Let's play Pretend!
Stories on Devanshi’s growing interest in pretend plays.
What is Pretend Play?
Pretend Play is a form of symbolic play where children use objects, actions or ideas to represent other actions, or ideas using their imaginations to assign roles to inanimate objects or people. With pretend play toddlers begin to develop their imagination and their play becomes more social and fun. They also get to know about the different roles that humans and animals play and their importance.
Whenever children say “let's pretend”. A new landscape of possibilities for learnings is revealed. When children pretend, they try on new feelings, roles and ideas. They stretch their minds along with their imaginations. (Curtis &Carter)
How it started?
This story started when our Artist-in-Residence, Harshit introduced a felt dog to Devanshi. That particular day Devanshi was in a mood but the Doggie came to her rescue.
Bow! Wow!
In no time Devanshi became friends with our little brown felt dog. Soon she started taking it out for walks. With time their bond grew stronger and she somehow always ended up holding it closely in her hands. If and when parted with her little dog, she started looking around for it quickly, calling out its name,” Doggie, Doggie” in the entire classroom.
By now, Devanshi had grown so fond of it that she even started preparing food items like dough/slime chapattis and woollen noodles for it. A proper plate would be laid for Doggie and Devanshi made sure that it ate its portions. Cut to two weeks, now Devanshi also puts her Doggie to sleep and wraps a blanket around it. She sings rhymes as lullabies for it and checks on her Doggie every now and then.
Master Chef
Our pretend play area comprises of a kitchen filled with all the necessary paraphernalia’s. Devanshi developed a sense of interest in this area really quickly. She was often seen preparing food items like dough/slime chapattis for her Doggie. Cooking things in the pots, washing utensils in the sink and heating up food in the microwave are some of her most performed activities here. Visitors and her Doggie are always welcomed here with a proper spread.
Its party time!
An invite had been set up in class where a wedding invitation box was transformed into a vanity box. The box was decorated with colourful ribbons. Various items of interest were placed inside it. For instance -organic crayons made up for lipsticks, colourful sponges and discs became blushes and plastic brushes were placed as make-up brushes.
When this little vanity box was introduced in class Devanshi responded to it in a very a positive way and her exploration followed. Soon after she started dolling up her Doggie for an imaginary party using all the items provided. She applied lipstick and blushes on herself too. She helped a felt elephant to get ready for the occasion too and yes they had a gala time there;)
What this means?
Pretend play is a very important part of the developmental aspect. It helps in enhancing the cognitive, emotional, language and social skills. Also through pretend play a child naturally learns to solve problems and think creatively and critically. Pretend play provided the child with a lot of opportunities to relive moments that they have observed in their surroundings, giving them a way to vent their feelings and a sense of satisfaction. Symbolic play shows the development of abstract thought. Abstract thought or using symbols to represent things is also the foundation of language. Devanshi has shown signs of all these developments. Her vocabulary is growing and she is becoming more and more expressive.
Opportunities and Possibilities
Devanshi’s growing interest in pretend play has opened up a lot of avenues for us. We plan to encourage her love for pretend plays by supplying her with story ideas and raw materials -and by connecting her play to the rest of the curriculum. Rich imaginations are one of children’s greatest learning tools and the more they engage in pretend play the more they will learn. Soon we’ll be adding a doll house to the class which will enable us to take her social understanding forward and give us openings to work on literacy for her as well.
