Making The Most Of The “Magical” Preschool Years (NAPSA)—In a hurried and hectic world, many parents would like to find a way to keep their children from growing up quite so fast. According to a recent Yankelovich survey, 72 percent of the mothers of preschoolers, ages 2 to 5, were “very concerned”that their children would grow up too quickly. To make the most of the “magical” preschool years, parents may want to encourage activities and toys that involve age-appropriate role playing. Early infant games like “peeka-boo” can be used to ease the anxiety of parent-child separation and for toddlers, elaborate make believe can help them to learn about the world and come to terms withit. Through pretend play and make believe, preschoolers learn to feel in control of a situation. By pretending to be the princess of their own kingdom, complete with costumes and props, girls can feel empowered and also much loved. Also, asking children to visualize one object as another—a cardboard tiara as a real one—helps them learn to visualize things and may give them a learning advantage when they get to school and haveto think in terms of symbols, such as numbers. Adorable, innocent, magical toys such as the My First Princess toy line from Fisher-Price, support role playing because they werecreated specially for preschoolers. MyFirst Princesses Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and Ariel look just the way they looked before “once upon a time” when they werelittle girls. Preschoolers will find it easier to relate to My First To nurture age-appropriate play, the Spin ’N Surprise Castle features three different princesses. Princess because they look just like them. Playing out these storybook themes enables moms to engage their daughters in interactive, fantasy play with safe and familiar themes. The fantasy begins with Disney’s My First Princess Spin ’N Surprise Castle featuring three princesses in three castles, each section themed to a different princess, Cinderella, Belle and Snow White. In each section, little girls can press the character icon to hear one of the character phrases, a melody or sound effects, and see lights. The My First Princess line also features toys that enhance creative play with Dress ’N Spin Cinderella, as well as interactive play with Bathtime Ariel, Bedtime Cin- derella and Musical TV Storybook. For more information on the Disney Line of Toys by FisherPrice, call 1-800-432-KIDS (5437).
