Everything You Need To Know About Imaginative Play

Imaginative or pretend play, stimulates the senses, creates opportunities for exploration and creative thinking, and helps your child to develop key skills vital for intellectual and emotional growth as well as social success.

The first signs of pretend play emerge around 12 to 18 months. Your 18-month-old may try to feed their baby doll with a spoon, or pick up a block and bring it to their ear as a phone. Early forms of pretend play are largely solitary in nature. While your 2-year-old may enjoy the company of friends, a closer look at their play will tell you that each is under the spell of a separate fantasy.

It is not until after their 3rd or even 4th birthday that a child’s pretend play becomes truly interactive, although your child will continue to enjoy solitary pretend play activities with miniature toys (e.g. dolls houses, castles and small trucks) and props.

The years from three to six are generally thought of as the "golden years" of pretend or imaginative play; at no other time in your child's life will they be so immersed in a world of fantasy.

You can facilitate your child's play be providing them with props and toys. In the early stages children need realistic props such as irons, miniature figurines, kitchenware, medical kits, and gardening tools to get them started and to sustain their play, but as they get older and more comfortable with this form of play, unrealistic props are equally important (e.g., cardboard boxes, sticks, cartons). It is also good to include open-ended objects like colored blocks as these extend children's imagination with unlimited possibilities.

Older pre-schoolers will enjoy engaging in role-play and love to dress-up. Many role-plays involve simple imitation of adults; this helps your child to better understand what the world of adulthood is all about. If you are invited to participate (which at times you will be), take direction from your child as this is their world and they will relish the opportunity to be in-charge! When adults are overly intrusive in leading children's play, many of the intrinsic benefits are lost.

Develop wise, pretend play enhances children's self-confidence, self-awareness, and self-control. It stimulates children to think creatively, and improves memory, language and perspective-taking skills.

Imaginative play is the form of play that is most social and has the greatest impact on the development of key skills important for children's success with peers. When playing creatively with their friends, your child learns to cooperate and compromise, to participate in social activities, and to understand social relationships.

The information published herein is intended and strictly only for informational, educational, purposes and the same shall not be misconstrued as medical advice. If you are worried about your own health, or your child’s well being, seek immediate medical advice. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this website. Kimberly-Clark and/ or its subsidiaries assumes no liability for the interpretation and/or use of the information contained in this article. Further, while due care and caution has been taken to ensure that the content here is free from mistakes or omissions, Kimberly-Clark and/ or its subsidiaries makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information here, and to the extent permitted by law, Kimberly-Clark and/ or its subsidiaries do not accept any liability or responsibility for claims, errors or omissions.