Infants and toddlers in imaginary play situations: The genesis and conditions that support the development of imagination

Abstract

In line with contemporary views that problematise a stage-based approach to play, the study reported in this paper investigated the early forms of imaginary play of infants and toddlers. Results from two cohorts are presented in support of the genesis (11 infants; 1.1–2.0y; mean 1.6) and development of imagination as a psychological function (19 toddlers; 2.5–3.3ys; mean 2.9). Under the same conditions of an intervention of a Conceptual PlayWorld, the results show infants in imaginary situations gesturing imaginative intent, and the under three-year-olds engaged in more developed forms of imaginative play actions. Invited into imaginary play scenarios by educators, a dramatic tension between the infants' reality and their playing of reality was resolved through imitation, while the toddlers resolved emotional tensions in the drama of the imaginary play through emotional imagining (images). We concluded that there was a unique relationship between image formation, emotional imagining and the development of the psychological function of imagination. We argue that when imaginary play is made available to infants and toddlers that early forms of imagining are evident and suggest educators have a key role in creating conditions to support the development of imagination in group settings.