Imaginative play at 2.7 y.o.

[AngelDog]

DS is 2.7 and only ever does 'director' imaginative play, not 'actor' imaginative play. So he makes trains and cars do things, and will use random objects eg glass pebbles as cars to drive under bridges. He gets toy people or soft toys and occasionally gets them to walk around or puts them in vehicles etc.

However, he never does imaginative play where he is the person pretending to do something eg drive a car, play shopkeeper etc. He has occasionally played at cooking / giving someone a 'cup of tea' (usually when copying another child) but he generally thinks playing with toy food is dull - he only wants to help with the preparation of real meals.

I presume that's normal?

I did read something which suggested that children do either one or the other. To be fair, I'm not sure I've ever played 'pretending' games with him.

Think it sounds pretty normal to me. DS did lots of the same stuff as your DS at that age whereas DD does more of the actor type games.

DS (2.6) will do both, but will only do 'actor' type play if I am doing it with him. Even then, he struggles a bit - so if we are playing with his Dr set and he is giving me an injection, I'll say 'Thank you Dr DS' and DS will say 'I'm not Dr DS, I'm just DS' - bless him!

His 'Director' imaginary play focuses around whatever he has to hand (cars, bunnies etc) looking for their mums, finding them, and getting a cuddle! It's not hard to see what dominates his thoughts! :)

Thanks, both. IWillOnly, that is very sweet. :) DS's imaginary play is almost entirely vehicle-related.

I've read a lot about using role play to help children work through difficult experiences eg medical visits. I liked the idea of doing that with DS but he really isn't interested! (Thankfully he copes really well with distressing situations and seems to get over them without adult help.)