Foundational Language Skills for Pretend Play

I watched my almost 5 year old at the playground collect leaves and mulch sticks. She imagined we were a koala family and went on to pretend the sticks were paint brushes and wallpaper for decorating a “room” on the play set. It got me thinking about pretend play and how important foundational language skills are for pretend play. 

She was putting to use the experiences and language skills that I had introduced to her! It truly is an amazing thing as a parent (& of course as an SLP too) to witness. 

In each of these scenarios my child used her imagination and was creative with things she found in nature. None of this would have been possible without a strong base of language skills.

Pretend play requires imagination, wonder, creativity, and LANGUAGE. Without the knowledge of concepts, vocabulary, social scenarios, and the alike, you would not be able to truly pretend.

So how do we as caregivers build those foundational language skills for pretend play?

We inform our children about the environment around them. 

1. We talk aloud and narrate what we are doing, what our child is doing, and what others are doing.

2. We label actions, nouns, emotions, etc. to give meaning.

3. We use basic concepts like “in, on, under” in daily routines and in play. 

We can model pretend play. 

1. We can pretend to eat toy food.

2. Pretend to brush a dolls hair or have a stuffed animal pretend to drink.

3. Use a block and pretend it’s a phone.

4. Use play-doh to make a cookie or pizza.

5. Pretend you’re a vet and your give the animals medicine with a spoon.

Be sure to check back in next week! We’re talking about the progression of pretend play!

If you’d like to learn more ideas on how you can help your child build foundational language skills and foster creative pretend play, our play guide features 10 toys you most likely own with over 50+ play prompts. We think you’ll find the early vocabulary and basic concept checklists helpful too!

Happy Pretend Playing! — Christin