Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Apr 03/02) - There's a special place a group of students at Leo Ussak elementary school in Rankin Inlet get to visit every school morning.

It's a wondrous place, full of pirates, policemen, doctors, fire chiefs, magicians, princesses, fair maidens and jungle explorers.

The students enjoy their 40 minutes or so every morning with teacher Trina Turner and student special assistant Madeline Sandy.

For here, they get to don costumes and take a special trip to fantasy land.

The school ordered a number of costumes earlier this year for the Imagination Centre's tickle trunk.

Turner says once the kids get all dressed up, they make up their own fantasy games using their imaginations.

And, she adds, the play time has an extra added bonus of helping the kids develop other skills.

"The costume clothing not only helps the students expand their imagination skills, but it also helps dramatically with their vocal skills and language development," says Turner.

The kids are oblivious, for the most part, to the adults in the room as they venture off in search of bad guys, riches and people in distress.

They all have their favourite characters.

Moses Kavik dresses up as a policeman almost every day and Yvonne Kubluitok enjoys being a princess.

She even has her very own magic wand.

They work well together as a team. And, as any imaginary character worth their weight in gold knows -- co-operation is a necessary ingredient to any successful exploration.

"The costumes help the kids develop their social skills," says Turner.

"You notice there's lots of talking and socializing among the group when they're within the environment they create with their imaginary games. They learn the value of co-operation as they learn to play together."