# Imaginative play, how old when they start?



## Rox5266 (Nov 26, 2004)

I am curious at what age children start imaginative play. I would love to hear if mothers of older toddlers have children who are doing this. My 26 month old doesn't really show an inclination yet, should I be worried?
!
TIA


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## teachma (Dec 20, 2002)

My ds is now 5, and he NEVER engaged in imaginitive play until this year, in kindergarten. He found some girls he likes, and so he goes with them to the "drama" corner to play house, etc. In preschool, though, he never did anything like this, and at home, as a toddler, he never played with a single toy in its intended manner. That said, he is a "different" kind of kid overall. Worried? No, I was never worried about it, but I was kind of interested in why his choice of entertainment and activity was always out of the norm. He much preferred books and music, trying to put things together and take them apart, sorting, arranging and organizing items, and talking, talking, talking about any conversation I'd engage him in.

My dd is 19 months old, and she is queen of play! She feeds her "babies" and puts them to sleep, talks to "papa" on the pretend phone, plays with dolls in a dollhouse, pretends to eat toy food and feed it to me...the list goes on and on.

Each child is different, and unless you have other reasons to be worried about ours, I don't think this alone is an indicator of anything.


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## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

That is one of the things we are working with my boys with in therapy. I was told that for some kids (boys particularly) it doesn't come as easily. But they did think it was important--both Andrew's speech and developmental therapist? Does he do some very, very basic pretend things (like a shoe is a phone or a block is a truck--that sort of thing)?


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## True Blue (May 9, 2003)

FUnny, DS hasn't really come into this until the past couple months!! A couple minor things and there before, but now he is really into pretending he is someone else, or something is something else, etc.


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## nfpmom (Jun 4, 2004)

My son has just started imaginative play in the last 2 months (25 months or so). It is the cutest thing ever.

Now that I think about it, he has been pretending to talk on the phone since he was about a year old, but in the sense of making his toys talk fake conversations to each other and whanot, the last two months...
take care


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## Saartje (Oct 22, 2004)

Judging from these replies, my son's really early on this front -- he started imaginative play at 15 months. (Pretended to scoop something into a funnel with a spoon.)


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## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

DD is 2.75 years and just started a few weeks ago. One of her older friends was imaginative playing, she was confused, I was trying to explain it to her, I didn't think she understood, then a week later she started bringing "food" to DH in the hot tub. :LOL Everytime we go there she plays that game, but won't imaginative play anywhere else.


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## edamommy (Apr 6, 2004)

my ds started around 27 months. Now, at 31 months, he is constantly at imaginative play. But, another child at his daycare (an at home place) is the same age (give or take one month) and does NO imaginative play... so it's really to each his own I think!


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## Pookietooth (Jul 1, 2002)

My ds started somewhere between 2 and 2.5, although it's much more of a thing just in the last few weeks (he's now 2 years and 8 months). He mostly pretends to use tools, but does all kinds of things from things we read together or things he sees. Not with dolls at all, he's afraid of them, or even toys, but mostly ordinary household objects. I think it helped that I enrolled him in a dance play class at around two years old, it has been wonderful. The instructor is the greatest! He has really blossomed in her classes.


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## hopeland (Oct 15, 2005)

From teaching preschool I would say between two and four it varies quite a bit. Some kids are more naturally into it...


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

I remember Abi getting a bowl and spoon set for Christmas shortly after she turned 1. She pretended to scoop something out of the bowl and eat it and said "MMM"! We were amazed! Nitara is 21 mos and will offer her stuffed animals binkys and food and make smacking noises. She also sets her baby on the potty and says "sss".


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## Starflower (Sep 25, 2004)

DD just really started doing this in the past few months. She's 28 months now. Mostly she pretends her little Clifford is nursing with "Mommy Clifford." She's not really into her "real" dolls much. She likes to pretend to be a dog or a cat though. She's actually been doing that for quite a while. Anything to do with animals, really.

For her 2nd birthday, my friend got her a princess tiara (which she hates and insists I wear it as the queen), a frilly skirt which she calls her dance skirt, and a sparkly lavendar heart-shaped wand. She loves to play with the wand, but not to pretend to do magic or princess things (whatever those are). She just likes to wave it around and run about the house with it because it's a stick.

From reading the other posts, it sounds like a pretty wide age range for starting imaginitive play. But it sure is fun to watch when they start.


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## lioralourie (Aug 22, 2004)

teachma, our 19 month old girls sound just the same--too bad we're not living in the same area or they'd be fast friends!

our DD has been doing this for a couple of months... using anything and pretending to talk on the cell phone, with bursts of talking & periods of silence (and a very funny fakey laugh--do I do that?!), cleaning her dolls and stuffed animals' faces and tushies, making cars "go" and little clowns and such walk along (with a singsong 'do, do, do, do' to go along with it).

Of course, giving everything "nursies" along with sound effects. And wanting me to give them nursies, too...and not just over the shirt







:

and today she was thrilled when I finally







got it...she wanted me to fashion a sling (out of a scarf) for one of the dollies!

But I showed her how to do some of these things kind of early and truthfully she was just copying until recently.

Each kid is different--more physical kids might be less interested in sitting and pretending...and that can seem like they're less imaginative at this age. But it shouldn't be cause for concern. Different personalities, that's all...it'll come and it'll be cute as the dickens!


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## lisalou (May 20, 2005)

DD started pretending anything she could find was a phone at about a year. Which led us to believe that our daycare provider is on the phone a lot since we aren't. She started putting her bears to bed around 18 months. And then we got her a kitchen and fake food and dishes for her 2nd birthday and she took to them like a duck to water. Her and her cow, pig and puppy have had several meals together. I'm hoping she won't be too traumatized when she realizes the ramifications of giving her cow a hamburger or the pig the sausage later on. She also likes pretending her big legos are cameras. Only the orange ones though and she says "cheeeeeese" and makes a clicking sound. I would think it's was the orange ones b/c of the color of cheese where I grew up. But we're in Vermont and the cheese isn't orange here. I can't wait until she can explain the logic behind some of her choices.

My neice didn't start imaginative play until she was 2 1/2. My mother and I have a theory that it's b/c my sister buys her a lot of what we call single use toys, like walking talking bears and other battery operated toys. But reading these responses I wonder now if that's true.


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## k mama (Sep 18, 2005)

My son (now almost 16 months) started imaginative play before he was a year. He'd roll cars on the floor and try to make "vroom" sounds; he likes to talk (real and pretend) on the phone (or remote control :LOL ). More recently (within the last 1 - 2 months), he has started to pretend to drink from empty cups etc. and has me "drink" from them as well.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

My dd pretends everything is a phone- her favorites are a calculator and the remote. We don't talk on the phone much at all







just something she picked up....

-Angela


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## BetsyPage (Mar 5, 2004)

A few months ago I noticed it... maybe around 20 months I think? It's incorporated into all her play, now. All animals make noises, she cooks up delicous meals in her play kitchen that all criters in the house sample, stuffed kitties eat food and get tickled, baby dolls hug each other and she nurses, slings them, reads stories to them in her lap and pushes them in strollers... anything she can push can be a "Tommy" choo-choo, little people go swimming and get rescued in the sink.







It's so cute, but it actually made me cry the first time I realized what she was doing- my baby is growing up!


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## karlin (Apr 8, 2004)

My Ds is 25 months, and started "talking" on a play phone a little affter he was a year old. Just lately, he has started to have his toys have conversations with each other. I think these are 2 kinds of imaginative play....using toy versions of adult things for their intended purpose should come much earlier than making up games for their toys to play, etc.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

Julia is 14 months, and she's just recently started what i think is the very early beginnings of imaginative play. For example, she'll pick up a block, and use it to "comb" her hair, or she'll use a sippy cup to "feed" her little doll. It's a far cry from full-out make-believe, but it's a start. I've heard that it's between 18 months and 3 years that most kids start real pretend games, but I have no personal experience with this so I can't say for sure.


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## k mama (Sep 18, 2005)

Today my son was litterally playing with his food. He had a piece of bread and said "car" then he started moving it around on his tray making car sounds. It was sooo cute







.


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## johub (Feb 19, 2005)

WIth my three youngest it came shortly before age 2. With my oldest I cant remember. (if she ever did, time flies so fast)


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## Treasuremapper (Jul 4, 2004)

It depends on what you consider imaginative play. Do you mean pretending to give a doll a bottle, or do you mean having the dolls have conversations with each other complete with pretend voices?

I am considering it to be the dolls talking with each other, pretending to be a frog, etc.

My older daughter started imaginative play (aside from an imaginary friend, girl easter bunny, which started when she was about twenty three months old) when she was about two and a half.

My younger daughter started imaginative play when she was about eighteen months old. I think the major difference was that she saw her older sister doing it all the time and it looked like fun to her.


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## hottmama (Dec 27, 2004)

My son is very imaginative, and has been since about a year. I remember last Xmas, at 23 mos., he got an "animal hospital" toy that came with a bird, cat, and dog, and had a bunch of little cages, and he pulled imaginary monkeys out of the cages and gave them to people, and ran around catching them when they escaped. Now, EVERYTHING talks. His food says "Don't eat me!" and there is mommy, baby, and papa broccoli, etc. His crayons go grocery shopping and cook dinner. I don't know where he gets it because I am the most practical person alive. His best friend will be 3 in a month and doesn't seem as interested in pretend play, he's more into building lego masterpieces and doing puzzles and other hands-on stuff.


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## LeftField (Aug 2, 2002)

I remember my second son pretending to eat invisible food in the grocery store at 15 or 16 months. He did a lot of imaginary play from 18 mos-24 mos/now and is now starting to use high-pitched voices for his dolls. But I don't remember my first son doing any serious imaginary play prior to 24 months, other than the phone thing that kids do. I'd have to check his baby book, but I don't think he had the rich imagination at 1 that my second son does. So, I think that kids are influenced by each other and my second son perhaps had his imagination jump-started by playing with his older brother. Perhaps if my first son had an older sibling, he would have done imaginary play earlier as well. It's something to think about.


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## peaceful_mama (May 27, 2005)

Shortly before DS's 1st b-day, he started putting the phone up by his ear, then it progressed to where now EVERYTHING is a phone LMAO...the remote goes up by his ear, Legos, even his toy squeaky bear has been up by his ear in 'phone' position LMAO!! (I do admit to being on mine quite a bit....less lately, but there's even a pic of me in the delivery room after his birth (he's literally less than 30 mins old, on the phone.) I'm pissed sort of that my doula took that pic, I really did NOT want the phone at that moment but DH wouldn't listen  thinks it's rude to ever NOT talk to a friend. The thing is, my son was LESS THAN 30 MINUTES OLD--any friend worth keeping would've understood I was a little BUSY!! (she knew my induction was that day and wanted to see where I was with it lol)
I am putting it in my next birth plan that I am NOT taking ANY phone calls or visitors until my child has had a chance to bf or the next morning if I deliver in the middle of the night. Except for a very few specific people who will know who they are. Other than that, I'm not having anything given out, I want no visitors, no anything, family/friends other than my parents and 2 best friends will be instructed to contact my parents for updates, etc. and info on when and where to contact me. I trust my mom to not give out anything until I'm ready for company.

The other thing he started doing shortly before a year was playing with toy cars, rolling them on the floor or coffee table and occasionallly making appropriate noises LOL.









Is this really early for this sort of thing?


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## LeftField (Aug 2, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zakers_mama*
The other thing he started doing shortly before a year was playing with toy cars, rolling them on the floor or coffee table and occasionallly making appropriate noises LOL.









Is this really early for this sort of thing?

At the risk of anyone thinking I'm weird, I do remember this one, because I had the same question when my ds2 started playing with cars. The typical age that kids play with cars alone (not sure of the statistic they use) is 11 months.


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## peaceful_mama (May 27, 2005)

OK so he's normal







(dang, I wasted that time on the Ivy League apps! )

**please note, that is complete and utter facetiousness**


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## OakBerry (May 24, 2005)

My ds started about 2.9 months, but wasn't really "into it" until now, 3years.


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## Alkenny (May 4, 2004)

My youngest has just started pretending like he was a dog the past few days. He barks and crawls around and if you ask what he wants, he'll point to his head wanting you to pet him.









My DD had a vivid imagination, but my older DS never really got into it niether.


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## johub (Feb 19, 2005)

Oh my goodness. My kids love to pretend to be animals. And i have three of them (toddlers, not animals) and so sometimes I Have a whole pack of stray cats on my floor or bunny rabbits or T-Rexes.
My ds2 loves to pretend to swim on the tile floor. He has been doing this almost all summer.
My dd2 loves to pretend to eat. She will pick imaginary burgers out of the Mcdonalds Menu at the walmart check out and dramatically eat it saying "cheeseburger. Yummy"
My ds1 was a little over two when he actually would make his little "guys" talk to each other. They were all named "daddy".
joline


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## ayme371 (Jan 5, 2005)

My ds has loved the phone for a long time, one of the buttons made a bird chirping ring, and he couldn't get enough. At about 14 months he started pretending other things were phones and would babble like crazy into them, I really don't talk on the phone that much.









Fecently, at about 18 months he started carrying his toy cups and plates around. He'll pretend to take a drink and give me one too. He also put a large yellow block on one of the plates and then pretended to eat it. Banana maybe? He gave me a purple one, so grapes for me I guess.


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