Importance of Imaginative Play

Emotional development

When children engage in dramatics play they get an opportunity to develop confidence and to master reality as they structure their own reality in a make-believe world. Dramatic play encourages and empowers children to take risks. 

Imaginative play asks children to be involved only for the sake of the experience and as an end in itself, not for an external reward or the approval of others.

Imaginative play encourages private speech.

Private speech is often overheard as children play imaginatively or work their way through problem solving. 

The goal of private speech is to communicate with the self for the purpose of self-regulation or guiding one’s own thought processes and actions. Gradually, private speech becomes an inner speech or verbal thinking. This puts private speech in the important process of learning to think. 

Language Development

During imaginative play children hear others use speech correctly as well as gives them an opportunity to increase their vocabulary. In negotiating roles and disputes, children develop linguistic and conversational skills.