The Daily Animal

Pretend play is an important part of early child developement, and can take many different forms. My Bug's favorite version has to be pretending to be different animals. Typically each day is a different animal, such as today was a snake (which made getting up the stairs a slooooow process), yesterday was a frog, and so on. I try to encourage his mimicry by reading him animal stories then asking him questions about each animal. Following along with a movie or tv show can be fun too, but there is only so much Curious George I can handle in a day. Trying to find some fun animal songs, haven't done nearly enough on that end I think.

Encouraging your child to use their imagination should be an important part of your daily routine both for your benefit and theirs. How do you get your little one to participate in pretend play? What tricks do you use to teachnew skills?