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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Play and Learning

Pretend play

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

nounCore term

In child development & early education, pretend play means: Play in which children imagine and act out situations, use one object to stand for another, or take on roles, such as feeding a doll or using a block as a phone.

In Turkish: sembolik oyun, hayali oyun, -mış gibi yapma oyunu

How it is used

Also called imaginative, symbolic or make-believe play; role play usually means acting out real-life roles such as shopkeeper or doctor. Research often links pretend play with language and theory of mind.

Example sentences

  1. In their pretend play, the sofa became a boat and the floor was the sea.

  2. Simple pretend play often begins in the second year of life.

Common collocations

  • imaginative play
  • role play
  • symbolic play
  • home corner
  • playActivity that children choose freely and enjoy for its own sake, such as building, pretending, running or exploring; it is seen as a key way young children learn.
  • theory of mindThe understanding that other people have their own thoughts, feelings, beliefs and knowledge, which may be different from yours.
  • parallel playPlay in which children play next to each other, often with similar toys, but mostly do not play together or join in each other's games.
  • preschoolerA child who is old enough for preschool but has not yet started school, usually aged about three to five.

More terms: Play and Learning

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