The Power of Pretend Play for Children
How make-believe helps kids develop emotional and social skills
Clinical Expert: Kathryn L. Keough, PhD
en EspañolPretend play, also known as imaginative play, provides a powerful and fun make-believe context for children to express their creativity and develop social and emotional skills. Pretend play evolves as children grow.
Two-year-old children begin to act out scenarios with stuffed animals, dolls, or figures, and they tend to use these realistic toys to mimic familiar events. For instance, a two-year old may play by having their stuffed dog walk and drink out of a bowl.
Around age three, symbolic play emerges. This involves using one object as another or pretending an object has different properties than it actually has. This might look like a child pretending a box is a crib for their baby doll, having their block creation “meow” as a cat, or imagining an empty bowl is full as they feed their animal figures.
Beyond age three, pretend play becomes more complex and social in nature. Children begin to incorporate imaginary objects, create more detailed narratives and fantasy worlds, and engage in dramatic role-play with peers. Ages three to five are considered the “high season” of imaginative play, though pretend play continues into middle childhood.
Research shows that while kids have fun creating fantasy worlds and acting out stories they are developing their skills in key areas.
Benefits of Pretend Play
Kids who play pretend more often have stronger skills in a number of important areas.
- Creativity: Pretend play is open-ended, which means that there is no limit to the stories or worlds that kids can create. They can also think creatively about ways to use objects for new purposes or use the magic of their imaginations, like putting an invisible crown onto a friend to make them a king. This kind of play can support skill development in creative thinking and problem solving.
- Emotional skills: When playing pretend, kids get the chance to explore emotions in a unique way. They might practice soothing a crying baby doll or act out an angry monster. Kids who engage more in these kinds of play have stronger emotion knowledge and emotion regulation and control. Role playing may help them develop these skills by expressing differing emotions than those they are feeling in order to stay in character or fit the play situation.
- Social skills: Pretend play with siblings and other children provides a natural opportunity for kids to build upon their social skills, as they work to pick roles, create a shared world and storyline, and resolve any conflicts that arise. Pretend play appears to support the development of theory-of-mind, which is the ability to recognize that other people may have different beliefs, intentions, thoughts, and feelings.
- Executive functioning: In pretend play, kids actively use their executive functioning skills to understand and maintain the boundary between make-believe and reality. Kids who play pretend have stronger skills in areas like short-term memory and flexible thinking, and they are more able to keep up their efforts to achieve a goal.
- Language and communication: Pretend play appears to support kids’ language development. Kids whose play involves elaborative make-believe stories and worlds have more advanced vocabularies and story retelling skills.
Pretend play is a way for children to work on important areas of development, while also building specific skills that have potential long-term benefits for socially, emotionally, academically, and beyond!
Supporting Pretend Play
You can promote pretend play and embrace the magic of your child’s imagination through the materials you provide and by playing along!
- Materials and toys: Realistic toys, like dolls and playsets, are the most helpful for getting toddlers and younger preschoolers engaged in pretend play. From about age 3 and up, dramatic play can be encouraged by providing a range of costumes and life-sized props. Kids can use these play materials, along with their imaginations, to take on endless roles and create their own fantasy worlds.
- Playing along: Grown-ups can encourage pretend play by joining in the fun! Though it is important for children to learn to play alone and with other children, there are also many benefits to parent-child play. Just 5 minutes a day of playtime can strengthen the parent-child relationship, especially if the parent joins the child’s play world and follows their lead. Parents can also encourage pretend play by modeling how to use objects creatively and by acting out characters.
References
The Child Mind Institute publishes articles based on extensive research and interviews with experts, including child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical neuropsychologists, pediatricians, and learning specialists. Other sources include peer-reviewed studies, government agencies, medical associations, and the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5). Articles are reviewed for accuracy, and we link to sources and list references where applicable. You can learn more by reading our editorial mission.
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