Play and creativity took centre stage at the Chad Valley event as the children were welcomed to colour and draw at "cardboard castle", Pippa discovered remote controls for a giant spider and flashing eyed snake, while a giant inflatable dinosaur played with her and she looped the loop on a race track underneath a giant kitchen table before diving into a bath full of balls almost vanishing under them while pretending to be in a yellow submarine.
Creativity was everywhere. However, according to research undertaken by Chad Valley, 65 per cent of Brits feel they are losing their imagination as they become older. This is in direct contrast to 60 per cent of four year olds who love to create different scenarios with their toys. "Pressures of life" were cited by a third of respondents as the main reason adults lack a creative spark.
The research showed that 70 per cent of parents love watching their children use their imagination to invent and create yet one in ten feel inhibited and lack confidence when it comes to playing with the children themselves and believe they could boost their own confidence by playing more.
Chad Valley's wide range of toys (there are over 300 available) is full of creative opportunities for role play from play kitchens to cash registers via metal drum sets, board games, ride on vehicles and a vast range of creative materials. The Chad Valley event created life sized environments straight from children's imaginations – pirate ships and castles, seaside scenes and formula one pit-stops. The children needed no encouragement to immerse themselves in the toys.
Pippa was delighted by the entire event and dived into the first game she saw – a remote control loop the loop race track. As a parent it felt important to let Pippa dictate how long she played with the cars rather than rush her on to find the next excitement and sure enough she raced the cars for ages before spotting the cardboard castle and huge art set.
During the afternoon Pippa and I joined author and illustrator Alex T Smith's Imagination Session where he showed us how to turn a doodle into a mouse and encouraged creative story telling from found objects. The session was also hosted by play expert Dr Richard Woolfson and was designed to boost adults' imaginations. Alex T Smith is working with Chad Valley to help people in the UK discover their imagination. He had all sorts of tips for stimulating our imaginations including changing simple actions and breaking up the normal routine to doodling something everyday into something more imaginative.
Pippa was delighted to go home with a new furry Chad Valley friend and proceeded to spend the rest of the day making passports and miniature books for this and every other toy in the house.
Chad Valley toys are available exclusively at Argos.