Set Your Kids’ Imaginations Free With These 3 Smol Products

There’s a reason why doll houses, blocks, and playdough never lose popularity with kids.

Each of these toys encourage open-ended play, which means they encourage kids to design worlds and tell stories. There are no rules!

Smol products are designed to have the same effect. It’s easy for your kids to shapeshift their simple designs into whatever they dream up–spaceships, castles, raceways, and so much more.

The next time you set up a Smol product for your littles, help their creative wheels start turning by pushing the boundaries of their imaginations. Just because you’re a “boring grownup” doesn’t mean you don’t have that imaginative spark inside you.

Here are a few ideas that will help you encourage open-ended play with three of Smol’s newest additions.

Smol Space

Transform your Smol Space into a world of make-believe. Its storybook-inspired design makes it a blank canvas for hundreds of pretend scenarios your kids will turn into reality.

It’s likely your kids won’t need a nudge to get the imaginary wheels turning, but just in case, here are a few ideas.

1. Set up a tea party with this adorable MeetLalo wooden tea set and all of their stuffed animal friends. 
2. Fairy school is in session! Dress up in your best pixie gear and play school in a toadstool. There are so many fun things good fairies need to learn.
3. Birthday party, anyone? Invite all of your Disney character friends to one of your child’s favorite toys’ special day. Serve food (real or plastic), play games, and dance to your favorite songs.
4. Turn the space into a hideout. Maybe it’s where a den of bears is hibernating for the winter. Maybe it’s a refuge for Rapunzel after she has escaped from her tower. There is no limit to your creativity.

Mini Tumble 

Parents love the Mini Tumble for toddlers and preschoolers, and they love how the newest version of the mini doubles as a car playmat. The “floor” of this new bounce house is covered with winding roads. Here are a few ways to encourage pretend play in your Mini Tumble.

1. Host a Grand Prix. Tell your kids to start their engines as they rev up their cars on the starting line. Have them race their cars around a predetermined course or time them to see how fast they can make their cars go.
2. Run Errands. This game might sound like a drag for parents, but kids love to pretend they are living that grownup life. Have them stop at different places in the city to grab groceries and pick up laundry. 
3. Go on a Police Chase. Bad guy vs. good guy is always a hit. Pretend your cars are saving the day in pursuit of a villain who is up to no good in the neighborhood.

Obstacle Course

The Smol Course takes “bounce house” to the next level. For your adventurous littles, this is the perfect pretend world to explore.

1. Mini Amazing Race. Ready, set, go! Time your kids as they race from the course’s entrance to the slide finish line. See who can crawl through the tunnels, over the mountain, through the obstacles, and down the slide. Hand out medals or trophies from the Dollar Store to celebrate!
2. Wilderness Adventure. Pretend you’re in a vast desert or jungle searching for lost treasure. To find it, though, you need to scale mountains, test your fears, and go where no child has gone before. We have a feeling your kids’ imaginations will go wild with this one.

No matter what your kids’ imaginations come up with while playing with Smol, the memories they’ll make with siblings and friends will last a lifetime. Sometimes all it takes is a new environment to transport them to that make believe world.