The Importance of Imaginative Play for a Child's Development

Childhood is a time of magic and shapeshifting, when beds become boats with sheets as sails, out on a wild sea made of pillows; a tea towel becomes a cape of invincibility, flying out behind a child who is now a superhero; a clothes horse and blankets transform into a castle where a princess cowers from a dragon that silly old parents might believe is a teddy bear.

Yet what might look like simple fun is actually highly important work. When children use their imagination in play they are developing crucial psychological and emotional capacities that help them understand the world in which they live and their relation to it; they are learning to solve problems, create new possibilities, even change the world.

"Imaginative play helps us to recognise our own emotional responses to things, which is a very healthy process"

According to child psychologist Sally Goddard Blythe, director of The Institute for Nero-Physiological psychology and author of The Genius of Natural Childhood: Secrets of Thriving Children, the importance of imagination in all areas of child development cannot be overstated. "This kind of play allows children to tap into their creativity and really run with it, without any boundaries, in a way that's very freeing", she says.

“Put simply, imagination is the ability to create visual images in the mind’s eye, which allows us to explore all sorts of images and ideas without being constrained by the limits of the physical world. This is how children begin to develop problem-solving skills, coming up with new possibilities, new ways of seeing and being, which develop important faculties in critical thinking that will help the child throughout life.”

Imaginative play also allows us to explore both the physical world and the inner self at the same time, helping us to recognise our own emotional responses to things, which is a very healthy process. “Between the ages of three and four, children begin to engage with modes of speech, attaching words to emotional experiences – we might hear our child telling off their dollies for being naughty, for example, or lovingly tucking them into their cot before bed. In this sort of imaginative activity, children can act out through play and private speech all the things that are going on in their life, processing how they felt when they were told off themselves, and developing an empathetic understanding of why their parent was angry, or how it feels to care and be cared for.”

Studies have shown that imaginative play can foster important social qualities, such a co-operation, empathy, and appreciation of others’ feelings. In a 2013 study on “Pretend and Physical Play”, psychologists Eric Lindsay and Malinda Colwell observed that children who engage in imaginative play express more emotional engagement, thoughtfulness and understanding, and less negative emotional expression such as selfishness and anger, and score higher on tests of emotional regulation and understanding.

The authors also noted how books, films and even video games can actually become fuel for children’s imaginative play. Kids can take on storylines they’ve been exposed to and extend them into a more elaborate and extended narrative, processing social situations and problems through the fantasy space of the story.

"A child's imagination can change a twig into a magic wand or a cardboard tube into a telescope"

According to Goddard Blythe, fuelling children’s imaginations in this way is essential. “By listening to or engaging with existing stories the child is then able to create their own version, design their own ‘set’, imagine how the characters look to them. They can feed off existing stories and develop them, explore them, transform and manipulate them in different ways that are suited to the issues they might be struggling with in their own lives.”

The best news? Fuelling their imaginations doesn’t require anything more than the most basic tools. “Adults think children need more than they actually do to play – what they really need is the time, the space and the encouragement to do it. Invite your children to imagine what a cardboard box could be – whether that’s a castle, a boat, a spaceship or anything else they come up with. Then follow their lead, giving prompts to extend the fantasy when they encounter problems. Most important is creating opportunities for the child to play freely, then they can develop this in whatever direction their imagination takes them.”

The power of a child’s imagination can change a twig into a magic wand, a cardboard tube into a telescope, a bubble bath into a deadly swamp – and by sharing imaginative experiences with your child you can help them transform and develop into creative thinkers and problem solvers who might even one day change the world.