Does your schedule allow your children to explore their world with unstructured play? Turn off the television. Put away the video games. Children need time to pretend. Experts have shown that imaginative play increases children’s ability to handle stressful situations, to problem solve, to integrate feelings and actions, and to “think outside the box,” a skill most employers value.

If they say, “But I don’t know how to,” or “Will you do it for me?” redirect by asking them questions. “Do you want to be on a river or the ocean? Are you a sailor or are you stranded at sea? This gives them power and control and gets them thinking creatively. The more you can let them think and do for themselves, the more they will gain.

Boat
Designate a sofa, bed or chair as the boat. The floor is the water—most likely shark or alligator infested, so be sure his toes and blankets don’t dangle! Pillows or papers can make stepping-stones for trips to the kitchen or elsewhere. Storms can hit, beautiful vistas can be seen through papertowel- tube telescopes, food or water might run low and new lands may be found and explored.

Television show
Help her make a TV camera out of a shoebox and tissue tube. She could leave it plain, paint it or cover it in construction paper. She can choose to be a newscaster, meteorologist, medical expert, famous chef or fashion commentator. She could host a history show, a nature show or a home improvement show. She can write scripts, draw graphics and direct. If she has trouble deciding what to say, check out age-appropriate library books on her chosen topic as a “script” to read from.

Office
Let him set up a desk on the coffee table, ottoman or small table. Give him papers to shuffle and a toy or unused phone to answer. Help him decide what kind of office he works in. Do they make a product? Do they protect the environment? Do they care for the elderly? Do they schedule movers? Do they handle others’ money? This is a great way to explore professions beyond doctor and fire fighter.

Fort
What kid doesn’t love a fort? Stretch sheets or blankets across furniture in the living room or den. She could be huddled in a base camp during a mountain-climbing expedition. She could be escaping a sand storm in the desert. She might be a biologist studying wildlife in a rainforest. She might be a doctor caring for the sick in a thirdworld country.

School
Get out some of his old schoolwork or just give him scrap paper to pretend with. Set stuffed animals or dolls up as students. If he has a chalkboard or white board, have him teach a lesson on it—he can scribble if he isn’t old enough to write. He can read his favorite books to his students. He can grade papers, serve lunch and oversee naptime.

Grocery Store
Pull unopened packaged food from the pantry. Set up a grocery store in a lesserused room for the day. Use a calculator and a box for a cash register with play money for the till. Another box with a slit cut in it and painted numbers could serve as a debit card machine. One child can shop while the other is a cashier. They can bag purchases, stock shelves, help customers find items, dust, make sale signs and brochures, take inventory and order new stock.

Builder
Most kids have some toy tools. If not, so much the better. Ask her to find something from her room that could be a hammer, a screwdriver or a saw. She could be a mechanic and work on a car (which might look a lot like a dining chair or two). She can construct a house. She might be an architect, too, drawing the house before she builds it. She could use blocks or Legos, or use pretend materials.

Restaurant
Designate an area like the sofa or a chair as the kitchen. Set them up with toy or real bowls, spoons and pans. Give them aprons, a pad of paper and pencil for the server, a table—something on their level like a coffee table—with a place setting or two. They can create a menu, recipes and write specials on a white board or large piece of paper. You could be a customer, imaginary customers could come in, or a few stuffed animals might order lunch.

Road Trip
Four dining chairs can become a wonderful car. Get out a map and they can plot a course. They can stop to visit attractions along the way. Stuffed animals can come along. They could drive a sports car on the German autobahn or a minivan on Interstate 40 headed for California. They might drive the mountains of western North Carolina or see the fall leaves in northern Vermont.

Dress Up
Kids love to dress up. They don’t need a whole outfit. A single item can transform them into someone else. With a boa she’s a Hollywood star or a Broadway singer. With Grandpa’s hat, he’s a gumshoe or a secret agent. How would their characters walk, talk and behave? What are their names? Where do they live?