fun with kids : it's fun to role play !

Imaginary games are fun for both Honeybee and I !  It helps us break up the humdrums, routines of the day.  Bee is not too crazy about cartoons.  If we were to turn on the TV, she'ld plug in for maybe 1/2 of an hour and then would scream "play mommy ! go make tea !".  Playing pretend games get our brain cells going !  It challenges both Bee and I to be creative, to come up with new ideas.  I must say, as an adult, I found my imagination wheel a bit "rusty"!  But the more we role play, the more I tap into my creative side.  So if you find yourself like me, feel like your imagination well is almost dried out, the only way to tackle it is To Do It !  Play !  Practice role playing with you kids.  Listen to them, take their cues and go on from there.

By observation, I noticed kids loves to play house !!!  The kitchen is the most popular station at Bee's Strong Start (a school run program for kids under 5).   Every kids wants to be the chef or the cook, or the one who serves tea.  No one wants to take order or wait on table !!!  They sometime would argue over who does what, for what feels like eternity, and then play time is over !  Nothing was solved and it's time to clean up.  Funny bunch they are ! 

Bee loves her wooden play kitchen.  Needless to say, she too likes to be the chef.  It's one of our favorite pretend games.  She cooks up all types of food and most always serve tea with her meal.  Bee recently has expanded her kitchen into a restaurant and added a cash register.  Now the play room is a restaurant with a supermarket, where the food I bought will be cooked by the amazing chef Bee.  Lovebug and I are her faithful patrons.  There's rarely an ordinary dish ever leaves this kitchen.  Every dish is a surprise.  Ever had puppy milk tea ?  or waffle bell chime soup ?  my point exact !

The wood kitchen we bought for Bee is made by Little Tikes.  There's no battery generated sound, so Bee has to make up her own "beep beep" when pressing on the microwave.  Which is fine because it's all about pretend play right ?  She's quite attach to her cash register machine at the moment.  It is made by Just Like Home.  Bee loves the "ding" sound the cash till drawer produced !  I like that the screen on the register is solar powered (like a calculator).  It's great for learning number. 

Today we didn't play kitchen.  Honeybee wanted to be a doctor (another one of her favorite game).  I thought Lovebug neck is quite sturdy and strong enough for Bee to play check up with her.  After listening to Lovebug's head, giving her a shot and vitamin, Bee gave her a thumbs up for excellent health.  I'm glad to hear that report.  After playing doctor, we went and watch the ants in the yard, making up stories on where they're coming from and where they're heading !  It was a productive day completed with a 3 hour nap in between play.