“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Albert Einstein
I tell all children that with an imagination one does not have to wait until adulthood to go where one wants to travel or become who one wants to be. When I was in the education field one of my jobs was to work with children to build their imaginations. Do you know why? The stronger the imagination the better reader a child will become! I discovered this fact one day when I read a book to a group of children. Each time a funny section came in the book it brought no response. After we read the book I showed the movie. Those funny sections that brought no result when reading the book brought giggles and laughs when they saw it. The problem was that these children could not imagine what was happening. They had to see it occur. I started working with the group to build their imagination and at the end everyone was better readers because they were not reading words, they were in the story too. They could empathize with the characters, they could see the scenery in their minds. Their comprehension soared because they could imagine what was going on.
One of the techniques I used was to find an interest the children had a passion for and if it included a cartoon character then we watched a segment and role played it afterwards. I still encourage children to have imaginations though I no longer work in the school system. I found two great products that I received for review in exchange for my honest opinion to share with you on how they will build an imagination and encourage role play.
Using the imagination to become a Pokémon Trainer
The first step to becoming a great Pokémon trainer is to gain the trust of your Pokemon and to combine play time with teaching the new companion battle moves to use in the arena.
Battle Moves Pikachu comes with a a hard plastic Pikachu appx. 13 inches long and 6 inches high. Watching the cartoons this seems to be a pretty good scale model compared to the size of the Pikachu in the animations. The wheels underneath help him to move forward and I did try this out on carpet and hard floor. He moved well on the carpet but moved faster on the hard floor surfaces. He is able to perform 3 signature moves. Pressing the brown stripes on his back determines the move he performs. Pushing his tail back with the electro ball on it and pressing both stripes allows him to attack while throwing the ball.
Battle Moves Pikachu is a wonderful tool to use to help any child imagine being a Pokémon trainer and establishing the discipline it takes to train and gain the trust of a loyal companion. The size of Pikachu is great to create the mood of having a life-like Pokemon to love and decorate a bedroom in a Pokemon theme.
Ash’s Arena Challenge
Accepting challenges and having battles in the arena are all a part of being a Pokémon trainer. Experiencing the thrills of the battle is what Ash’s Arena Challenge is all about! This set comes with Ash, Pikachu, and Wobbuffet figures. There are three buttons on the side of the arena that activates Pikachu to performing his Quick Attack, Thunderbolt and Iron Tail signature moves. These buttons also triggers music and voices to create a true arena experience. An added bonus is that most of the small size Pokémon figures are interchangeable in the arena. This allows Pokémon trainers to battle all day long challenging different Pokémons to determine the winner of each battle.
Product Dimensions (in inches):18.0 x 11.0 x 4.5
Both of these products are distributed by Tomy and are available in stores.
The holidays bring great opportunities to give the gift of imagination and a Pokémon trainer today may be a productive and empathetic leader in the future. A lot of great qualities are learned when inspiring some one to imagine how great they can become!
My guest writer, Grace Hodgin, is a ‘Creativity Creator! She believes that every moment has an opportunity to inspire the imagination and nurture creativity. She received the above items for review (disclosure) and all opinions are 100% honest and her own, and that of her grandkids!
Both of my boys are SOOOO into Pokemon. Last year for Halloween, they were Ash and Charmander!
My girls are still into Pokemon after all these years. They’re even talking about playing the card game again!
My son still loves Pokemon and he’s 18! They’re timeless!
I love Pokemon! I used to have the game on my Game Boy Pocket … yes, I grew up in the ’90s, lol.
My brothers were SUPER into Pokemon when they were kids! I wonder if my nephews are now- I still think the characters are super cute 😉
I know a lot of kids who love to use their imagination for these toys!! I’ll have to share this with them.
I have to admit to a certain Pokemon ignorance as I have no children. I do feel it’s vital for children to participate in imaginative play and to read.
I love imaginative play. We aren’t really into Pokemon, but the kids LOVE the cards!
When my boys were young, Pokemon was huge in our home. The characters spurred endless conversation, card games, trading, etc. Can’t beat that for stoking imagaination
Oh the Pokemon days. My oldest granddaughter was obsessed. Somewhere around here there is a card collection.
I’ve always loved Pokemon exactly for that reason, it allows kids to use their imagination. My nine year old loves anything having to do with Pikachu and Pokemon.
Oh how awesome. My one son is loving Pokemon right now so I would love to do this with him. Imaginative play is so important. I don’t know much about Pokemon my self!
I never really thought about it but have a super good imagination and am an AVID reader. I can see what is going on in my minds eye as I read! Imagination and anything that fosters it is A-OK in my book!
My kids love Pokemon. Imaginative play is really fun. I’d like to do this with my kids.