Pretend Play and Understanding Others
Pretend play in the preschool years is related to how well children understand other people. By actively engaging their imagination in this type of play, children are experiencing seeing things from another's perspective - What would the baby sister want? How does the superhero act? Why is the imaginary friend feeling that way? This is the same type of perspective-taking that is involved in empathy, or the ability to imagine what it is like to be in another person's position. Empathy is a required first step in learning to care about others...Allowing children to make up their own characters and play scenarios, rather than always relying on ready-made toys and games, is one of the best ways to allow children to develop this skill. Time spent playing with other kids, negotiating roles and rules, results in both cognitive and social gains.
Pretend play should be driven by your children's own interests, but a few favorites around our house have been putting on plays and puppet shows, superhero and princess/fairy play, and open-ended arts and crafts projects, where the imagination drives the process. It seems as though nearly all toys involve imagination to some extent, but those that are open-ended and use props and materials that can be constantly and immediately changed as the play changes allow for more spontaneous pretend play than those that are more specific. For example, playing with a standard set of Play-doh colors and tools allows children to make spaghetti one minute and hair the next, where a Play-doh spaghetti factory set or hair salon set is more likely to limit the child to that particular activity.
A few of our favorite pretend play TOGs include...Make Your Own Puppets by Melissa and Doug (above and to the right) The pieces can be attached to the puppet bodies with velcro and changed as often as kids want!
Open-ended Play-Doh, blocks for toddlers or older kids, and Arts and Crafts sets
A set with basic pieces rather than specified ones allows children to use their imaginations and transform the play materials into anything they want, rather than being limited by the options presented to them.
And for more inspiration about transforming everyday objects like a box or a stick, check out Antoinette Portis' wonderful books, Not a Box and Not a Stick. 
We are always looking for new and re-discovered TOGs for pretend play and creativity so please share your own family's favorites! What do you like seeing your kids play with and what do they like to play with that encourage these skills of understanding others? Share in the Comments section!
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