Why Is Pretend Play Important For Language Development? How Can You Encourage It?
Pretend play is an exciting step in a child’s play journey and one that many parents look forward to. When toddlers engage in pretend play, they show that they are beginning to move from real to symbolic play. Many children begin to engage in the early stages of pretend play between 11 and 18 months. By the time children reach 2-3 years, their symbolic play begins to evolve to include others and real-life objects.
Children start to engage in pretend play around the same time that many of them start saying their first words. Just as they start to understand that one object can stand for another, they will also start to understand that words also stand for thoughts and ideas.
Pretend play is incredibly important when it comes to language development. When children engage in pretend play, they are using their imaginations to create new scenarios and stories and engage in new roles and activities that require them to use and understand language in new and creative ways.
Pretend Play and Language Learning:
There is a strong connection between pretend play and language development. Research shows that children who engaged in more pretend play had larger vocabularies and stronger expressive language skills, showed stronger narrative skills, and used higher forms of language than they would use in normal situations, than those who did not engage in as much pretend play.
Pretend play can improve children’s use of different word types like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns and how they organize them in a phrase or sentence.
Because pretend play is not limited to what is happening in a child’s immediate environment or daily routines, it’s a great way to learn and use words and phrases that they haven’t experienced before or don’t experience often, like dragons, unicorns, soccer, or a veterinary hospital.
Finally, research shows that when children engage in pretend play, they are more likely make up ‘non-sense’ words, like “thumble,” “space guy,” “mask guy” and “catching ball”. Children typically create these words - usually by combining two nouns - to fill a gap in their vocabulary as they describe their pretend play schemes.
Pretend play also helps develop broader areas of language and cognition:
Pretend play improves communication, vocabulary, and language by giving children the opportunity to learn and use new words and concepts in new scenarios.
Pretend play sparks creative thinking by allowing children to design their own play, to imagine and act our scenarios, and to problem-solve and avoid conflicts.
Collaborative pretend play helps children learn social skills, relational play skills, and emotional competence for negotiating, cooperating, and showing empathy.
Stages of Pretend Play:
As your child grows, so will the way they engage in pretend play and use language during these activities. According to Dr. C.E Westby, a renowned expert in the field of child development, you’ll notice specific changes to your child’s pretend play as they grow.
Around 24 months, your child's pretend play will involve using real life or realistic props to represent daily experiences, such as playing house and pretending to be a parent or a baby. During this stage, your child will also start combining two words to create short phrases, which is an exciting milestone in their language development. During this stage, your child will also start to use word combinations to talk about daily experiences and use different word forms.
By the time your child reaches 30 months, their pretend play will still use realistic props, but it will begin to involve events that they experience less often, such as playing the role of a doctor who takes care of a sick child, a teacher engaging with a child, or going to the grocery store. This stage reflects their growing imagination and their ability to understand complex situations, as they begin to incorporate these experiences into their pretend play. During this stage, your child is answering simple WH-questions and will also start asking WH-questions in sentences.
Ideas for Supporting Language during Pretend Play:
As a parent, you play an important role in supporting your child's pretend play and overall development. Research shows that parent-child play is positively linked to how children child uses language, grows their attention, follows directions, takes risks, grows their confidence, engages with others, and self-regulates.
Here are some ideas for supporting your little one’s language during pretend play:
Encourage imaginative play
Encourage your child to use their imagination by creating a pretend scenario and then let your child take the lead. For example, you can set up a pretend tea party and let your child be the host.
Use descriptive language
As your child plays, use descriptive language to help them learn new words. For example, if your child is washing dishes in a play kitchen set, you can say, “The dishes so are so dirty,” “This pot is sticky,” or “Oh no! Your shirt got dirty!”
Ask WH-questions
Ask your child who, what, where and what doing questions to encourage them to think critically and use language to express their thoughts. For example, if your child is pretending to be a doctor, you can say, “The baby has a boo boo. What do we need? We need … a bandaid! Let’s a bandaid!”
Use story prompts
Use story prompts to encourage your child to create their own story. For example, you could say "Once upon a time, there was a fiery dragon who loved to go on adventures. Where did the dragon go?"
Sing piggy-back songs and nursery rhymes while you play
Piggyback songs are songs that use familiar melodies but change the words. If your child is cooking food in a play kitchen, you can sing a piggy-back song to the tune of “The Farmer and the Dell”: It’s time to cook some food / It’s time to cook some food / The dolls are hungry and need food / It’s time to cook some food!
Play dress up
Playing dress-up can help your child develop their imaginative and language skills. Describe your child’s costume and act out different scenarios, like being a doctor, a firefighter, or a teacher.
Links, Resources, and Support:
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If you need ideas on how to encourage pretend play with your little one, schedule a caregiver coaching consult for 1:1 support.
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