March 2025 Blog: Let's Pretend!
Many of the exhibits at the Museum promote pretend play. Children are often busy taking care of stuffed animals in Pet Vet, being restaurant workers in Play Cafe, or pretending to fly a rocket ship they made from blocks in Build It!
Pretend play, also known as dramatic play, involves children using their imaginations to create scenarios and engage with materials to bring them to life in a creative way. In addition to being fun, pretend play promotes language and social development and also provides opportunities to process emotions.
1) Children engage in more advanced language interactions when pretending. The vocabulary they use is more complex, and the interactions they have are longer and more sophisticated. This makes sense because children are often acting out grown-up roles, such as veterinarian, parent, or train conductor. To stay in character, they try to act and speak like an adult.
2) When involved in pretend play together, children must negotiate their roles and engage in a version of improvisation to keep the play scenario going. Children listen closely to each other and respond as their character would in that setting. For example, in the Museum’s restaurant exhibit, children work together to take orders, make sandwiches, deliver food to tables, and clean up the restaurant. Each is aware of what the others are doing and responds appropriately to play their part in a larger scenario.
3) Pretend play can also provide opportunities for children to process tough emotions. Playing out different scenarios where the child is in control can help her process stressful situations in real life. For example, a child may pretend to give the dolls in our Baby Nursery exhibit “shots” days before a scheduled annual check-up. Being the doctor in the scenario allows her to emotionally prepare for what she will experience in a medical setting.
You may be wondering, as a grown-up, if you have a role in children’s pretend play. Grown-ups can participate as a play partner by being a back-up character. Let the children take the lead. You can be the patron at the restaurant or a passenger on the rocket ship.
See you at the Museum!
–Stephanie Bynum, Vice President of Programs