Measure 25 — COG 4

Object and Pretend Play

Child uses objects to represent other objects or ideas

Children are motivated to play by several factors: their desire to master challenging tasks, their curiosity to understand features of objects and how they work, and their desire to interact with others. Play is an important vehicle for children’s social, emotional, motor, and cognitive development, as well as a reflection of that development. Through play, children learn new skills and practice skills they have already mastered. Children develop skills and explore concepts as they engage in functional play with objects and also as they use objects in pretend play. Despite all of this, play is fun for most children and a preferred activity.

Newborn infants operate at a primarily reflexive level of development. They play by regarding people and objects briefly. Once infants begin to manipulate objects, they explore features of those objects using their senses. For example, they bang and mouth a rattle or manipulate parts of objects, such as spinning a wheel on a “busy box.” In the latter part of the first year of life, infants begin actively exploring the relationships between objects in their play. They combine objects in play, for example, by placing objects in containers or nesting cups or by stacking blocks.

Toddlers spend significant amounts of time playing with objects in ways they are intended to be used, such as stirring in a cup with a spoon or using a crayon to mark on paper. They do this mostly on their own or next to other children, using simple, available objects such as blocks, containers, and common household objects. Older toddlers engage in early pretense, or pretend, play. They pretend by using miniatures or toy replicas of real-life objects as if they were the actual objects. For example, they might pretend to drink from a toy cup or feed a doll with a toy spoon.

Young preschoolers also begin to play symbolically, pretending that an object is something else. For example, they might use a block to represent a car or pretend that a napkin is a baby’s blanket. In addition, young preschool children’s play becomes more interactive and often involves playing along side or with another child.

Older preschoolers demonstrate extensive dramatic or symbolic play, either alone or with others. They organize pretend play around simple themes, using common household objects or miniature replicas of these objects. For example, they might pretend to make a cake in the sandbox, using a stick as a spoon to stir the “cake batter.” Children take on roles in these pretend scenarios. For example, one child might pretend to drive a bus, using a block as a steering wheel, while other children pretend to be passengers. With time, the themes become more elaborate. For example, they might pretend to operate a restaurant: taking orders, cooking, and serving the food with or without props.