going to go down in our kids' lifetime, and their generation will need to imagine and implement solutions to big and very complicated problems. Although our kids are still far from public office or the boardroom, today's political and business leaders worldwide are already pointing to creativity as the most important leadership quality for the future.
Although years from the art studio or design lab, little kids can learn to think and act creatively if you give them time and the right practice.
Imagination
Category:
Thinking Skills
What is Imagination?
Imagination is defined in many ways, but one we like is, "the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality." This is no small task to little kids, and yet young childhood is a time in which imagination is developed more than any other. How does imagination develop in childhood? Through an increasingly sophisticated life of make believe.
We all likely have a sense of what we mean by make believe or good old "pretend play." How do experts define it, though? To some, there are different types of make believe that vary in sophistication and make pretend play different than other types of play. For example, kids may use objects to represent something else (e.g. a block becomes a cell phone). Or, they may start to give an object certain properties (e.g. a doll is asleep or a tree is on fire!). Still yet, they may themselves take on the properties of someone or something else.
From there, pretend play evolves into acting out scenarios or stories, those getting increasingly intricate as imagination develops. As kids' pretend play grows more sophisticated, these stories come to involve not only the creative use of objects, but multiple perspectives (e.g. good and bad guys in the same story), and/or the playful manipulation of ideas and emotions (e.g. I am sad, but then become happy after I save the village from certain doom).
Why does it matter?
An ever growing body of research substantiates the many benefits of pretend play including the enhanced development of: language and communication skills; self-control and empathy; flexible and abstract thinking; and creativity. These are the skills that will help kids balance emotions, form healthy relationships, work effectively on teams, stay focused in school, be successful at various jobs and solve the problems of an increasingly complicated world. An individual's creativity in particular, both requires and is limited by her imagination.
Age: 0 to 8+
Time: Under 1 hour
Materials: various
