Anonymous wrote:Does the other 3yo have an older sibling? That could play a factor, too.

It’s this. Whether it’s siblings or friends, the other kid is used to having unsupervised playtime with other kids.

Similar to a PP, my DS really wasnt creative in his play as a preschooler But shows a great deal of creativity in different ways now that he’s older. He liked puzzles, and building, and physical play but not action figures or narrating stories and had to be prompted to engage in pretend play. He also hated anything artistic.

As he’s gotten older, that hasn’t changed much, though his creativity shines in other ways. He’s a great writer with a really funny “voice”, he’s designed party and board games with elaborate levels and rules and various “money making” schemes, and at his fifth grade conference his teacher described him as a classroom leader on assignments.

Kids are just different. It’s nothing to worry about

Anonymous wrote:Probably a mix of nature and nurture.

Screens foster creativity: movies, shows, etc.

Barbies and other dolls foster creativity. Ditto for dress ups and tea sets and pirate swords.

Musicals and music in general foster creativity.

Building pillow forts and playhouses foster creativity.

+1. My DD has been great at pretend play since she was 3. Yes, she watches shows and her favorite is Frozen. Shocking I know. She has two figurines, Elsa and Anna and it has been amusing to hear the conversations she created for the sisters. She goes to a play based school and I think it’s the right fit for her personality. Any random household item can be turned into something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shockingly, people are different.

+1

Seriously. How is this a mystery to you people?

You are not building a child from scratch. They come with their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses.

+2

And it’s so strange to me... people are worried about imagination in children, but then condemn it later, when that same kid isn’t an STEM major, and learns towards more creative /artistic fields. Suddenly the same kid isn’t “serious enough about academics”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montessori does not value fantasy and imaginative play. It is not something they encourage.

PP from above: my extremely imaginative kid still finds ways to use his imagination in Montessori and it is encouraged.

Huh. My kid, who likely gets more screen time than most, also comes up with amazing stories, and can play imaginative things for hours.

There's a wide, wide range of normal development in the under 5 crowd. Just because your DD isn't into imaginative play now doesn't mean that she won't blossom in that direction in time. (My son really started to get into imaginative play at about 3 years and 2 mos. You might find the change comes soon.) And while yes, it might help if she attended a school that fostered imaginative play, there's nothing stopping her from doing it at home now if you provide her with the tools (e.g., toys). We built a space ship from amazon boxes and have had many, many voyages.

We have twins and one of them is more creative verbally (like when they are playing together). She is usually narrating a very creative, interesting story for the game.

Now that they are in 1st grade, they have writing exercises. The one who is very verbally creative struggles to write a story. The quieter one who does not come up with as many stories for the games writes much more complex and interesting stories. I did not realize there would be such a difference between verbal and writing skills. Perhaps your daughter is more creative in different ways.

You have one 3 year old DD?

Some thoughts...

1) She’s still really young. My older 2 are pretty creative but I can’t tell yet if my 4 year old is, so I don’t know how you would be trying to figure out a 3 year old.

2) Does she play by herself at all or does it always have to be with you? I gave my kids a lot of unstructured free play time when they were young. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but it can’t hurt.

3) My husband and I are not in creative fields really, but we appreciate the arts and are pretty open minded. When are kids think out of the box we let them and go along with it, whether that means dressing themselves in crazy outfits or rearranging all the chairs in the living room to make a train.

Anonymous wrote:
You are not building a child from scratch. They come with their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses.

I think I want to get this as a tattoo.

— mother of 3 kids who couldn’t be more different from each other

All children have very active imaginations. The key is not to lose it.

Some kids will grow up to be painters, screenwriters, authors, choreographers, entrepreneurs, fashion designers, actors, etc. They are creative, imaginative people. It’s not because they didn’t have screentime as a kid or went to play-based nursery school.

Anonymous wrote:Shockingly, people are different.

+1

Seriously. How is this a mystery to you people?

You are not building a child from scratch. They come with their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses.

Montessori forbids classroom objects to be used in imaginative play. They are only allowed to be used for their intended purpose. If you pick up a string of beads and pretend they are snake, the teacher will stop that activity and remind the student the beads are used for counting only.

You won't see a play kitchen in a Montessori classroom because Maria Montessori thought it was better for children to learn how to actually clean and cook with real items. So you can't pretend you are cooking up the snake you made the beads to serve your friends or put some blocks in the oven and pretend you are making a birthday cake.

That was a deal breaker for me. I don't understand why Montessori is so popular.

Shockingly, people are different.

Anonymous wrote:Montessori actively discourages kids from pretending.

This! Will never forget when my 2 year old had a Montessori "interview" and the teacher corrected him when was using his imagination. I knew then that Montessori was not right for him.