What is Imaginative Play and what are its Benefits? 

Has your child ever served you a mud pie? Or made believe that your sofa is a pirate ship? 

Maybe they enjoy dressing up as a vet and wrapping a favourite stuffed animal in bandages. Or taking over the living room with an entire miniature town made of LEGO® bricks! 

These are all examples of imaginative play – commonly known as pretend play. In addition to being a very fun way to pass the time, did you know that pretend play is important for your child’s development? 

At the LEGO Group, we know that children often learn through play, and that includes playing pretend. In this article, we’ll look at what pretend play is, how it helps children of all ages develop important skills, and share a few of our favourite ideas and toys for encouraging pretend play.

Table of contents

• What is Imaginative Play?
• The Benefits of Imaginative Play
• Tips to Encourage Imaginative Play
• Conclusion
• Benefits of Pretend Play FAQs

What is Imaginative Play?

Imaginative play or pretend play is exactly what it sounds like: using the imagination to assign roles and actions to symbolic objects or other people. For example, a child may build something out of LEGO® bricks and call it a “dog”, making it act and sound like a dog. The child knows that it is not a real dog, just a pretend one.  

Children develop different types of pretend play throughout the first five or so years of life. These are imitative, symbolic, dramatic and imaginative. Let’s take a closer look at each of these types of play. 

• Imitative play: In the earliest form of pretend play, children imitate actions they have seen performed by others around them. For example, they may give a toy bottle to a doll or hold a toy phone up to their ear. 
• Symbolic play: Children begin to use objects symbolically. They may offer you a mud pie and ask you (to pretend) to eat it, or build a duck out of LEGO® DUPLO® bricks and pretend it can swim and quack just like a real one! 
• Dramatic play: Children begin to act out stories and play roles either by themselves or with friends. These stories tend to be reenactments of things that happen to them in everyday life, such as pretending to be a teacher and playing school or making dinner in a pretend kitchen. 
• Imaginative play: Imaginative or fantasy play is an extension of dramatic play. At this point, children will make up their own stories with settings, characters and actions that they have not experienced. They may pretend to be someone else or play out imaginative scenarios such as exploring outer space or adventuring in a fantasy land. 

While pretend play may be more closely associated with young children, older children and teens often play pretend too! They may not play with dressing-up clothes or dolls and stuffed animals like they did when they were younger, but they are still building these key skills through other activities such as creating art, telling stories, building with LEGO bricks or playing imaginative video games. 

The Benefits of Imaginative Play

Imaginative play with interactive toys supports child development in a variety of ways – here are a few of the main ones: 

• Creativity
  • Storytelling – inventing characters and scenarios is great for developing creative confidence, narrative skills and memory. 
  • Imagination – conceiving original or fictional ideas encourages creative thinking. 
  • Symbolism – understanding that one thing can be used to represent another is a vital skill, not just for creativity but recognizing the relationships between objects or ideas. 
• Emotional and social development
  • Empathy – role playing different characters enables children to understand different perspectives. 
  • Resilience – Making mistakes during creative play is important for learning how to cope with setbacks, emotional regulation, patience and persistence. 
  • Adaptability – adjusting to setbacks or other opinions during group play is essential for dealing with uncertainty, change and flexibility. 
  • Sharing – playing with other children is vital for learning how to compromise and cooperate. 
  • Conflict resolution – sometimes children will clash, or disagree on elements of their play. Learning how to process these feelings helps to develop patience and empathy. 
• Cognitive development
  • Academic skills – many of the skills learned through imaginative play are vital once kids start school. For example, role playing grocery store scenarios supports math skills, while general play encourages better logic and literacy. 
  • Better learning outcomes – repeated play reinforces important concepts and skills they can use in school settings. 
  • Problem-solving – learning how to resolve problems by yourself teaches children about resilience, independence and autonomy. 
• Physical development
  • Hand-eye coordination – activities like LEGO® brick building and drawing provide benefits for sporting activities, by encouraging people to understand the relationship between vision and movement. 
  • Motor skills – gross motor skills like running and jumping are developed through outdoor play, while LEGO construction sets develop fine motor skills like dexterity. 
  • Spatial awareness – creating play areas or boundaries for role play is excellent for teaching kids about how objects interact with each other, as well as problem-solving skills. 
• Communication
  • Language – role playing new scenarios is an excellent way to develop a child’s vocabulary and help them understand the rules of grammar. 
  • Collaboration – group play is also great for promoting collaboration; it teaches kids about social skills including compromise, empathy and teamwork 
  • Listening – playing with others also supports listening and comprehension 

Tips to Encourage Imaginative Play

So we’ve established that imaginative play is important – but how do you encourage your kids to explore their imaginations? Here a few ideas to help them on their way: 

Create a suitable environment

Kids are fast learners, and you’ll quickly see them begin to explore their own ideas. Give them as much space as possible, with play items within easy reach. The less they need to ask you for help, the better. 

Provide open-ended toys

Open-ended toys like LEGO® bricks, dress-up items and arts and crafts – or even household recycling – give children free reign to create and explore.  

Give them plenty of time

To encourage creativity through imaginative play, ensure kids get at least 30 minutes each day. Imaginative play is like any other skill - it improves with practice! 

Engage – but let them lead

It’s fine to observe and ask questions where appropriate, but encourage your child to direct the play. 

Key takeaways

As we’ve established, imaginative play is an essential part of a child’s cognitive development, providing them with skills that will guide them through life. Here are a few key points to remember: 

• Imaginative play is make-believe or pretend play, using imagination to invent fictional scenarios or characters
• It helps with the development of essential skills like collaboration, communication and spatial awareness, and supports wider learning through creative thought and problem-solving 
• Let your child lead the way – oversight at a distance is important to ensure their safety, but they should have free reign to direct their own play wherever possible 
• To get the most out of imaginative play, try to allow for at least 30 minutes every day. Practice makes perfect, and longer sessions are ideal 
• Open-ended toys are great for encouraging imaginative play, as they offer a wider range of potential activities