PK through kindergarten
Pretend play is a valuable pathway for children’s development in part because it helps children learn how to focus. Play Coaching shows you how to jumpstart pretend play by helping your child brainstorm play scenarios, choose roles, and make use of props.
“Many studies have demonstrated the extraordinary value of pretend play. Children demonstrate more sophisticated cognitive and emotional capabilities during pretend play than they do during other activities.”
Key Strategies
- Brainstorm play scenarios. Reflect on what you’ve recently observed about your child. How could you help them turn an interest into a play scenario?
- Help children understand roles. For example, if your child wants to play “hospital,” ask: “Who is going to be the doctor? Who is going to be the patient?
- Provide or help create props. For example, ask: “What things do nurses need to do their job?” Then, help them find, create, or imagine props.
- Inject information and drama. For example, to keep the “hospital” game going, suggest that, “After nurses take a temperature, they check blood pressure.”
The purpose of Play Coaching is to get pretend play going. As soon as it’s going well enough, get out of the way! The play will mean more to them if they’re on their own.
Additional Resources
Book: Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education, Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong
Book: The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups, Erika Christakis