If you have a young daughter, then you have most assuredly been introduced to My Little Pony® toy figures.
These vinyl toys have been a staple of many toy-boxes since their introduction by Hasbro© in 1981.
These mass-produced figurines come in a huge variety and each character has its own sticky-sweet name like Rainbow Dash, Minty, Sweet Berry, Rarity, and Thistle Whistle.
If the names alone didn't make these little mares irresistible to little girls, then their colorful tails and manes, "brands" painted to their flanks, and various adornments will definitely catch your daughter's eye in the toy-store.
Once a child's heart has been captured by one My Little Pony® character, others are sure to follow.
Many times these toys become one of the first collections a young girl pursues, always looking in the toy aisle for a different character to add to her growing stash of play pals.
Hasbro© has obliged this fascination by producing new and ever more adorable ponies, which now include unicorn and winged Pegasus-type characters.
So how does a caring parent get involved with their daughter's room full of plastic ponies? By getting down on the floor and playing out tea parties and visits to the Rainbow Castle, which will be to the ongoing delight of your child.
However, if parents end up playing regularly, the themes can become redundant as many times the play follows story lines the child has picked up from the simple My Little Pony® cartoon movies on the market.
Since this precious, quality time doesn't include a television or Nintendo®, it is important to propagate this one-on-one, imaginative play as much as possible.
Here are five theme ideas that can use several ponies at one sitting, adds some real world thinking skills and can ultimately add enjoyment to this time spent playing with your child.
1) COSTUME PARTY THEME: Have your daughter pick out eight ponies to come to a Costume Party at Rainbow Dash's home.
As each pony "arrives" to the party, you and your daughter take turns describing what kind of profession or specialty the pony is pretending to be "dressed" as.
For example, "I spend time in a fast car and I am wearing a helmet and gloves".
Rainbow Dash will then try to guess what the pony is dressed as, which in this case is a racecar driver.
Other professions that have unique outfits or jobs to describe can include a doctor, mechanic, zookeeper, librarian, grocery clerk, policeman, fire-fighter, and scientist.
2) NEW KID IN CLASS: Have your daughter pick out five ponies for a classroom and one pony to be the new kid in class.
The new kid comes in to introduce herself and each of the "classmates" introduced themselves by name and gives the month of their birthday, favorite color and their favorite subject in school.
The new kid then has to recite this information back to acknowledge each of her classmates.
When the child gets stumped, the parent can chime in with a reminder.
3) COOKING SHOW CLAMMER: Have your daughter pick out five ponies for an audience and one pony for the chef.
You are going to play out a cooking show theme, which will include each of the ponies requesting a special recipe to be made by the "chef".
As the chefbegins to put together the dish, the ponies all yell out what ingredients she must use and how to cook the specific food.
For example, Chocolate Chip Cookies would need flour, butter, eggs, salt, chips, and sugar.
Now mix into a mixing bowl.
Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake in the oven.
Other examples that have simple ingredients for girls to call out can be chocolate cake, omelet, pizza, spaghetti, and hamburgers with all the fixings.
4) DISNEY THEATRE: Have your daughter pick out a Disney classic movie she enjoys or has recently seen to become the stage play for the ponies.
Some ideas include Aladdin, Snow White, Cinderella, 101-Dalmations.
Then pick out appropriate number of ponies to become the actors.
Together you will act out the scenes to the movie and talk about which scene you each remember.
This can be very imaginative as you each take on the Disney character acting through the pony.
If you have soundtracks to a particular movie, it is fun to act out the play in musical style, having the ponies move while you both sing along.
5) ZOO IN THE HOUSE: You and your daughter will create a zoo using each of the ponies as a particular animal.
As the zookeeper, you will go from pony to pony while your child gives you a hint as to what animal the pony is portraying.
This can be done by making the animal's sound, or by expressing what the animal would like to eat.
For example, the pony that pretending to be a monkey, can ask the zookeeper for some bananas.
The zookeeper guesses right and feeds the monkey other things this animal would enjoy then moves on to the next "zoo animal".