imaginative play teaches the children the mistakes to avoid and also how to make something even better out of their sandcastle.

I'm the author of this article and I'm a qualified abacus teacher, answering questions from around the world online abacus and various questions from online-soroban.com students.

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Imagination is the mother of creativity.

The saying holds true for young children and adults alike.

It is especially applicable in the case of children who need all sorts of proper stimulation for the correct growth of their minds and brains.

But why is imagination so important?

Why can’t children develop properly without play and creativity?

We will try to unravel these difficult questions.

The simple answer can be evolution.

The human mind has evolved in such a way that it can only grow properly when faced with challenges.

Any slacking and it will stop growing and end up becoming lazy!

 

1-1.What Is Imaginative Play All About

Unstructured learning is the best learning.

This is the slogan that powers imaginative play.

Much like our ancestors learned things by exploring and experimenting first hand, in real life, without any books or syllabus, Imagination is the mother of creativity.

The saying holds true for young children and adults alike.

It is especially applicable in the case of children who need all sorts of proper stimulation for the correct growth of their minds and brains.

But why is imagination so important?

Why can’t children develop properly without play and creativity?

We will try to unravel these difficult questions.

The simple answer can be evolution.

The human mind has evolved in such a way that it can only grow properly when faced with challenges.

Any slacking and it will stop growing and end up becoming lazy!

In imaginative play, there is a very loose plan or structure, for example building a sandcastle.

The children are offered all the materials that are required for the purpose.

Instead of learning this skill by seeing someone do it, watching a video about or by reading about it from a book, children are let free and loose with the sand to mix and experiment.

The result? They learn not only how to build a sandcastle, but also, how not to build a sandcastle.

That is a profound improvement over the other methods of learning.

Other methods focus on the definitions and what to do.

By making such a castle, they learn about shapes, the behavior of the particle that they touched, how wet things differ from dry things, and many more instances.

You see, the learning that takes place in this method is not subject-specific, but trade-specific.

The child won’t learn the architecture of sandcastles or physics of the particles or mathematical shapes involved in the sandcastle, but also the thousands of other things that are involved, such as picking the right amount of sand.

 

1-2.How Does Imaginative Play Shape Children's Iq?

The human brain thrives on challenges. The more challenges we feed it, the smarter it becomes.

Which should bring us to the quintessential question: What is IQ really measuring?

IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient, and much like its name, it is measuring the intelligence of the individual.

But how? Intelligence is of several different types, and different individuals have varying degrees of intelligence in them.

The answer is that IQ measures one very specific type of intelligence, the Analytical Intelligence.

This type of intelligence relates to solving problems by recognizing patterns in numbers, shapes, and other things (this is why IQ tests have so many pattern-based questions).

You will also find some questions related to shadows and dice.

The awesome thing is that imaginative education improves exactly that - analytical intelligence.

Children who engage in imaginative activities get better and better at seeing patterns and connecting the dots together.

This is how imaginative activities can shape children’s IQ.

The key to scoring a high IQ is quite similar to many other skills - regular practice.

Children should be introduced to imaginative activities at a younger age so that they can feel comfortable in a free environment.

If this is not done in a slow and gradual manner, children do not derive the maximum benefit from this technique.

Imaginative activities can therefore play a huge part in shaping the IQ of children provided the children engage in it from the proper age and in the proper way.

Every child should thus be encouraged to try it at least a couple of times.

 

1-3. The Use of Abacus for Imaginative Play

"Abacus can be the perfect tool for introducing children to imaginative activities.

Why? Because the abacus is part structured and part unstructured.

Abacus requires enough attention to work that the children feel like they are studying or working, albeit very loosely, and on the other hand, it also provides enough learning opportunities that the children feel like they are unrestricted in their approach.

Most abacus programs like the ISHIDO-SHIKI are structured in a way so that not everything is being spoon-fed to the child.

The children have to actively think and make decisions based on the information they gather from the lesson, only then will they know what to do on the abacus.

This is the reason why the abacus is awesome for relaxing children and introducing them to the wonderful world of imaginative activities.

And abacus doesn’t just contribute to an introductory role either.

It can remain a part of the plan for a long time as long as the child enjoys it or has something to learn from it.

This also brings to light an underlying feature of imaginative activities, that not all students are meant to learn from the same book.

Children for example who do not find the abacus interesting can still be taught the same concepts, just via different means that they value and like more than the abacus.

Parents and guardians should consider getting their child enough time and also an abacus to learn with.

Beginner-level ideas can be accessed for free on the internet and advanced lessons are also available in case the child feels interested enough to pursue them further.

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Overall  
Intelligence quotient is really a measuring of how good someone is at finding patterns and connecting the dots.

Imaginative activities help children improve exactly that, it helps them improve their real-life skills all the while learning textbook concepts in an unregulated, fun-to-learn way!

Friendly devices like the abacus can be great devices to introduce children to the world of imaginative learning.

They not only learn through imaginative activities but also become better at maths while at it because the abacus ultimately is a mathematical device.

We can conclude by saying that imaginative play is essential for every child these days.

 

 

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