Pretend Play
As Sweet Pea gets older, I am recognizing more and more pretend play. He loves to try to sooth his stuffed animals with his pacifier or try to sweep his room with the broom. Here is something that he did while we were visiting my parents over Thanksgiving.
He came up to me with his stuffed Mickey Mouse and acted like he wanted to get in his high chair. It took me a while to figure out that he wanted the tray off the high chair so he could strap in Mickey. Then we put the tray back on and he went to the pantry, grabbed some cheerios, and put them on the tray for Mickey to eat. It was so cute! Not once did he try to eat Mickey’s cheerios. It was all a story that he had come up with and was now acting out.
This has inspired me to try to come up with more ways to set up his room to encourage pretend play. Any ideas?
Adorable, and an excellent example of creative play (don’t they call those skills executive functioning, or something?).
What about finding some things that could be used to pretend to be small? I remember once as a kid being given large cardboard cylanders. We got under the cylanders and mom ran the vacumm and we pretended to be bugs in the rug. It was fun.
You’re entering some of the most fun moments of being a Momma! I adore Nicky’s pretend play!
Isn’t it fun? Evie pretends to feed her stuffed animals with this little bottle we got at the dollar store. And she LOVES her play kitchen. I don’t really know much about encouraging pretend play, except to have options for them. I don’t always succeed, but I try to buy things that have more than one use, not just electronic gizmos. I can forward you Evie’s Christmas list, if you want.
While over at a relatives house Harper was entertained by a small stuffed horse and a cowboy hat. Dress up (even for boys) is tons of fun and endlessly entertaining.