The Meadow Room - PRETEND PLAY

Parent: "What did you do today?"

Child: "Just played."

But here is what really happened: 

(because pretend play exercises three core elements of executive function, which is seen as a strong indicator of academic success)  

executive function allows us to: 
Make plans
Keep track of time and finish work on time
Keep track of more than one thing at once
Meaningfully include past knowledge in discussions
Evaluate ideas and reflect on our work
Change our minds and make mid-course corrections while thinking, reading, and writing
Ask for help or seek more information when we need it
Engage in group dynamics
Wait to speak until we're called on

They strengthened their working memory required to be in a role and interact with other children in other roles.  

Working memory is what enables us to keep several pieces of information active while we try to do something with them, like solve a problem or carry out a task.

They called on their inhibitory control - to resist acting out of character.  

Inhibitory control is the ability to inhibit or regulate strong or automatic responses.  It involves the ability to focus on relevant stimuli and block out what is irrelevant, like background noise.  It is also what lets us override strong but inappropriate behavioral responses.  An example is the child's game of Simon Says.  Simon Says is in fact a way to strengthen inhibitory control. 












and they exercised their Cognitive flexibility to adjust to the endless twists and turns of the developing plot -"now pretend we're on a trip and we have to bring supplies"

Cognitive flexibility is the capacity to shift or switch one’s thinking and attention between different tasks in response to a change in rules or demands.  It has also been described more broadly as the ability to adjust one’s thinking from old situations to new situations.

Embedded in their pretend play is oodles of social/relationship work.  

On top of all of this, we ask the children to go to the studio to make props for their play where they get lots of fine motor work, 

information about materials, 

                                                                                                                 tacit knowledge

 

and the laws of physical nature. 

But before they can even go ......... they have to write a note (literacy), 

          and after they get there they first have to make a plan, which requires the prefrontal cortex of the brain  

Then they often have to collaborate with other children and support each other.

So that's what they mean, but can't tell you, when they say they "just played"

No wonder they are tired when you pick them up.

Vygotsky (a pioneering psychologist whose work has become the foundation of much research and theory in developmental and child psychology) believes that: engaging in social pretend play is critical for developing executive function skills in very young children.