We are all born with this ability to visualize or see imaginary mental
reproductions of things which we have seen before. By the use of the
imagination we combine parts of these pictures into new ones and thus
are able to construct a mind's eye picture which may never have existed
in fact.
Children possess this faculty in a marked degree; they use it
continuously and unconsciously. They can also see their visual picture
much more clearly than their parents can, unless they have continued
to use the faculty consciously. Many children amuse themselves by the
hour in playing with imaginary playmates, and will talk to them as
interestedly as if they were really present. To the child they are
present, he actually sees them and also visualizes the conditions under
which he is playing.
The child should be given a conscious understanding of the mind's eye
picture and what is meant by visualization. Teach him that when you
ask him to visualize, you mean for him to see clearly the mind's eye
picture of the thing referred to. The first exercises in visualization
are for the purpose of developing a clear visual picture.