When preschooler learns about imagination

If passer byes peek through our kitchen window I have a feeling they would be pretty surprised by what they could see. It’s now not uncommon that I’m running around our kitchen island with three-year-old Big Girl chasing me with a carrot.

It’s our new favourite game, which is called ‘feed the guinea pig’.

Big Girl invented the game after attending a Never Run Out event for HP Instant Ink, printers that order ink for you. We were at the London event to celebrate the release of the HP-sponsored book Harrison and Hugo’s Imaginary Zoo and the theme was ‘never run out of imagination’. There were talks about both imaginary creatures and real ones, and Big Girl got to feed (read: chase) some of the real animals with carrots.

After returning home from the event Big Girl was clearly inspired as usual. Our task was to come up with our own imaginary creature to add to the book, and in our case, it had to be an imaginary fast and fluffy guinea pig, Big Girl’s favourite animal in the feeding session and the inspiration for our new kitchen game.

Preschoolers know how to make life fun, and if it’s not fun enough they simply invent something or someone that would make their day more exciting. As a mum, I’ve been amazed by the level of imagination I witness–and sometimes a bit worried–but as Big Girl grows up and games like our imaginary guinea pig chasing become less frequent I realise I might need to remind her to remain creative and keep the imagination alive. Imaginative play keeps putting a smile on my face these days.

Please, never run out.

Tags: Harrison and Hugo's Imaginary Zoo, HP Instant Ink, Imaginary creature, Imaginative play, Pretend play