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Cognitive Development

Promoting Imitation & Symbolic Play

When your toddler is carrying out symbolic play, play along and offer suggestions. Sometimes young children need a little help expanding their play. For example, if your child is busy pretending to make soup but doesn't know what to do next, you can suggest that he pour some soup in a bowl so you can taste it - "Mmmm, yummy!"

Leong, D.J. & Bodrova, E. (2012). Assessing and scaffolding make-believe play. NAEYC. Young Children 67. 28-34.

WHY IT MATTERS

Symbolic play, or pretend play, and language development are interrelated.

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Quinn S, Donnelly S, Kidd E. (2018). The relationship between symbolic play and language acquisition: a meta-analytic review. Dev Rev 49: 121–135.
Smith, L. B., & Jones, S. S. (2011). Symbolic play connects to language through visual object recognition. Developmental Science: 14., (5), 1142–1149.

Both rely on representational capacity, namely, employing one element as a signifier to represent another element.

McCune, L. (2010). Developing symbolic abilities. In B. Wagoner (Ed.), Symbolic transformation: The mind in movement through culture and society (pp.173–192). London: Routledge Press.

Symbolic play has also been linked to language development.

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Quinn S, Donnelly S, Kidd E. (2018). The relationship between symbolic play and language acquisition: a meta-analytic review. Dev Rev 49: 121–135.
Orr, E., & Geva, R. (2015). Symbolic play and language development. Infant Behaviour and Development, 38, 147–161.

An important part of adult scaffolding to help children develop both language and symbolic play is monitoring children’s language to make sure it is used in the service of play. For example, an adult’s language should change to match the new ways props are used. Assigning new names to the play props as these are used in new functions helps children master the symbolic nature of words, leading to children’s eventual realisation of the unique relationship that exists between words and the objects they signify.

Leong, D.J. & Bodrova, E. (2012). Assessing and scaffolding make-believe play. NAEYC. Young Children 67. 28-34.