Why Do Children Pretend

Pretend or dramatic play emerges in the toddler years as imitation; it blossoms during the preschool years. Children love playing "make-believe." Think about the times you have seen your child acting and sounding just like you do: pretending to drive a car and making comments like yours; "reading" a book and holding it just like you do; telling a cranky "baby" to behave in your tone of voice.
Children use their imaginations to take on a role and reenact what they have experienced. They play out that role with real or pretend objects. Thus, to pretend, children must recall past experiences, select the aspects that are relevant, and use gestures and words to convince others that they are playing the role "correctly." These are high-level intellectual tasks. …show more content…
When children pretend, they create pictures in their minds and use symbols to represent real objects or events. Why is this important? When they are older and study history, literature, science, and math, they go through the same steps of constructing mental images and using symbols to represent reality. For example, to understand history, students must be able to visualize in their minds what life was like in the past and how events are related. To solve a math problem, they have to create a mental picture of the problem so they know whether to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. Many learning tasks require the ability to visualize and determine alternative ways to consider an issue or answer a question. For this reason, learning to use the imagination during the preschool years is critical to children's learning in the