When I asked the kids in my class this question, there were several answers. Scary, dangerous, and exciting.

So today, we channeled our inner birds and were ready to fly.

Once we went outside, we were in a fly-only zone; our arms were now wings. We tested our wings out, running toward wide open spaces.

They were twirling and flapping arms with exaggerated moves of different birds. They were all screaming. “We are birds; we are flying!”

When imaginary play occurs, childhood takes on a life of its own—reaching into their minds to explore new ideas. The only piece of the activity I gave them was that they were birds.

During our fly time, the outdoor sprinklers came on, and in character, they all flew through the sprinklers laughing. Their eyes were on me, waiting to tell them to stop getting wet, but I never did.

Pretend play allows for the developmental growth of social skills, and language development encourages independence, increases creativity, and helps problem-solving skills.

Everyone challenged themself to jump off a rock to see what it would feel like to fly.

After our fly time, we collected all types of nature for a craft. Sticks, rocks, leaves. Etc. In addition to flying, we then constructed birds from our materials.

They incorporate large and small motor skills, creativity, and imagination while creating their bird.

Movement is critical for our kids. Finding ways to combine it with learning new skills and creative ways to develop imagination through pretend play.

Reading books and showing pictures of birds will also add to the journey.

We discussed where they would fly: Disneyland, the park, camping, the dentist, the doctor, and the ice cream shop.

Enjoy every adventure, pretend, imagine, and never forget to fly.