children playing in sandpit

Unleash the Magic: Imaginative Play Ideas for Kids [6 ideas]

Children love imaginative play, and whether indoors or outside, there are countless opportunities to incorporate magical and creative ideas into their playtime. Whether you’re planning a special occasion or simply looking for ways to engage your little ones, these imaginative play ideas will inspire their creativity and provide hours of entertainment.

1) Pirate Play Adventure

Ahoy, little adventurers! Embark on a thrilling pirate voyage with this imaginative play idea that will transport your children to the high seas. Whether it’s a rainy day or a sunny afternoon, this playtime adventure is sure to ignite their imagination and keep them busy all day long.

To begin, gather some basic materials to create a pirate ship setting. Use chairs, blankets, and pillows to construct a makeshift ship in your living room or backyard. Encourage your little ones to dress up as sea-travelling pirates with pirate hats or bandanas and cardboard swords. Now, it’s time to set sail!

Encourage your kids to create a treasure map by drawing a simple route with landmarks around your home or backyard. You can even hide small treasures or treats along the way for your valiant voyagers to keep the excitement building.

As they navigate the imaginary sea, encourage them to engage in role playing and storytelling. Let their creativity soar as they encounter storms, sea monsters, and friendly sea creatures along their journey.

This imaginative play idea not only promotes creativity and storytelling skills but also encourages teamwork and problem-solving as they work together to navigate their pirate adventure. So, set sail with your little pirates and let their imaginations run wild on the high seas!

kids in play tent

2) Tea Party Water Play

Make a splash with tea party water play to unleash your little one’s imagination.

Set up a water activity table with teapots, teacups and teabags. Children can pour the water into the cups and have a pretend tea party. You can enhance the sensory play by adding other elements, such as flower petals, food colouring or bubbles, to the water for a royal sensory tea party like no other.

Sensory play can help your little ones develop their fine and gross motor skills as they hold teacups, pour from teapots and pass plates to their friends as they play.

children playing with water table

3) Castle Building Competition

Building blocks are an excellent way to encourage imaginative play, and a castle-building competition is a perfect imaginative game for kids.

Select one child to be the judge and divide the rest into teams. Give each team a set of building blocks and thirty minutes to make their most imaginative castle design come to life. Encourage children to work together in groups to create the most impressive castle.

Children can bring their architectural creations to life and let their imaginations run free with this task by adding details like moats, drawbridges, and turrets. The sky’s the limit!

Once the time is up, the judge can choose their favourite castle based on design, features, and fun!

Another way to carry out this building competition is to replace building blocks with cardboard boxes and other recyclable materials. With cardboard boxes, there’s even the option to decorate and paint the castle to add flair to the finished design!

This activity promotes active social play and the development of key skills such as turn-taking, team building and creativity, so everyone’s a winner!

building blocks

4) Dressing Up Fun

Dressing up is an imaginative way for your little ones to engage in pretend play and explore different costumes and attire, from dragons to doctors or superheroes to chefs. The possibilities are endless! You could even incorporate sensory elements into the fancy dress by adding fabrics with different textures, such as silk or velvet.

Dress-up play offers a multitude of benefits for children’s development and well-being. It’s not just about putting on costumes and pretending to be someone else; it’s a gateway to imagination and creativity. When children dress up as different characters, they embark on a journey of self-expression, boosting their confidence and nurturing their creativity.

Children develop essential social skills through fancy dress play as they interact with others in character. They learn to cooperate, share, and take turns, fostering positive relationships and empathy. Additionally, dressing up encourages language development and communication skills as children engage in storytelling and role playing, expanding their vocabulary and ability to express themselves.

Overall, it’s a powerful tool for holistic development, allowing children to explore, imagine, and grow.

child on a swing

5) Backyard Banquet

Orders up! A mud pie kitchen is a great way to incorporate sensory play into imaginative backyard play, whatever the season.  


Plum Discovery Mud Pie Kitchens are perfect for preparing a backyard banquet. The kit includes bowls for foraging, utensils for stirring, and an easy-cleaning painting screen to draw up the menu.

Little ones can mix and mould mud and water to create their own mud pies and pretend to be chefs in a busy kitchen. You can also add some natural ingredients to the mud pies, such as herbs or flowers, to make them more lavish for the special occasion. Children can use their imagination to create their own mud pie recipes and serve them to their guests.

mud pie kitchen

6) Space Explorers

3, 2, 1… Blast off! Take your children on an intergalactic journey with this imaginative play idea that will transport them to the far reaches of outer space. Get ready to explore distant planets and experience the wonders of the cosmos right from the comfort of your own home.

Start by transforming a room into a spaceship. Use blankets, chairs, and cardboard boxes to create a spacecraft command centre. You could even provide your little space explorers with astronaut costumes, complete with helmets and backpacks filled with essentials for their mission.

Set the stage by playing space-themed music and turn off the lights to create a starry atmosphere. Use glow-in-the-dark stickers or paper cut-outs to decorate the room with planets and stars.

Next, guide your children through a series of space missions. They can embark on an expedition to Mars, search for new galaxies, or even encounter friendly space creatures. Encourage them to use their imagination to describe what they see and communicate with mission control (you) throughout their space exploration.

To enhance the experience, they could build their own rocket ships using recycled materials; the sky’s the limit!

child reading space book

Imaginative play is a fantastic way to inspire children’s creativity and let them use their imagination. From pirate play to backyard banquets, there are plenty of activities that will ignite your little one’s imagination and provide hours of entertainment.

These imaginative play ideas for preschoolers and older children are bound to spark imaginations, and they’re also great for developing sensory skills, promoting socialisation, and encouraging role play. So next time you’re planning a party or looking for some play ideas for kids, consider incorporating some of these imaginative play ideas for an unforgettable experience that’s sure to be a winner with the kids.

If you try out any of these ideas, share your adventures with us @PlumPlayAus #lifeatplay

Teepee

Teepee Styling with @alittleatlarge – Featuring our Wooden Teepee Hideaway!

When we came across the @alittleatlarge Instagram account we couldn’t be more inspired by wonderlust and fairydust!

Writer and creative photographer for A Little At Large, Narelle and her daughter Tiah have crafted a profile full of cherished childhood memories.

We loved the beautiful beach vibes and couldn’t resist reaching out to see how they would style their very own Wooden Teepee Hideaway!

This blog entry below is a repost, originally written by Narelle at A Little At Large – http://bit.ly/LittleLoves 

JOY Teepee Hideaway

One of the things I love most about having a 5-year-old is finding things to do that ignites both our imaginations, but also creates an opportunity for us to work together to make the kind of memories we will both cherish.

With this in mind, we recently partnered with Plum Play Australia to create and curate our very own Wooden Teepee Hideway.

I have to admit to not being the handiest of handywomen, and my husband had never excelled in the “build it yourself” stakes either. So I posted the task on airtasker.com and within half an hour I had Andrew, my trusty handyman on route.

Andrew made pretty short work of putting it all together, while Tiah supervised.

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With the building done and the excitement rising, we hit Bunnings to pick out some paint. Tiah insisted she wanted it to look just like our big house, so Cabot’s Beach House Grey was the winner, a water-soluble wood stain that would be easy to apply and just as easy to clean up little paint dipped fingers.

To the garden shop we ventured, where we picked out some marguerite daisies in bloom and two Chinese star jasmine that we thought would look pretty amazing growing over to form a natural floral arbour in time. A quick stop to Domayne to pick up some joy (you will spy the sign later), and also to Spotlight, for some tulle and fancy lace ribbon.

Completing the painting was the fun part. Tiah worked on the bottom and I worked on the top simultaneously, giggling as we went when paint splashed down on her nose from my drips and my feet from hers. Two coats and we were done. We left it for a few hours to dry and got our accessories ready for the part we both love the most – the styling.

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With plants in place and a few choice bits from inside the house (including the gorgeous Sheridan fluffy Icelandic sheep pillow and a sustainable reindeer hide), we were almost ready for the exciting final touches.

A swag of tulle placed over the door (the teepee does come with a roll down awning that affixes with Velcro, we just embellished it a little), some battery operated festoon lights that we got for a song and the final piece – JOY- the battery operated light from Domayne’s Christmas collection that fitted snugly above the door.

Tiah was glowing, her teepee was more beautiful than we ever imagined and proud as punch, she immediately rounded up the neighbours, including Grace, the friendly dog from next door to join in the housewarming. We did not expect there to be jumping- well maybe just from Tiah – but when Grace joined in the festivities, I could not help but snap a moment I know we will smile about well into the future.

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As a play space, the teepee is ideal. We have a small yard and its compact footprint fits perfectly. As for the materials themselves, we were thrilled with the excellent quality. Even our handyman Andrew commented, saying how well cut the pieces of timber were, no rough edges and everything fitted together so snuggly that he said it should last a lifetime. Thumbs up Andrew.

We created some beautiful memories building and styling our teepee, but the ones I am most looking forward to are the ones still to come. I know this will be a place where carefree summers will be savoured, where tea parties will be hosted and treats from the pantry smuggled. There will be secrets shared, giggles giggled and good times had with friends. And not forgetting Grace, who pops in pretty regularly for a snuggle and random joyful jumps.

You can win your very own Grand Wooden Teepee from Plum Play, head HERE to find out how to enter.  But be quick, competition ends this Sunday, 10th December 2017. Alternatively, if you’d like to purchase a Grand or Great Wooden Teepee Hideaway for your little ones this Christmas, use the promo code ALITTLEATLARGE for 15% off (also valid until Sunday, 10th December 2017). These dates are in line with Plum Play’s Christmas delivery deadlines, but this can be extended to Wednesday 13th December for Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne, Wollongong, and Newcastle.