Boost Your Child’s Pre-Reading Skills with Pretend Play

Introduction: The Kitchen Became a Library

On a Sunday morning in Pune, five-year-old Aarav turned his mother’s kitchen into a “library.” The masala dabbas were suddenly “books,” his mother’s dupatta became a “reading carpet,” and every stuffed animal lined up as “students.” Aarav couldn’t yet read, but he was already living the role of a reader.

This kind of pretend play — creating imaginary scenarios, acting out roles, and weaving stories — may look like simple fun. But developmental research shows it plays a profound role in preparing children for reading (as supported by studies published in the American Journal). Long before children decode letters on a page, they need to develop essential skills such as narrative thinking, symbolic understanding, vocabulary, and social communication, as well as literacy skills. Pretend play builds all of these. The benefits of pretend play include improvements in social, emotional, and academic skills, making it a valuable activity for overall child development.

Key Takeaways

• Pretend play is literacy in disguise. When a spoon becomes a “wand,” children are rehearsing the leap from symbols (letters) to meaning (words).

• Storytelling begins in role-play. Acting as “doctor” or “teacher” teaches sequencing, dialogue, and cause-and-effect. Yes, even “ghar-ghar” is a literacy lab.

• Vocabulary explodes in play. A simple “shop game” can add words like bill, customer, change — words that kids might not encounter in flashcards.

• Books and play fuel each other. After reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, many children “eat through” toy fruits — showing they absorbed story structure.

• Parents don’t need fancy props. A dupatta can be a sari, a box can be a bus. Children’s imagination does the rest — and that’s the point.

  
  

Why Pretend Play Matters for Pre-Reading

Children don’t learn to read by jumping straight into alphabets. They first build a foundation of skills called emergent literacy or early literacy skills:

• Recognizing that symbols carry meaning.

• Understanding story structure (beginning, middle, end).

• Expanding vocabulary through rich language experiences.

• Practicing listening, speaking, and sequencing.

  
  

Pretend play helps build early literacy skills by fostering language development, storytelling abilities, and understanding of symbols, all of which are essential for reading readiness and school success.

Pretend play provides a natural, joyful context for all of these. Literacy development is supported as children engage in pretend play, which fosters vocabulary, narrative skills, and print awareness in a language-rich environment. As children play in various pretend scenarios, such as role-playing as doctors or shopkeepers, they enhance their learning through meaningful and fun activities. A game of “doctor-doctor” is filled with vocabulary, role negotiation, and storytelling. A round of “ghar-ghar” helps children in developing sequencing skills (first we cook, then we eat). As children learn through these immersive pretend scenarios, they develop narrative skills, vocabulary, and print awareness in contextual, meaningful ways.

Pretend Play and Narrative Skills

Storytelling is at the heart of reading. Pretend play is children’s first laboratory for storytelling, allowing them to create detailed narratives as they invent stories and roles. By using their imaginations in pretend play, children develop storytelling abilities and creative thinking skills.

• Sequencing events: In “school play,” children practice how to sequence events, understanding that the bell rings, the teacher calls roll, then lessons begin.

• Cause and effect: In “superhero play,” the villain acts, and the hero responds.

• Perspective-taking: Children speak in different voices (“Now I’m the shopkeeper, now you’re the customer”).

• Pretending to be different characters: When children are pretending to be someone else or act out scenarios, they build narrative skills and learn how stories are structured.

  
  

These are the same narrative skills and understanding of narrative structure that children will later use to understand and predict stories in books.

Pretend Play and Symbolic Thinking

One of the great cognitive leaps in early childhood is symbolic thinking — realizing that one thing can stand for another. This is at the heart of make believe and imaginative play.

• A stick becomes a magic wand.

• A dupatta becomes a sari for the doll.

• A cardboard box becomes a car.

  
  

Imaginative play encourages children to use objects symbolically, fostering creativity and narrative skills.

This symbolic flexibility is exactly what reading requires. Letters are arbitrary squiggles, but children develop the ability to learn they “stand for” sounds, which “stand for” words. Pretend play rehearses this symbolic substitution long before phonics lessons begin.

Pretend Play and Language Development

Pretend play is a feast for language and oral language development.

• Vocabulary expansion: Playing “shop” introduces new words like “bill,” “change,” “customer.”

• Complex sentences and communication skills: Role play requires dialogue — “I’ll be the doctor, you sit here, then I’ll give you medicine,” helping children develop effective communication skills.

• Pragmatic language: Children practice conversational rules — turn-taking, polite forms, humor.

  
  

A Chennai preschool teacher observed: “Children who were shy in class became chatterboxes during pretend play. It unlocked their language.”

Language-rich pretend play is one of the best predictors of later reading comprehension (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).

Pretend Play and Social-Emotional Skills

Reading is not just decoding; it’s about understanding characters, motives, and perspectives. Pretend play builds these skills:

• Empathy: Playing “teacher” or “baby” requires imagining how someone else feels and practicing seeing situations from different perspectives.

• Negotiation: Children interact as they agree on roles, solve disputes, and co-create plots.

• Confidence: Pretend play lets children rehearse being powerful — superhero, doctor, shopkeeper, and different characters — building self-assurance that supports learning.

  
  

Pretend Play Inspired by Reading

The relationship between books and pretend play is circular:

• Books spark role play: After reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, children engage in acting out “eating through fruits.”

• Pretend play deepens story understanding: Acting out Chandamama tales helps children explore sequence and dialogue.

• Reading aloud provides new vocabulary that children use in their role-play worlds.

  
  

A Bengaluru mother shared: “After we read Tiger on a Tree, my son tied up his teddy and played ‘tiger-caught.’ It showed his creativity and that he really absorbed the story.”

Pretend Play in Indian Contexts

Indian childhoods are filled with cultural role-play:

• Ghar-ghar: Children imitate cooking, sweeping, and family routines.

• Mela or shopkeeper games: With matchboxes as “money” and toys as “goods.”

• Festival play: Children act out Holi or Diwali rituals with dolls or a baby doll as a prop.

• Mythological play: Retelling Ramayana or Krishna stories in small dramas.

  
  

These games are not trivial. They are rich literacy experiences — teaching sequencing, vocabulary, and story traditions. Both children and adults often participate, with adults sometimes joining as a co player to enrich the imaginative play and support language development.

Encouraging Pretend Play at Home

Parents don’t need fancy toys. Everyday objects work best. To encourage pretend play, use what you have at home:

• Props: Scarves, cardboard boxes, utensils.

• Story starters: “What if this pillow was a boat?”

• Reading-play links: After storytime, invite children to “play” the story.

• Role-sharing: Join in — be the customer at your child’s “shop.”

  
  

Pretend play is a wonderful opportunity for children to develop language, narrative, and literacy skills through imaginative scenarios.

Importantly, let children lead. The power of pretend play lies in imagination, not scripts.

Pretend Play in Preschools

High-quality preschools in the context of early childhood education understand that pretend play is not wasted time. “Dramatic play corners” with props like kitchen sets, costumes, and shop counters are common in Montessori and play-based classrooms.

Research shows that children in classrooms rich in pretend play show better narrative skills, vocabulary, print awareness, and phonological awareness in later grades (Christie & Roskos, 2006).

Educators have a crucial role in supporting pretend play to foster these foundational literacy skills.

Conclusion: Child’s Pre-Reading Skills with Pretend Play

When children stir imaginary chai, roar like tigers, or hold “class” for their dolls, they are not just passing time. They are building the mental scaffolding for literacy — learning that symbols hold meaning, stories have structure, and language is power.

Pretend play doesn’t replace books. It prepares children for books. It gives them the confidence, imagination, and narrative skills that make reading not just possible, but joyful.

So the next time your living room becomes a “hospital” or your sofa a “bus,” don’t dismiss it as chaos. It’s literacy in action — and your child is already a storyteller.

FAQs: Pretend Play and Pre-Reading

1. How exactly does pretend play help pre-reading skills?

Think of pretend play as practice for reading. Children build stories, use symbols, and expand vocabulary. For example, a Kolkata mother noticed her 4-year-old using the word “customer” only after endless shop games.

2. At what age should children start pretend play?

Symbolic play usually starts around age 2. By ages 3–6, it becomes rich and story-like. Don’t worry if your child starts later — exposure to stories and role models helps.

3. My son only plays cars. Is that “pretend play”?

Yes! If he assigns roles (“This car is the papa, this one is the baby”) or invents scenarios, that’s narrative thinking — a key pre-reading skill.

4. Should I correct my child’s language during play?

No corrections mid-game. Let them experiment. If your daughter says “I goed to the shop,” reply naturally: “Oh, you went to the shop? What did you buy?” They’ll absorb correct forms through modeling.

5. Does screen time reduce pretend play?

Often yes, because passive watching leaves less space for imagination. But you can turn it around: after a cartoon, ask, “Shall we play that story?” A Bengaluru father did this with Chhota Bheem, and his son soon acted out his own versions.

6. Can pretend play help shy children?

Absolutely. Many children find their “voice” in role play. A Chennai preschool teacher shared that her quietest student became the loudest “train conductor” during pretend play.

7. How can parents link pretend play and books?

Read aloud, then invite reenactment. After Tiger on a Tree, one family’s living room turned into a “forest,” with cushions as trees and a teddy as the tiger. That’s reading comprehension in action.