Investigating the Role of Pretend Play in Developing Creativity among Preschoolers
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the role of pretend play in developing creativity among preschoolers in isolated, associative, and cooperative play. The participants of the study were preschoolers aged from 3.5 to 5 years. The qualitative research approach was employed to observe preschoolers during pretend play of their own choice. The play was observed through nine sessions, 45 minutes each for nine weeks, which was video recorded followed by an interview with a teacher. High and low-structure play objects were provided to the preschoolers to begin the pretend play. As a result of this, cognitive and affective processes were assessed through observation. The results showed that pretend play opens the path for preschoolers to develop creativity and the prospect of an imaginative world. They exhibited imitation, correct representation of toys, irrespective of gender-based selection of toys, and conversion from isolated to cooperative play with progressing sessions. The study concluded that plays are vital and significantly contribute to developing creativity among preschoolers. Further, it is recommended that play intervention programs be introduced and implemented across the country to develop creativity through play among preschoolers.
Keywords: Early childhood development, Preschoolers, Pretend play, Creativity
Copyright (c) 2023 International Journal of Innovation in Teaching and Learning (IJITL)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
IJITL by Department of Education, IIUI is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.iiu.edu.pk. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Licensing and Copyright. All articles published by IJITL are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This permits anyone to copy, redistribute, transmit and adapt the work provided the original work and source is appropriately cited as specified by the Creative Commons Attribution License.The journal allows readers to freely read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles and to use them for any other lawful purpose. Once published the copyrights are retained with the Journal.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International