To start with, we don’t encourage kids wearing makeup! It might seem an odd statement, seeing as we produce and sell makeup specifically for kids! But we’d like to focus on kids the role of makeup in pretend play.

Pretend play is also known as imaginative play, dramatic play, fantasy play, or make believe play. It is when your child pretends to be someone or something else. Your child might act like his/her favorite hero or character, real or imaginary. They might mimic someone they know, like a parent, friend, doctor, or teacher. It could be something entirely make-believe like a “moon-walking, bubble-blowing doctor” What’s important is that your child is using their imagination with no rules or expectations. Often when a child engages in imaginative or pretend play they may pretend to be YOU! Observe how they pretend to be you – do they pretend to read, talk on the phone, work on the laptop, cook, put on makeup, get dressed for gym, what is it that you do that they are copying. You will find your kids often like to “copy mommy or daddy.”

Why is it important

Imaginative play or pretend play fosters creativity while developing social, emotional, and language skills. Consequently, through pretend play, your child learns to express themselves and build positive relationships.

Here are 6 benefits of imaginative play

1. Social development: As your child engages in imaginary play, they begin to understand relationships. They have opportunities to experiment with social boundaries. They improve their social skills and become more connected, confident, and self-reliant. As a result, they build better relationships with their peers.
2. Emotional Development: Imaginative play fosters emotional competence and empathy. During make-believe play, your child may practice caring for others and showing empathy. For example, when they participate in doctor pretend play, they learn how to be kind, gentle, and to help others. As your child begins to understand the feelings and emotions of themselves, they learn how to interact appropriately.
3. Language Development: This type of play is all about communication. Sit back and listen to your child while they play. They love to describe and narrate what’s happening. This conversation enhances their vocabulary and language skills.
4. Encourages Independence: Imaginative play allows your child to create stories, explore new ideas, and make their own rules. As they connect with the world around them, they begin incorporating what they have learned into their dramatic play. This encourages the freedom to take risks. Subsequently, those risks are essential to gaining their independence and becoming a critical thinker.
5. Increases Creativity: Engaging in fantasy play allows your child to stimulate their imagination. As a result, it increases their creativity. With a good imagination, your child can pretend to be anything or anyone they want.
6. Develops Problem-solving Skills: Excellent problem-solving skills require creativity. For children to figure things out for themselves, they need time and space. Through imaginative play, they learn to develop their problem-solving skills. From negotiating who gets to play what role to re-enacting real-life situations.

While the imaginative play ideas below can help you kick off some amazing games of pretend with your kids, it’s important to avoid imposing your own idea of what the game should be on them. If your kids say the rug you bought for an imaginary picnic is a patch of deadly quicksand, go with it – and start looking for a branch to pull them out!

1. Cook an imaginary meal: Children love to act out the ordinary things their parents do. Help your little one get into the role of future chef by laying out cooking equipment, “ingredients”, or even a drawn-out hob for them to play with. Let them serve you up a meal, and prepare to pretend that mud pie is your favourite.

2. Throw picnics and tea parties: Set up your own indoor picnic with a picnic rug, your child’s favourite toys and a few kitchen-related props.

3. Play super heroes:  Don a cape or choose an action figure and embark on the greatest fight between good and evil that the world has ever seen. It’s even more fun if you play the villain and let your child defeat you.

4. Turn a box into . . . anything: One of the best things about imaginative play is that you don’t need any special props to do it. For example, an ordinary large-ish cardboard box can become a house, a car or an aeroplane. Flatten it out, and you have a desert island. Give your little one a few boxes and watch for a bit to see what they do. Jump in once they’ve decided what the game is going to be.

5. Put on a performance:  It’s the ultimate improv exercise: using whatever props you have to hand (puppets, dolls, action figures, hairbrushes, boxes can all help), act out a play with your child. Let them dictate the plot as you go!

6. Plant up a (fake) garden: They might only be cardboard cutouts of flowers and imaginary vegetable patches, but your child can still have fun watering, weeding and looking after them. All the fun of a real garden, with none of the risk.

7. Build a city: Toys like Lego and building blocks can be useful props for this game. Help your little one build a metropolis, then run the town together.

8. Clean the house: Ever turned around after doing a household chore, only to find a little helper copying you? Kids are often strangely fascinated by housework. The next time you’re vacuuming or mopping the floor, give your child a prop so they can follow you around the house and take part.

9. Run a shop: If your child owned a shop, what would they sell? Help your child stock their shop’s cupboards, pretend to be a series of customers, and use (fake) money to buy their wares.

10. Play explorer: With a simple magnifying glass, accompany your child on an expedition around the house. Could a hair clip be the key to a lost temple? A sweet wrapper the cloak of a tiny magician?