How Pretend Play Shapes Minds
Pretend play is one of the first ways young children show they can use symbols, like treating a banana as a phone or a block as a car. It appears in children around the world, usually between 18 and 24 months, even when they haven’t seen anyone else do it. That’s remarkable, because these children are still figuring out what’s real. Yet they can already playfully change reality on purpose.
Pretend play is also puzzling. Many early behaviors have an obvious purpose. Babbling, for example, helps babies get ready to speak. Pretend play has no clear survival benefit, but research links it to the growth of cognition, the mental toolkit we use to think, learn, remember, and solve problems. When a child pretends to run a restaurant, they plan, set goals, solve problems, and imagine the world in a different way. By practicing these skills in play, children may strengthen them.
Research has linked pretend play to a wide range of skills, including early math, language, getting along with others, problem solving, and the ability to manage impulses and emotions. Researcher Doris Bergen of the University of Miami stresses that children need enough uninterrupted time to play this way, because it lets them build more complex scenarios and keep their imaginary worlds going with other kids. Yet as children move into kindergarten and elementary school, play often gives way to more structured academic work, and pretend play gets squeezed out. That’s a concern, because the skills it supports are the ones children rely on in the classroom and beyond.
What can adults do? Parents can make room for pretend play in the daily routine and join in. Adding a new twist, like “The restaurant is out of pasta. What should we do?”, helps kids build richer stories and stretch their thinking. Schools can help too, by protecting time for play rather than treating it as a break from learning. Play is one of the ways children learn!
Key takeaway: Pretend play helps children practice planning, problem solving, and self-control. Protecting time for it at home and at school is a simple way to support their development.
References:
Bergen, D. (2002). The role of pretend play in children’s cognitive development. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 4(1), 1–13. https://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/index.html
Goswami, U. C. (2011). The wiley-blackwell handbook of childhood cognitive development. Wiley-Blackwell.
