The daily lives of U.S. children are changing dramatically, and not always for the better. The average 8- to 10-year-old spends nearly eight hours a day with a…
For a basic understanding of Symbolic play, see our Symbolic Play Encyclopedia listing.
Promoting Symbolic Play
There is a lot that we can do as parents, day care centers and schools to encourage play. Play and Playground Magazine promotes healthy play though its magazine and this website. Frequently we publish articles about Play and Symbolic Play, and make those articles available for free to our subscribers. Also at the bottom are other listings, news posts, and magazine articles from Play and Playground Magazine related to the topic of Symbolic Play.
Promoting Symbolic Play Outdoors
Outdoor play on playgrounds enhances motor development and social skills that allow for fuller expression and freedom through active movement and loud talk. The outdoor environment offers greater availability of low-structured non-realistic, natural materials, and spaciousness that encourages pretend play. Boys engage in more dramatic play and girls are more assertive when playing outdoors.
New innovative playgrounds are being designed that greatly encourage make-believe play. Old West towns, forts, castles, pirate ships, rescue fire trucks, trains, and space ships are some of the themes built into today’s playgrounds.
Designing for Symbolic Play
Creating a play area which promotes Symbolic Play requires understanding the targeted age group and providing for them opportunities to be creative. We can't predict how children will react or the things they will imagine to do with the object provided to them. In fact research suggests that if not given an object to play with, children will use their bodies , arms, fingers, feet as pretend objects. We can make sure that we provide objects that are safe, and we can rotate them to provide for new creative opportunities.