A Little Bit of Imagination

  Do you have a child with a latest obsession?  I do.  Correction.. The princess has twenty obsessions that she cycles through weekly, sometimes daily!  At the moment, she loves Pirates.  Jake and the Neverland Pirates from Disney JR has been making an appearance on our television set.  This show does not have as much of an educational value as I usually like to see in children's programing, but it is something that has attracted the princess' attention.  I can usually make use of any obsession.
    As I was cleaning up a Mancala game, I realized that the little pieces resembled jewels.  I gathered my supplies and got to work.  First, I cut a piece of paper into several little squares.  Then, I wrote a number on each square.  Quickly, I got to looking for something to be a treasure chest.  At this point, the Princess was intrigued; I had to think fast.  I usually prefer to prepare our activities at night, but in times like this I feel inspired and start working right away.  There was nothing that resembled a treasure box to be found! I just have to work a little faster, if I do not prepare in advance.   I settled for a small food container from the kitchen.  Lucky for me, the princess has a well-developed imagination!  I also grabbed the princess' favorite little pink purse. As I ran around, I kept hearing "What are we going to do.  What are we going to do."  At this point, you are probably wondering the same thing.
    What were doing?  A treasure hunt!  We have been working on recognizing larger numbers and counting to 100; this game was going to help us.  The princess was able to assist me with the rest of the preparations.  She counted thirty pieces of "treasure" and put them in the "treasure box."  Then, we hid those little squares throughout the living room.  It was time to play!  The idea was simple.  She was going to find a number and bring it to me and read the number.  If she got it right, she got a piece of treasure.If she did not read the number correctly, the pirate (yours truly) got a piece of treasure.  I do not recommend this win-lose method for every child, but it works well for us.  The princess decided to add a little bit more drama to the game.  She did not want to be herself, but appropriately, a princess.  I also could not just sit there and speak nicely if I was a pirate.  I had to make pirate sounds as she found the treasure. What was I thinking, trying to sit peacefully and relax;   We had a game to play! She also occasionally created a storyline for us to follow that went along with the game. 
    We were both pleased with how our little treasure hunt went.  She got to use her imagination, play princess and pirates, and practice recognizing numbers at the same time!  Sometimes preparation and guidelines are needed for a smooth game.  Other times, you can just throw things together and put both of your imaginations to good use!