Imaginative play is how your child makes sense of the world around him or her through role play. During imaginative play, a child may pretend to visit the moon with a pile of sand on the beach serving as the spaceship or turn a box into a castle and reign over the world from within the confines of the cardboard. Possibilities are limited only by your child's imagination!
Healthline.com shares a few definitions of this term, including one from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that notes how children who are playing this way won't typically have specific goals in mind. Instead, they're experiencing “joyful discovery.” As the AAP also notes, this doesn't mean that these activities are meaningless play. Instead, through role play, children uncover the process of learning and develop essential skills.
Here are some more specific benefits of imaginative play in early childhood.
Scholastic refers to this concept as “pretend play” and notes how participating in it allows children to use words they've learned from parents and teachers. Or they can make up their own words! No matter which route they take, to encourage pretend play gives them a sense of the power of language as they create stories—and, as they make a connection between a word that's said out loud and one written down, this activity hones critical thinking skills in early childhood, language development and paves the way for reading.
An advanced occupational therapist shares how imaginative play creates a safe space for youngsters to role play and participate in scenes that they can't yet in real life. They might put construction paper in a small box and pretend they're Mommy or Daddy, heading to the office. They can take a cup and spoon (object substitution) and discuss whatever they'd like over a cup of coffee with a friend (real or make believe with a baby doll or toy animals), just like they see grownups do, or have a classic pretend tea party. Playing out these kinds of situations builds communication skills, as well as social and emotional skills essential to growing positive relationships with others in school and beyond.
When creating their own stories, children independently come up with ways to entertain themselves, working on self-regulation. As KidsRKids.com points out, children make their own choices during pretend play, navigating their own fun way through likes and dislikes. This allows children to foster creativity and independence, boosts creativity and prepares them for decisions they'll need to make as they grow and mature.
While imaginative play can help a child's development even when playing alone, the benefits of pretend play can be realized exponentially with more than one child. Through pretend play in a social setting, children learn about building relationships and their social boundaries. Continuing our example, let's say that two play partners are role playing with cups and spoons. One is fine with coffee like Mom drinks, but the other wants tea like Grandpa.
Through this scenario, children engage, negotiate and learn how to relate with one another in safe ways, fostering self-esteem through experiencing different perspectives. Then, when discussions about real-life situations arise (who gets the window seat?), children will have added social skills: healthy negotiating and problem solving skills experience.
By its nature, this type of play develops within a child's brain, but one parenting site recommends ways to help it expand. You could, for example, set aside an area for imaginative play and perhaps suggest objects from everyday life for your child to envision in new ways when they are playing pretend. Measuring cups could transform into test tubes in a mad scientist's laboratory while stuffed animals could roar into life as prehistoric dinosaurs—with your child playing a central role in the stories that unfold.
In short, embrace, encourage imaginative play, and even—if your child approves!—participate in playing pretend and reap the benefits beyond enriching the parent-child relationship: enhanced language skills, fine motor skills, creativity, social skills development, independence, and more building blocks for early childhood development.
Pretend play and imaginative play are powerful ways for children to develop their imagination, engage other children in healthy ways and hone a child's emotional skills and their ability to appropriately engage with the world. At Horizon, we understand the importance of building healthy relationships at any age or stage of life.
Our top-rated centers are staffed with experienced, qualified teachers and staff who believe in the subtle power of education through imaginary play and learning to get along with other children. Our curriculum prepares every child for kindergarten, and parents love our before and after school programs and Summer Camp, available for all elementary-aged school children.
Learn more about our approach to early childhood education, options for financial aid and scholarship opportunities for Lorain County and Western Cuyahoga County residents and schedule a tour at a Horizon center near you!