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TwitThisEngaging the Mind
As children grow, pretend play continues to go hand-in-hand with academic readiness: Kids enjoy pretending so much that they'll stretch their vocabularies and knowledge to be better at it. A first-grader might pick up the word "stethoscope" when playing doctor. Fourth-graders setting up an elaborate space adventure will soak up information about astronomy and astrophysics, and hone their reading skills as they develop their story line. At every age and stage, pretend play speeds learning.Thinking and Planning
When toddlers like Gracie experience their first creative thoughts, many areas of the mind, says Doris Bergen, are engaged: emotion, intelligence, language, the senses, motor skills. Using these facilities simultaneously creates dense synaptic connections, building a multidimensional architecture in the brain. "A more elaborate play life may mean the brain is more elaborate in terms of the thinking process," she says.
What a perfect plan that the areas of the brain involved in thinking and planning develop so early and strengthen with use. How, for example, could a preschooler solve the simplest problem without the ability to imagine an answer? Or why would a teenager plan and set goals if he couldn't envision the outcome of all his efforts? Advanced intellectual functioning -- the ability to think hypothetically, and logically carry out a plan -- is an outgrowth of pretend play. The imagination it requires keeps the mind sharp, flexible and open to new opportunities.
All of the people in a child's life -- parents, grandparents, teachers and family friends -- have a role in perpetuating the wonder and delight of pretend play. Children really need three things from us, says Cagle McDonald, who has been a creativity specialist for kids for 12 years:
1. Deep background. Fantasy stories such as Thumbelina and Peter Pan feed the imagination. "As you read, be funny and expressive," suggests McDonald. "On a second reading, be the narrator and encourage your child to act out the parts." Kids are also enchanted with the real world, and there are hundreds of meaty realistic roles to make use of right in your own community. Help your child notice the folks who work at the grocery store, bank, construction site, restaurant, zoo, firehouse, doctor's office or library. What special clothes are they wearing? What tools are they using? Try recreating the scene at home.
2. Fun props. Hold onto those Halloween costumes, and pick up extras when they're on sale. Other good choices for the pretend shelf: hand and finger puppets, blocks, dolls, hats, toy animals, gauzy fabric, necklaces, doctors' kits, toy phones, play money and cash registers, shopping bags and cardboard boxes. And remember that part of creativity is improvising props. My son, Charlie, loved to use his old crib sheet as a cape for Batman and as a sash for Peter Pan's sword.
3. Real respect. Adults show that they value pretend play in several important ways. Your child may want you to be the attentive audience for some part of her play. Or she may be stuck and need a suggestion or two -- "Maybe the baby would like a bath now," or "What about using these scarves in your costume?"
Be especially careful to enhance, not control, the action. Mostly, your child needs your gift of space and time to play. That's especially important in an era when organized sports, TV and video games have been encroaching on imaginative territory.
"There's nothing quite like the power of pretend," sums up Paul Harris, author of The Work of the Imagination and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. "Imagination," he says, "is the distinctive ability of human beings." Now that's a thought to play with.
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