Pretend and physical play are important for children's cognitive development. Through pretend play, children learn social and emotional skills like cooperation, responsibility, and problem solving. Physical play helps children develop motor skills and stay healthy through exercise. Both types of play also encourage creativity, language development, and cognitive flexibility that supports learning.

1. ‘IMPORTANCE OF
PRETEND PLAY AND
PHYSICAL PLAY IN THE
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR
CHILD’

2. When your child engages in pretend (or
dramatic) play, he is actively experimenting
with the social and emotional roles of
life. Through cooperative play, he learns
how to take turns, share responsibility, and
creatively problem-solve.
PRETEND PLAY

3. Physical play is the type of play that gets
your child moving from big movements like
running and jumping to small movements like
picking up a pencil or tying a knot. Kids
burn more calories
through active play
than any other type of
play, which can help
keep them fit, and
contribute to a huge
range of health benefits.
PHYSICAL PLAY

4. Cognitive development means how children
think, explore and figure things out. It
is the development of knowledge, skills,
problem solving and dispositions, which
help children to think about and
understand the world around them. Brain
development is part of cognitive
development
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

5. Research has identified that an
important benefit of early pretend play
is its enhancement of a child’s capacity
for cognitive flexibility and, ultimately,
creativity.
1. TO ENCOURAGE IMAGINATION AND
CREATIVITY

6. They develop empathy and learn how to co-
operate, to become responsible and how to
share responsibility.
2. TO SUPPORT SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

7. Pretend play offers the perfect
opportunity to expose children to new
vocabulary, and the more different
scenarios they are introduced to, the more
scope there is for widening their
vocabulary!
3. TO IMPROVE LANGUAGE AND
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

8. Participating in pretend play in such a way
requires a child to call upon cognitive
thinking skills that they will find
themselves using in each aspect of
everyday life, and this will stay with them
all the way through to adulthood.
4. TO DEVELOP THINKING, LEARNING
AND PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITIES

9. it is important to remember that pretend
play is very often physical and is a
wonderful way for children to be active, to
exercise and to develop their motor skills.
5. TO ENHANCE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

10. When we let our imaginations take over
and when we really play together, as
children want to do, there are no limits as
to where their minds can take them and
there is no chance of
running out of things
to enjoy and talk
about with them!
REMEMBER