Encourage Dress Up and Make Believe Play:
Collect dress up clothes and items that represent different types of people and various future careers. Yard sales, thrift shops, friends and your own attic can provide a spectrum of imagination-stimulating items. Tools for doctors, gardeners, auto mechanics, ballerinas and more can all help your daughter enjoy make believe play. Play with her. Encourage her to use facial expressions and body movements to express the different characters, their activities, and their feelings.
• How does the gardener feel when the sunflower grows tall?
• How does the gardener show her feelings on her face?
• How does the mechanic feel when she gets the car humming?
• What is she doing with her body that tells us she’s happy?
• Oh, and that face tells me the ballerina is proud of her performance.
Great for social and cognitive development.
For more ideas, check out 101 Ways to Help Your Daughter Love Her Body by Brenda Lane Richardson and Elane Rehr.