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Quick answer: Why is pretend play important? Because it gives young children a fun, low-stakes way to practice language, storytelling, handling feelings and following rules, and children who pretend more tend to score higher on some of those skills. But a major 2013 review (Lillard and colleagues) found mostly links, not proof that pretending causes the gains; its authors judged it at least as likely that pretending is one route among many, or simply goes along with things, such as engaged adults, that do the real work. Pretend play is normal and worth making room for, but more of it won't necessarily give your child a measurable edge.
Key takeaways
- Most children pretend with objects by 30 months and pretend to be something else, such as a teacher, superhero or dog, by age 4, according to the CDC.
- A major 2013 review found no area where pretend play was shown to be uniquely important, and a 2023 review agreed for executive function (the planning, focus and self-control skills kids use to manage themselves).
- The firmest findings: a consistent link with language across 35 studies, and one randomized trial in which adult-led drama games improved 4-year-olds' emotional self-control.
- The “Batman effect” is one 2017 study: a fun idea to try, not a proven method.
- Make time for pretending because children enjoy it; there's no need to force or reward it.
At what age do kids start pretend play?
Pretending usually appears in the second year and grows more elaborate through the preschool years. The CDC's milestone checklists, which list skills that at least 75% of children show by a given age, include two pretend-play markers:
- By 30 months: most use objects to pretend, for example feeding a block to a doll as if it were food.
- By 4 years: most pretend to be something else during play, such as a teacher, a superhero or a dog.
Many children start well before these ages; Lillard and colleagues (2013) note that Jean Piaget dated the first pretending to around 18 months.
This article is general information, not medical advice. Milestones are a rough guide, not a test. If your child is missing milestones, has lost skills, or you have other concerns, talk with your pediatrician about developmental screening.
Pretend play research: what a landmark review found
In 2013, Angeline Lillard and five University of Virginia colleagues used a long Psychological Bulletin review to test a popular claim: that pretend play is crucial to healthy development. Across 11 areas of development, they weighed it against two alternatives: that pretending is one of several routes to the same skills, or that it simply accompanies development without driving it.
They kept finding the same problems: small samples, no random assignment, control groups that differed in more than pretending, and results that did not replicate. In several studies, benefits disappeared once testers no longer knew which children had been in the pretend-play group.
| Area | 2013 review verdict | Other evidence in this post |
|---|---|---|
| Language and storytelling | Not enough evidence to judge | 2018 meta-analysis: consistent link, correlational |
| Emotion regulation | Not enough evidence to judge | One 2018 randomized trial found gains in emotional self-control |
| Executive function | Leans against a crucial role | 2023 review: play programs haven't reliably raised test scores |
| Social skills | Leans against a crucial role | Not covered here |
| Creativity, intelligence, conservation (knowing amounts don't change with shape), theory of mind (understanding what others think) | Inconsistent; some gains vanished with unaware testers; adult interaction or other factors judged the likelier cause | A small correlational study links play and creativity (Hoffmann and Russ, 2012) |
| Reasoning | One route among several; other ways of focusing children on a logic problem worked as well | Not covered here |
| Problem solving | No compelling evidence of help | Not covered here |
Their conclusion: the studies so far could not show that pretend play itself drives development in a way other activities can't, and better-designed research was needed.
The review was not anti-play. The authors wrote that “a perfectly sufficient reason for play time might simply be that it is fun” (Lillard and colleagues, 2013), suggested play may help partly by giving adults and children a warm setting to interact, and warned against replacing play with lecture-style teaching. Not everyone agreed. In the American Journal of Play, Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong, who created the play-based Tools of the Mind curriculum, argued with Carrie Germeroth (2013) that studies often lump simple pretending together with the richer, “mature” make-believe that Vygotsky's theory is about.
Does pretend play build self-control? Vygotsky's idea and the trials
The most influential case for pretend play comes from the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934). In a paper on play published in English in 1967, he argued that make-believe always carries rules: once a child takes a role, the role decides what they can and can't do, so pretending keeps asking children to act against their impulses. Bodrova and colleagues (2013) give an example from Vygotsky's followers: a child playing the patient must leave the tempting toy stethoscope alone, because it belongs to the doctor.
Bodrova and Leong built play planning into Tools of the Mind, a preschool curriculum in which children draw or dictate a play plan before they start. The trials are mixed: Doebel and Lillard (2023) describe randomized trials split between positive and limited, null or even negative results, and because the curriculum bundles play with many other activities, even the positive ones can't credit pretend play alone.
Doebel and Lillard's broader verdict: when researchers ran targeted play programs over several weeks, children's scores on standard lab tests of executive function generally didn't rise more than in comparison groups, and a much-cited 2016 fantasy-play result wasn't confirmed by a larger, more diverse follow-up.
What are the benefits of pretend play? Language, creativity and feelings
Many of the imaginative play benefits listed online rest on correlations: two things go together, but one may not cause the other.
- Language. Quinn and colleagues (2018) pooled 35 studies with 6,848 children and found a consistent small-to-moderate link between symbolic play and language (r = .35). But the arrow may point the other way: children with stronger language may simply pretend more.
- Creativity and emotion regulation. Jessica Hoffmann and Sandra Russ (2012) assessed 61 girls in kindergarten through fourth grade. Girls who showed more imagination and feeling in a short play task (Russ's Affect in Play Scale) scored higher on creativity tests, and parents rated their emotion regulation higher. But play wasn't significantly related to the executive function test used. One small, all-girl sample: a signal, not proof.
- Emotional self-control, tested causally. Thalia Goldstein and Matthew Lerner (2018) randomly assigned 97 four-year-olds from low-income families to small-group dramatic pretend games (acting out emotions, pretending to be animals and characters) or to comparison activities. Of several social and emotional outcomes, only emotional self-control improved. It is one trial with adult-led games, so it can't say whether free make-believe does the same.
The “Batman effect”: can pretending help kids persevere?
Rachel White, Stephanie Carlson and colleagues (2017) tested 180 children aged 4 and 6. Each spent 10 minutes on a dull, repetitive task and could break off to play a video game whenever they liked. Some worked as themselves, some thought about themselves in the third person, and some pretended to be a hard-working character such as Batman. The pretenders stayed on task longest and the “as myself” group least, with the third-person group in between; older children lasted longer overall. The researchers call this “self-distancing”: stepping outside your own viewpoint may make temptation easier to resist.
Pretended to be Batman · Time on the dull task: Stayed on task the longest. Children pretended to be a hard-working character such as Batman.
The limits matter. It's a single lab experiment measuring 10 minutes of persistence, not habits over weeks, and we found no direct, independent replication as of October 2026. Doebel and Lillard (2023) note it is unclear whether role play or simply thinking about a capable character did the work. In a later study they describe (Shachnai and colleagues, 2022; 240 children aged 4 to 7), girls who pretended to be a successful woman scientist persisted longer at a challenging science activity than girls told nothing about her; girls who only heard about her did not. But the role-play and heard-about groups didn't differ from each other, so pretending itself can't be singled out.
What the research does not show
- That pretend play is essential. The 2013 review found no support for a uniquely crucial role, and a child who can pretend but does it less isn't known to be at a disadvantage (the review didn't cover children with developmental conditions; see the milestone note above).
- That more pretend play raises test scores. Training studies haven't shown that the pretending itself, rather than extra adult attention or other parts of the program, raises intelligence or executive function scores.
- That pretend play doesn't matter. “Not proven essential” is not “useless.” It may be one of several good routes, and children clearly enjoy it.
How to support pretend play without forcing it
The most defensible approach is modest: make room for pretending, join in warmly when invited, and borrow a couple of the better-studied ideas. If your child would rather help with the real thing, that's fine; our guide to chores for preschoolers has ideas. For the wider case for child-led free time, and how much of it kids need, see benefits of unstructured play. For more research summaries, see our play and learning hub.
Try this at home
- Keep open-ended props within reach. The CDC suggests letting toddlers turn a large box into a car or house, or pretend to cook with safe kitchen items.
- Follow rather than direct. Take the role you're offered and let your child steer. Example script: “I'd like a sandwich, please. What's the special today?”
- Try a one-minute play plan with preschoolers. Ask who they will be and what will happen; they can draw it or tell you.
- Play with feelings. Loosely inspired by Goldstein and Lerner's drama games, not their exact program. Example script: “Show me a grumpy bear. Now a sleepy bear. Now a bear taking three slow breaths.”
- Borrow the hero frame for one boring step in a morning routine or after-school routine. Example script: “What would a hard-working explorer do next with these shoes?” Use it lightly; it rests on one study.
- Keep pretend play off the reward chart. Children already enjoy it, and expected rewards for activities kids already like can backfire, as our review of whether reward charts work explains.
A hero frame for everyday routines
Star Chart Kids is one optional way to try the hero idea with routines. Tasks can be grouped into quests (Morning, After-School, Bedtime or your own), and each child has a 3D avatar to dress with stars, a ready-made character for “What would your explorer do next?” We don't claim the avatar makes children persevere; the Batman study tested pretending, not apps. Use stars for routine steps and leave make-believe unrewarded. It's free: create a username and parent passcode, with no email or payment required.
Frequently asked questions
What are the benefits of pretend play for toddlers?
Early pretending goes hand in hand with language: a 2018 meta-analysis of 35 studies found a consistent link. Whether pretending drives language is unclear, because play-training studies that saw language gains also added extra adult contact or other activities. The clearest benefits are simple: toddlers enjoy it, and it's an easy way to talk and play together.
At what age do kids start pretend play?
Many children start simple pretending in their second year; Piaget dated it to around 18 months. The CDC says most children pretend with objects, such as feeding a block to a doll, by 30 months, and pretend to be something else, like a teacher, superhero or dog, by 4 years. If you're concerned about your child's development, talk with your pediatrician.
Does pretend play improve self-control?
Possibly, but it isn't proven. A 2023 review by Doebel and Lillard found that play programs haven't reliably improved standard tests of executive function, the planning and self-control skills behind focus. A 2018 randomized trial of 97 four-year-olds from low-income families found adult-led drama games improved emotional self-control, but it's a single trial.
What is the Batman effect in kids?
It's the nickname for a 2017 study in which 180 four- and six-year-olds worked longer on a boring task when they pretended to be a hard-working character such as Batman. It's one study, and it's unclear whether pretending or just thinking of a capable hero made the difference.
Should I worry if my child doesn't like pretend play?
It depends on age. A child who isn't pretending with objects by about 30 months, or pretending to be something else by age 4, hasn't met a CDC milestone; raise that, or any lost skills, with your pediatrician. If your child can pretend but would rather build, draw or run around, that preference alone isn't a known concern: Lillard and colleagues' 2013 review found no good evidence that pretend play is uniquely essential, though it didn't study children with developmental conditions.
Sources and further reading
- The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence (Psychological Bulletin (Lillard, Lerner, Hopkins, Dore, Smith & Palmquist, 2013))
- How does play foster development? A new executive function perspective (Developmental Review (Doebel & Lillard, 2023))
- Play and Its Role in the Mental Development of the Child (Soviet Psychology (Vygotsky, 1967))
- Play and Self-Regulation: Lessons from Vygotsky (American Journal of Play (Bodrova, Germeroth & Leong, 2013))
- The relationship between symbolic play and language acquisition: A meta-analytic review (Developmental Review (Quinn, Donnelly & Kidd, 2018))
- Pretend play, creativity, and emotion regulation in children (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (Hoffmann & Russ, 2012))
- Dramatic pretend play games uniquely improve emotional control in young children (Developmental Science (Goldstein & Lerner, 2018))
- The “Batman Effect”: Improving Perseverance in Young Children (Child Development (White, Prager, Schaefer, Kross, Duckworth & Carlson, 2017))
- Walking in Her Shoes: Pretending to Be a Female Role Model Increases Young Girls’ Persistence in Science (Psychological Science (Shachnai, Kushnir & Bian, 2022))
- Milestones by 30 Months (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Milestones by 4 Years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)