Children who demonstrate pretend play ability as toddlers have significantly fewer emotional and behavioral difficulties at ...

For children, rocks can be spaceships. Pens can be fairies. And this kind of play can help protect mental health in childhood ...

A University of Sydney study tracking over 1,400 Australian children found that toddlers who excel at pretend play have fewer emotional and behavioral difficulties in primary school. The link held ...

Can pretend play prevent childhood anxiety? Research finds that imaginative toddlers have fewer behavioral issues in primary school.

In a series of tea party-like experiments, Johns Hopkins University researchers demonstrated for the first time that apes can use their imagination and play pretend, an ability thought to be uniquely ...

When children pretend, they often demonstrate skills more advanced than they may show in other contexts, which suggests that pretend play could be a unique context for intervention and learning.