Pretend play can be fun for preschool children, but a new
University of Virginia study, published in the current online edition of the
journal Psychological Bulletin, finds that it is not as crucial to a child's
development as currently believed. Pretend play is any play a child engages in,
alone, with playmates, or with adults, that involves uses of the imagination to
create a fantasy world or situation, such as making toy cars go “vrrooooom” or
making dolls talk.
Based on a number of key studies over four decades, pretend
play is widely considered by psychologists – and teachers and parents – to be a
vital contributor to the healthy development of children's intellect.