Development of a Child's Imagination

The ability to imagine is a unique human experience and deserves to be nurtured and encouraged. Dr. Maria Montessori believed that the development of the child’s imagination and creativity are inborn powers within the child that develops as his mental capacities are established through his interaction with the environment. The cultural activities in a Montessori prepared environment helps to foster imaginative skills in the early years which make significant difference in a child’s future development. The children while being educated are encouraged to imagine. This freedom of mind helps them to connect the environment with their imaginations to construct meaningful ideas and pictures. It is like setting a butterfly free to roam from flower to flower from tree to bushes mapping the environment around for recognisation. Imagination makes the brain work hard. As Jacqueline Harding writes,” When children imagine and pretend they break through an important mental barrier. The ability to be creative and imaginative allows the brain to make connections between one area of learning and another. The part of the brain responsible for imagination is located in the frontal lobes and also helps to facilitate reflection, empathy, play and creativity”1. When children engage in imagination and creativity, their brains are signal processing at a higher level: they are literally seeing, sensing, hearing and feeling more of the world Imagination is the faculty through which we encounter everything. The things that we touch, see and hear coalesce into a "picture" via our imagination. Imagination is the power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality. It is a creative ability or mental capacity for experiencing, constructing and manipulating mental images. From an early age, children engage in imagining, pretending and role-play. It is this habit that is encouraged in a Montessori environment. From as early as an year...