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From Imitative Play to Imaginative Play
How Toddlers Develop and Make the Transition
By Shannon McKelden
"For example, my 20-month-old nephew is heavily involved in repetitive play," Dr. White says. "He has a farmhouse with animals, and he moves them back and forth from one predictable place to another. As he does this, he names each one and looks at his parents (or any family member) for them to say the name after he does. This repetition of moving each animal to a particular spot and then naming it (over and over again) is very normal and essential for his development. The predictability of his parents repeating what he says, over and over, also creates a sense of safety for him."
Kelli Estes of Snohomish, Wash., noted similar type of play from both of her boys around the age of 18 months. "[Their imitative play] involved toy cars and trucks," she says. "Somehow, without being shown, each of them figured out how to lie down so they were eye level with the wheels, then they'd drive them back and forth and park them in a line like cars in the real world."
Dr. White uses a similar example in her definition of imitative play. "The child knows that a truck is for driving back and forth," she says. "He/she may also make the sound that a truck makes. However, the child is not yet able to create a story or metaphor about the truck in his/her mind and play it out. That comes later."
Estes also notices her younger son imitating his older brother in his play. "My 2-year-old son, Rowan, loves to copy everything his big brother, Riley, does," Estes says. "Riley will run from the living room to the family room and proclaim, 'I'm the winner!' Rowan follows behind, throws up his arms and also shouts, 'I'm the winner!'"
The transition to imaginative play usually comes during the toddler years, around the age of 3. It can, of course, come earlier or later in some kids, as every child is different.