Stretch your imagination muscles with our favorite picture books all about pretending! These librarian-picked books are fun and funny and perfect for a family read aloud…
#10 Mitchell’s License by Hallie Durand
Mitchell never wants to go to bed until, at the age of three years, nine months, and five days he gets his license so that he can drive there–at least until he and “the car” have a disagreement about what fuel goes in the tank.
#9 Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
A ladybug invites the reader to play a game of “let’s pretend.”
#8 Space Boy by Leo Landry
Having decided not to go to bed because his home is too noisy, Nicholas flies his spaceship to the Moon, where he enjoys a snack, takes a moonwalk, and enjoys the quiet–until he realizes what he is missing at home.
#7 Sally and the Purple Socks by Lisze Bechtold
When her tiny purple socks start to expand, Sally turns them into a scarf and then curtains, but things soon get out of hand.
#6 Peg Leg Peke by Brie Spangler
When Peke, a pekingese puppy breaks his leg, he fantasizes that he is a pirate in search of buried treasure.
#5 Alexander’s Pretending Day by Bunny Crumpacker
When Alexander asks his mother questions, they use their imaginations to play together
#4 My Garden by Kevin Henkes
After helping her mother weed, water, and chase the rabbits from their garden, a young girl imagines her dream garden complete with jellybean bushes, chocolate rabbits, and tomatoes the size of beach balls.
#3 Lets Do Nothing by Tony Fucile
Frankie and Sal have run out of things to do: “We’ve played every sport ever invented” and “baked enough cookies to feed a small country–” Then Sal hits upon a solution: “Let’s do nothing!” How hard could that be?
#2 Chalk by Bill Thomson
A wordless picture book about three children who go to a park on a rainy day, find some chalk, and draw pictures that come to life.
#1 Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
To an imaginative bunny, a box is not always just a box.
Imaginative play is not only fun, it is crucial to your child’s development and it supports early literacy. Pretending encourages extended vocabulary use, narrative skills and gives children a way to problem-solve and explore new interests in a safe environment. For more reasons why an imagination is your child’s greatest tool, read this article from the Scholastic web site.
Not sure how to encourage imaginative play in your kids? Check out these tips from the Frugal-Mama site.
What is your favorite imagination book?
