One of the first things many parents of autistic children hear is that their child “needs to work on pretend play.” Sometimes ...

When a child turns a cardboard box into a spaceship, or a stick into a magic wand, it may look like simple fun. But beneath the giggles and dramatic voices, something far more powerful may be ...

“Let’s pretend to be…” is commonly heard from young children as they play and interact at school, daycare, or at home. Many adults encourage imagination and creativity but others are afraid that ...

From developing social skills to fostering creativity, pretend play in young children is likened to being a "metaphoric multivitamin" in an editorial published in the journal Neuroscience and ...

Researchers say there is evidence infants are exploring the world of make-believe before they're even aware they are doing it. A new study exploring the origins of pretend play suggests infants ...

Children are incorporating Covid-19 into pretend play. By Paul L. Underwood Last month, I popped into one of my favorite local restaurants. The place is known for its eccentric menu, created daily ...

Julia Wolf analyzes the importance of pretend play for exploring the development of social cognition. The ability to adopt another person’s perspective is important for social cognition and, ...

Many people often think of play in the form of images of young children at recess engaging in games of tag, ball, using slides, swings, and physically exploring their environments. But physical play ...

Melissa & Doug's Van Leeuwen sets feature wooden scoops, toppings, menus and play currency, plus a secret "scoop" token redeemable at actual Van Leeuwen shops nationwide ...

Building toys, art supplies, dress-up clothes, and everything else you need to nurture their growing imagination and ...

Pretend play is associated with a host of enhanced cognitive abilities such as executive function, language and perspective taking, which are important to education, making the minimization of pretend ...