Working as a First-Grade teacher my students would have daily journal entries to help practice their writing and spelling. One day the journal question seemed simple to me: What do you want to be when you grow up? We are asked this question multiple times throughout our lives and sometimes we have one answer and sometimes we have ten. Sometimes the answer changes year to year. While my students were working away writing about becoming firemen and teachers themselves I had one student whom just sat there. At first I thought he was being defiant not wanting to do the assignment. I kept asking him different careers he may be interested in. But he just kept saying no. After about 30 minutes he said I guess I could be in the Army.
This wasn’t the first time this student had difficulty writing, so I requested a meeting with his parents. Upon speaking with them his mom said, “You know, he never played pretend as a child.”
Now it all made sense to me! Imaginary play is so important in a child’s development and learning. He didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up because he was not capable of imagining what him being an adult would look like. Imaginary play is so important in a child’s development and learning.
Here are some tips when it comes to your child and pretend play:
Let them have imaginary friends: Some parents become concerned when their child has an imaginary friend. It is nothing to be afraid of. It benefits their social skills along with playing. Play along with them, include their imaginary friend when you are playing or eating together. It will show your child you are on the same page.
Be cautious of your adult conversations: Even if you are having an adult conversation with your husband in the same room as your child, they are listening to every word. They may not repeat it to you in that same moment or even that same day, but watch them play and you will hear words and sentences you never even knew they knew. Children are like sponges, they pick up on everything. Save the conversations you don’t want them to hear until they are in bed or else you may see a funny reenactment of stuffed animals telling each other to do the dishes!
Provide them with various materials: Children are great at using various toys for multiple purposes. Provide them with plenty of items they can use for imaginary play. Such as; dolls, little people, Legos, stuffed animals, Play-doh, play food. The more materials they are provided with the more creative they can become while playing.
Play with them: A lot of parents say oh they are playing so nicely. Yes, it is wonderful when your child can sit and entertain themselves. But you can learn so much about your own child by just playing with them. Join in on those made-up conversations.
Pretend play seems like a simple thing that all children begin to do on their own, but sometimes they need some encouragement. Also, it provides a great opportunity for you to spend time with your child and play!
