How KAZOOPS Will Encourage Imaginative Play in your Child

One of the fundamental principals of child development I learnt when I was at Uni was that children learn through play. They make sense of their world, act out familiar experiences when playing and use their imaginations to process and solidify their understanding. Just a few examples you may have seen or experienced include home corner play, acting out "mums and dads", feeding dolls, pushing trains along a train track, making animal noises as they play with toys - it's all imaginary play! They are learning while they're playing and using their imaginations. An essential ingredient to a well rounded childhood.

The TV show Kazoops is embracing this philosophy as imagination is the key theme throughout each episode. Targeted to preschoolers, young children will be encouraged to use their own imaginations as they watch, and chances are it will spark some learning through play experiences of their own.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. 

Remember before iPads and You Tube when the only option was what was on TV at the time? Sesame street at 9:00 am followed by Play School at 9:30? Well these days, children literally have hundreds of TV shows at their finger tips! So you might as well be sure the ones they have access to have your tick of approval (I love to use the "filter" function on the ABC Kids iView app).  And better yet if they're educational (which you may not have realised with Kazoops!).

Image Credit - Seriously Milestones Instagram

Kazoops encourages critical thinking and problem solving - two very important skills for this generation of children. Key characters Monty with his sidekick Jimmy Jones are teleported (along with the viewer) into an imaginary world in every episode. The animation shifts in style so you know you're no longer in Monty's real world, you are now in his imagination. The imaginary world is brighter, bolder and sillier! The story lines of each 7 minute episodes are lighthearted with joyful original songs sprinkled throughout.

The vintage furnishings throughout the family home remind me of my Nana's house. The carpet, the curtains, the wallpaper, the couch are oh so 70s. But somehow the contrasting colours and bold patterns work just right with the theme of Kazoops.

Thanks to the team at Cheeky Little, we were sent some fun Kazoops products to try including two story books, an activity book and a sticker book. One of the stories "I am Monty" illustrates how family members can be quite similar to one another in many ways for example their love of music or their knack for fixing things. When Monty goes into his imaginary world he observes fish, penguins, polar bears and birds in their family groups and notices the similarities with his own world.

I love the book "The Night's Alright" - it's the perfect bed time story! Jimmy Jones and Monty (well the whole family in fact) are being noisy, busy and are just not sleepy yet! So off they go into imaginary land again - and they end up at a fair with creatures, roller coaster rides, ballerinas and bats. This certainly tires them out and when they return to the real world snuggled up in their real beds, they are ready to fall asleep.

The Sticker and Activity books are filled with colourful pages from the TV series with lots of educational activities included such as look and find, odd one out, mazes, drawing, colouring, dot to dot, spot the difference, counting as well as lots of tasks that will require little ones to use their imaginations...Hours of fun!

Want more? Here are some helpful links for more Kazoops fun.

• Watch Kazoops on ABC Kids 
• Print and colour these cool activity sheets 
• Fun craft to make and do
• You can even find some Kazoops inspired recipe ideas here!

And tomorrow I have a super exciting interview with the producer of Kazoops! That's a first for Teacher Types. How exciting!

Lauren