There would be a phase in your child’s life when he’ll constantly tug your sleeve, ask you to take him to the park or to the zoo or to Neverland or to wherever place his playful mind tells him to. He’ll endlessly squirm and whine until you give in and take him for a stroll outside.

Strolling with your kid outside at least once a day to bask in the morning sun and to smell some fresh air is indeed beneficial to your kid’s well-being. But since you cannot afford to take him out every single minute or to bring him all the time to very far places, there is an alternative that you can use and this is to take your kid in an imaginary journey with his wooden train.

Upon completion of the wooden train set, your kid will call on you and proudly tell you that he’s done. Give him a pat on the back for the good job but tell him that the fun and games with his wooden train isn’t over yet. In fact it has only just begun.

First ask your kid where he wants his magical wooden train to take you and him. If he tells you he wants to go to the circus and see the animals perform, take out his Toy Trains Wooden and zoom away. Ask your kid to close his eyes and sit down and then pretend as if you’re whizzing away by making train sounds or playing train music in the background.

Tell him to imagine that you’re both in the circus arena. Ask him to picture the scenery of elephants standing on balls, clowns on unicycles juggling bottles, magicians making rabbits disappear and lions and monkeys doing all sorts of tricks. Imitate the voice of a circus ring master and announce the next performance. Don’t forget to describe vividly and in detail so that your kid will not have a hard time imagining.

Ask your kid about the things he sees so that it’s not you who does all the talking and the imagining. Be sure to encourage your kid to imagine as vividly as possible. If he talks about the animals in the circus, ask him what kinds of animals and what colors does he see, ask him to describe what the animals do.

Never make the mistake of dismissing the things he imagines as silly and nonsense because this will inhibit the flourishing of his imagination. For example, if he says he wants his wooden toy train to take him to outer space, don’t say that it’s not possible. Remember, anything is possible in your kid’s fantasy world.

This activity with his wooden trains is a worthwhile activity that you can use to bond with your kid and spend some time with him. Aside from that, the benefits from imaginative plays like this are very valuable as it works to maximize your kid creative imagination to its fullest extent.