Children learn in a variety of manners. And, pretend play is one of them. According to the experts at Scholastic.com, imagination-driven play builds your child’s developmental skills on many levels such as: language, social and emotional, and thinking. Take a look at what the experts had to say about each skill below and learn why pretend play is important for your child’s developmental skills!

Language Skills

Have you ever heard your child having an in-depth conversation with their stuffed animal during a medical check-up? Or better yet, have you heard them making deals on the phone in the board room? If so, you probably have heard them say things that you have indeed yourself said. Pretend play increases your child’s language skills and helps them learn new words, make connections between spoken words and written language. These are all skills that will help your child as they continue on the path towards being able to. Be careful what you say around your little one, you may hear it again as they are teaching a room full of stuffed animals the lesson of the day! Remember, words are indeed powerful.

Social and Emotional Skills

Imaginary play can be dramatic. Drama stretches those social and emotional skills to the limit. If your child is engaging with another, they are learning in a social setting how to respond to another person by taking turns, problem-solving, and more. According to the experts at Scholastic.com, these things are teaching your child the valuable lessons of “walking in someone else’s shoes,” which helps them to become empathetic young people and adults in the future. Pretend play on this level will also help build your child’s self-esteem.

Thinking Skills

Pretend play evokes a myriad of problems for your little one to solve. Whether they are enlisting the help of friends to find secret treasures on a lost pirate ship, or tying to figure out just how to build a fort for themselves and their stuffed animal scouts, they are working those brain cells to come to a solution. This is extremely important in helping them fine-tune their cognitive skills, which they will need to depend upon for the rest of their lives.

Now, that we have taken a look at the importance of pretend play for your child, just how can parents start and continue to help nurture these developmental skills under the guise of play? Well, of course, shop!

Buzzfeed.com has put together an exciting list of imagination-inspiring toys, games, and costumes that will all allow your child the freedom to use their imaginations, take risks, and be the confident space-alien fighting spaceship captain that they want to be! So, check out their list. Most of these items are available on Amazon.com, ensuring that you aren’t breaking the bank!