Imaginative Play Ideas for Children: What Can a Stick Become?
Looking for imaginative play ideas for children that don’t require expensive toys, elaborate planning or endless resources?
Sometimes all a child needs is something ordinary and the freedom to decide that it is something completely different.
A stick becomes a fishing rod.
A box becomes a rocket.
A puddle becomes an ocean.
That ability to transform everyday objects through imagination sits at the heart of open-ended play.
In this episode of The Muddy Puddle Teacher Podcast, Sarah chats with award-winning children’s author and illustrator Antoinette Portis, creator of the much-loved picture books Not a Stick and Not a Box.
Together they explore child-led play, imagination, storytelling and the wonderful things that can happen when adults resist the urge to tell children what something is supposed to be.
For teachers and early years practitioners, it is a lovely reminder that some of the richest learning opportunities are also the simplest.
New to Outdoor Learning? Explore Beginners Guide to Outdoor Learning.
For younger children head to the Early Years Outdoors Hub.
Why Is Imaginative Play Important for Children?
Imaginative play gives children something incredibly valuable.
Ownership.
When children decide that a stick is a horse, a magic wand or a dragon’s tail, there is no adult-designed outcome they are trying to reach.
They are creating the rules.
They are deciding what happens next.
That process can naturally involve language, storytelling, negotiation, problem-solving, movement and creativity.
Children might change an idea halfway through.
They might invite another child into the story.
They may disagree about what an object represents and have to negotiate.
They might discover that their original idea does not quite work and adapt it.
There is a huge amount of learning taking place inside something that, from the outside, simply looks like play.
For more loose parts ideas discover : Large Loose Parts Play Ideas.
What Is Open-Ended Play?
Open-ended play is play without one fixed outcome.
There isn’t necessarily a right answer, finished model or prescribed way of using the resources.
A jigsaw has a particular outcome.
A stick doesn’t.
A box doesn’t.
Mud doesn’t.
Water doesn’t.
A collection of stones doesn’t.
Children decide what happens.
This is why natural and everyday objects can be such powerful play resources.
They require imagination to complete them.
Rather than presenting children with an object that already tells them exactly what it is and what it does, we leave space for the child to provide the story.
LINK: Outdoor Learning Pillar Page
Antoinette Portis and the Power of “Not a Stick”
Antoinette Portis’s Not a Stick celebrates exactly this idea.
The story follows a child’s ability to transform a simple stick through imagination. It might appear to be an ordinary stick to an adult, but within the child’s play it becomes something much more exciting.
The book followed Antoinette’s hugely successful Not a Box, which similarly explores how an ordinary cardboard box can become almost anything when viewed through a child’s imagination. Not a Box was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and received a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor.
Not a Stick takes the same concept outdoors.
Give a child a stick and suddenly you have a resource with hundreds of possibilities.
Not because the adult has planned hundreds of activities.
Because the child has hundreds of ideas.
About Our Guest: Antoinette Portis
Antoinette Portis is an award-winning children’s author and illustrator best known for the internationally successful picture books Not a Box and Not a Stick.
Before becoming a children’s author, Antoinette studied at the UCLA School of Fine Arts and worked within design and advertising. She later became a creative director and vice president at Disney before leaving the corporate world to pursue her long-held ambition of writing and illustrating children’s books.
Her debut picture book, Not a Box, became a New York Times bestseller and was recognised as both a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. Her other acclaimed books include A Penguin Story, Hey, Water! and A New Green Day.
The idea behind Not a Box grew partly from Antoinette’s own memories of childhood play, particularly the ability to transform an ordinary cardboard box into something extraordinary through imagination.
That same philosophy is at the centre of Not a Stick.
Find Antoinette Portis
Website: antoinetteportis.com
Instagram: @bathingonthemoon
X / Twitter: @aportisa
Facebook: Antoinette Portis
Books: Not a Stick, Not a Box and many more children’s picture books
🎧 Listen to Sarah’s full conversation with Antoinette Portis on The Muddy Puddle Teacher Podcast.
Why Children Need Ordinary Objects
Children are surrounded by toys and resources designed specifically for them.
Many are wonderful.
But children also benefit from objects that haven’t already had their purpose decided.
A beautifully detailed toy horse is already a horse.
A stick requires the child to imagine the horse.
That difference matters.
With open-ended resources, children are not just consuming somebody else’s idea.
They are generating their own.
At The Muddy Puddle Teacher®, we love this stripped-back approach to play.
It is not about creating an empty environment.
It is about considering whether every resource needs to provide the answer before the child has even started playing.
Sometimes fewer instructions can create more thinking.
LINK: Early Years Outdoor Play Ideas
Try This Tomorrow: “It’s Not a Stick”
This is incredibly simple.
Take a small collection of suitable sticks outside and place them where children can access them.
Do not immediately announce an activity.
Instead, later in the session, pick up one stick and ask:
“If this wasn’t a stick, what could it be?”
Then stop talking.
Give children time.
You might hear:
“A wand.”
“A dinosaur bone.”
“A microphone.”
“A spoon for a giant.”
“A telescope.”
“A magic key.”
Once children begin playing, allow the idea to grow.
There is no need to create twenty laminated activity cards.
The children are creating the activity themselves.
This can naturally lead into storytelling, drama, vocabulary, collaborative play and communication.
For more ideas on literacy head to the English Outdoors Hub.
Imaginative Play and Language Development
Pretend play gives children reasons to communicate.
Imagine two children decide that their sticks are magic wands.
Suddenly they need language to explain the spell.
They create characters.
They negotiate what happens.
They sequence events.
They invent vocabulary.
One child’s idea triggers another child’s response.
None of this necessarily feels like a literacy lesson to the child.
But rich language is happening everywhere.
This is why imaginative play can sit beautifully alongside communication and language development in the early years.
Rather than always asking children to demonstrate language through adult-directed tasks, play gives them something meaningful to communicate about.
Imagination Before Recording
Children can often tell us far more than they are able to write down.
That gap matters.
A child may create an extraordinary fantasy world outdoors, complete with characters, problems, settings and adventures, then become completely stuck when presented with a blank sheet of paper.
That doesn’t mean the child lacks ideas.
The difficulty might be transferring those ideas into written form.
Giving children opportunities to talk, act, build and physically experience stories before recording them can provide a much richer starting point for writing.
Play does not have to sit separately from literacy.
Sometimes play is where the story begins.
Open-Ended Play and SEND
Open-ended resources can also provide flexibility for children with different needs.
There is no single correct way to interact with a stick, box, stone or loose part.
One child may create an elaborate imaginary story.
Another may line sticks up according to size.
Another might enjoy collecting them.
Another may build with them.
Another might simply explore their shape, weight or texture.
The resource adapts to the child rather than requiring every child to complete exactly the same task.
For children who find highly directed activities challenging, that flexibility can offer another route into engagement.
Adults can observe what interests the child and build from there.
For more bespoke ideas head to the SEND Outdoors Hub.
Should Adults Join Children’s Imaginative Play?
Sometimes.
But we need to think carefully about how we join.
Adults can support play wonderfully through genuine curiosity.
“What happened next?”
“Where are you travelling?”
“I wonder what that could become?”
But there is a difference between extending children’s ideas and taking control of them.
If a child tells us their stick is a dragon, we do not necessarily need to immediately design a dragon lesson.
We can simply enter their world for a moment.
Follow the child’s idea.
Add language when it helps.
Then allow the child to lead again.
Outdoor Play Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Teachers are busy.
Outdoor provision can sometimes become another area where we feel pressure to continuously create something new.
New trays.
New themes.
New laminated prompts.
New equipment.
But strong outdoor play does not have to mean constantly adding more.
It can mean slowing down and asking:
What could children do if we gave them more freedom with less?
A cardboard box.
Some fabric.
A pile of sticks.
Mud.
Water.
Stones.
Space.
Time.
Imagination often fills in everything else.
Want More Imaginative Outdoor Play Ideas?
The Muddy Puddle Teacher® helps teachers, early years practitioners and schools make learning more active, playful, sustainable and connected to the natural world.
Inside our library you will find teacher-created resources for Outdoor Learning, Outdoor Play, Early Years, KS1, KS2 and SEND.
Our aim isn’t to replace play with more worksheets.
It is to give busy educators practical support so they feel confident allowing children to learn differently.
You can also receive practical outdoor learning ideas, inspiration and CPD through our free Muddy Puddle Teacher Magazine.
Listen to Antoinette Portis on The Muddy Puddle Teacher Podcast
In this episode of The Muddy Puddle Teacher Podcast, Sarah Seaman talks with Antoinette Portis about imagination, art, child-led play and how everyday objects can become extraordinary when we allow children to see them differently.
The episode explores the thinking behind Not a Stick and Not a Box and celebrates the creativity found in simple, open-ended play.
🎧 S2 E2: Come and Imagine — When a Stick’s Not a Stick with Author Antoinette Portis
FAQs
What is imaginative play?
Imaginative play is when children create pretend situations, characters, stories or meanings through play. An everyday object might represent something completely different, allowing children to develop their own ideas and play narratives.
What are some simple imaginative play ideas for children?
Start with open-ended materials rather than creating a complicated activity. Sticks, cardboard boxes, fabric, stones and natural materials can all encourage children to invent their own uses and stories.
Why is imaginative play important in early years?
Imaginative play can support communication, creativity, problem-solving, storytelling, collaboration and social development. It also gives children opportunities to explore ideas independently.
What is open-ended play?
Open-ended play has no single predetermined outcome. Children decide how resources are used, what happens next and when the play changes direction.
Is Not a Stick a good book for EYFS?
Not a Stick is particularly relevant to early years because it celebrates pretend play and shows how an ordinary object can become many different things through a child’s imagination.
About the Author
Written by Sarah Seaman PGCE MA
Founder of The Muddy Puddle Teacher®
Teacher for over 19 years
Bloomsbury author
Trainer of thousands of teachers across the UK
Sarah created The Muddy Puddle Teacher® approach to help schools make learning more active, playful, sustainable and connected to the natural world.
