{Hello! If you are checking us out for the first time and like what you see you can subscribe here and get new ideas to play and learn with your kids daily. }
Pretend play is one of the essential preschool activities for children. When I would meet a new student who did not know how to engage in pretend play my heart would sink and immediately I’d run through all my ideas in my head to see which would spark their interest and open the door to a world of limitless possibilities. That is what pretend play is, but that isn’t why it’s so important. Kids aren’t just living in what many adults would call a fantasy world, instead most of their play has deep roots in reality, and it offers them a chance to practice social situations, adult roles and even play out fears and anxiety in a safe place.
See why it’s so important?
Still starting this journey can be hard for families so below I have some easy to set up scenarios and easy to make props serve as launching pads. Don’t make the boundaries too rigid, just use these ideas to set the scene and let your child run with it, you sit back and play along. There is no need for specific goals – just play. Trust me they are learning more than we think they are.
- Superhero Props & Play
- Playdough Cupcake Bakery
- Vet Clinic
- Laundry Basket Sail Boat
- Airplane Voyage
- Princess Wand
- Pretend Play Elevator
- Robot Costume
- Weather Man
- Pizza Parlor Play
- Music Stand for Kid Concerts
- Kitchen Camp Out
- Cowboy Vest
- Pretend Play Art Gallery
- Coffee Shop Play
- Cereal Box Laptop
- Fire Truck
- Restaurant Play
- Science Lab
- Bubble Wand Lightsabre
- Library Play
- Knight’s Shield
- Santa’s Workshop – Be An Elf!
- Grocery Store Play.
- Post Office Play.
These are just our favorites. Browse through all our Pretend Play Ideas Here.
What does your child like to pretend to be?
Miss Brenda says
Garbage truck was always a huge hit with the boys I nannied. The couch was the truck and pillows/toys/etc were the garbage. Repairman and construction worker were huge hits as well.
Emily says
Love this list – thanks! We recently made a time travel machine out of a big printer box. It is a current favourite. My daughter is going to exotic places like China, Hawaii, and Princess Fairy Land.
Kelley says
GREAT post! You always have such creative ideas! I will definitely be trying some of these with my own babes. Thanks 🙂
In our house we are generally a family of dogs! My preschooler rarely leaves the house without his tail attached, (literally!) and is always taking us on some kind of exciting doggy adventure!
My favorite is when he gets the kids at the playground involved, though! Have you ever seen a line of kids barking up the slide???
His baby brother (19 months) is into all things “AGHH!” (dinosaurs, lions, monsters) and spends more time clomping around on his hands and knees “AGHH”-ing than playing with any of the toys we have. His brother has taught him well!
🙂
GrowingPlay says
Great list. Over at our house, my kids are currently into baby nursery ( http://www.growingplay.blogspot.com/2012/03/pretend-play-boxes-newborn-baby.html) and animal hospital.
But my favorite was definitely shops where each child opened up shops for products or services. Foot massages were only $0.10! You can read about it at the blog http://www.growingplay.blogspot.com/2012/01/pretend-shops.html
Monique Willms says
I’m so thankful I found your website – such great ideas!
Kate says
Thanks for this list! Lots of great ideas here, I pinned it on Pinterest, too. Love your blog so much!
Kelly K says
My 19month old daughter goes to work! She grabs her purse(an old purse of mine), her car keys, and kisses me “goodbye”. She then goes to the front door and hides behind our rocking chair for a few minutes. Then comes home. She kisses me “hello” and tells me all about her day at work. It is so cute and fun. Daddy does that too everyday, so we play this pretend play at least once a day. She also is a very good doctor and chef. I love that she has a good imagination! I love to play along! Thank you for the list of some more ideas I can share with her as she gets older!
Dani Romanoski says
I will definitely send this to my uncle we were just talking about this last week!
Lizzie says
I love those ideas. My daughters current favorite is office. she will set up a fake office in the living room and take calls. she likes to be either and insurance agent or she says a “a person who makes people happy”. She will literally sit there all day playing on our old laptop and paper and a fake phone. I think it is a good way to learn to be in the real world early. She said when she gets off from the office she might consider playing restaurant, but she said she might have to work late everyday. Thanks again for creative inspiration!
http://momtv.com/ says
My son loves most of these pans and pots and has got a great time playing with them.I was received more than a lot more while
I saw the amount of and how speedily our kid took a noticing to them.
Sabrina says
Which ones out of these will be suitable for 2 year olds?
Allison McDonald says
Most all of these, just keep it simple.
khan says
Thank you for telling us this wonderful blog, it is very best blog to learn about 25-easy-pretend-play-ideas, please click here to know more about https://www.podsquad.in/
wjpc says
WE are China based Playing Cards Manufacturer and We had lunch our new product Playing Cards this is proper designed and used best quality products for everyone uses. So you can visit our website and can get any kind of Playing cards and Educations cards.
wjpc says
WE are China based Playing Cards Manufacturer and We had lunch our new product Playing Cards this is proper designed and used best quality products for everyone uses. So you can visit our website and can get any kind of Playing cards and Educations cards.
Mayank Kumar says
I keep listening to the news update speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one. Could you advise me please, where could i acquire some?
dany goldraij says
I met this article 10 years since it was published. Still a great article, with an excellent list that can be used today.
Berna Clapano says
Lots of great ideas that was shared on this post. Thanks for sharing.
maheshwari play says
useful post
thank you for sharing