Doors Inspire Imaginations

It’s Imagination Week at the  MeMeTales Readathon. I’m very excited about this week. My two and half year old son has a grand imagination and we enjoy pretend play and storytelling all the time. Every time we open a book, we use our imaginations to be transported into the author’s world. Every time we play, we use our imaginations to create our own little world of fun. This week MeMeTales has three books for you to borrow with the imagination theme – Doors in the Air, Night Boy, and There’s a Dinosaur in the Park. Today, let’s talk about how doors inspire imaginations.

Doors in the Air honestly starts out a little odd. The narrator is a little boy talking about all of the things in his house. The first line is, “My house has a roof.” But keep reading. He mentions all of these things, so he can talk about what he likes best – the doors. Doors take you to faraway lands. By walking through a door you can travel someplace new. Just use your imagination and a door can take you anywhere.

Make Your Own Magical Door

Materials

• large piece of paper (the bigger the better)
• crayons, markers, paint
• painter’s/masking tape (optional)

What to Do

Allow your kids to decorate the paper like a door. I thought it would be fun to add tape to the door, so we could add “metal” later.

1. I added masking tape to a a large piece of freezer paper. {I tested my tape on the freezer paper and the shiny side seemed to release it well enough. However, when I removed the tape, the freezer paper was ripped off – no more shiny side. Just a thin piece of paper remained.}
2. Aiden colored all over the paper with crayons. He rolled the crayons and scribbled with them to his heart’s content.
3. Aiden wanted to paint the door as well, so we took our paper outside and grabbed some brown paint.
4. After the paint dried, I pulled off the tape.
5. I colored the empty space with a big black sharpie.
6. I added some random triangles to the side and a door knob. {My husband said the door looked like a view from a jail cell – lovely imagination, don’t you think? This project goes to show you how much of an artist I am not. Aiden and I had fun nonetheless.}

Aiden said the door goes to his friends. We also talked about the door going to different places like the moon or the forest. It was a great prompt for storytelling.

Doors Inspire Imagination During Play

I made doors the center of our small world play by taking some pieces of cardboard {that were already conveniently folded and easily stood up} and cutting out doors. Aiden asked me to add some windows to the buildings. Then, he added some toys and began to play. Can you see how doors inspire imagination? The people went through the doors. The cars went through the doors. Stories were told.

Want more pretend play ideas?

Try this activity from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots. It is a wonderful example of how doors inspire imagination. Open the door on a story by hiding doors for your little one to find.

Build with rocks to make houses for your animals. {I shared this post at the Kids Activities Blog.}

Grab stuffed animals and hide under a pile of blankets for some cave play.

Check out my Let’s Pretend board on Pinterest or MeMeTales Imagination Based Books, Activities, and more board for even more ideas.

What things inspire your child’s imagination?

Linking up here.

Disclosure:  In exchange for writing activities based on the weekly themes, I will receive the featured books.