Children have wonderful imaginations. Help your child develop his imagination even more with creative visualisations. Here are some tips to help build their imagination even more.
1 Ask the child to sit or lie comfortably and imagine something that they know. Maybe it is their friend or relative or a place they know really well. Ask them to see if they can see all the little details. Listen to all the sounds in that place or the person's voice. Are there any familiar smells or tastes or feelings. Ask them to use their memory to access their imagination.
2 Now ask them to imagine a bird. Ask them to see every detail of that bird - every colour and sound that they can see and hear. Ask the child to imagine the bird is flying and taking them too. Ask them to imagine they are flying over rivers and trees and houses etc. Ask them to notice the colours and the clouds and feel the wind in their hair and notice how they feel.
3 After a little while, ask children to describe what they saw and heard and how they felt.
4 Ask children to draw or write down what they saw in their imagination.
Steps into the Sky
Close your eyes, be very still and imagine that you are lying down outside looking up at the clouds. You feel so calm and relaxed as you watch the clouds gently drift past, changing shape and making patterns in the blue sky. All of a sudden you notice a ladder made of white clouds coming down to where you are lying. Slowly you get up and start to climb the ladder. As soon as you step onto the ladder, you feel as light as a cloud. Climb up to the top of the sky. It is very quiet in the sky; you can’t even hear the birds singing, as it is so high up. This is a secret hideaway place, where you can build a den made entirely of clouds and creep inside it and be very still and silent. You love being surrounded by these fluffy clouds. They are so soft to touch; it’s almost as if they are not there. When you are ready, you may lie down and enjoy the feeling of lying on soft clouds. Stay here in you secret den, and dream your magical dreams.
Extract from The Wishing Star Book
marneta is founder of Relax Kids - UKs leading expert on children's relaxation. She is author of 2 books and has produced a range of relaxation products. Marneta is editor of RELAX - a monthly online magazine and trains parents and teachers around the UK to help relax children.