what sort of imaginative play would you expect to see in a 22 month old DC?

[Vinohrady]

I'm not sure what imaginative really means at this age, but I read that you should start to see it between 18-24 months. I don't really see DD doing much of it, so wondered how to encourage and what I should see?

ds2 is 22 months, haven't saw any imaginitve play really, lots of running about and climbing everything and anyone though!

At that age ds was pushing his cars around and making them race/crash etc. he would also feed food to his teddies, pretend to put them down to sleep and make the snoring noises for them and so on.

As long as she is doing little bits of imagination she should be ok for now, she's still quite young really.

A lot of children I know tend to get better at imagination play after 2 years old.

My DS is 22 months old.

He brrrrmmmms his cars around, lines them up and uses the back one to push all the others forward.

He pretend feeds me with toy food, makes me a "cuppa tea" with the tea set, feeds his toys etc

He plays "dinosaur chase" with his three year old sister (this involves running round the room carrying the dinosaurs and screaming, not sure how imaginative that is, tbh)

That's about it, really.

I don't remember his sister being very much different (it was toys in the toy buggy with her, not cars) at the same age, but she turned 3 in July and it's ALL about imaginative play for her now, she builds enchanted forests, climbs mountains of cushions, rescues trapped animals (thank you, Diego) and held a beach party in the hallway two days ago, she is constantly blathering on about some completely make believe thing or another and will rope in anyone who looks even vaguely willing or interested.

Hmmm. Well she likes making toy food, and using the tea set. She'll feed and give her teddy a drink (if prompted, does that count?). And she likes the toy buggy, which is fairly new, but prefers no toys in it!

bump
any other thoughts?

My DD is 20 months.

She pushes the cars around with 'car' noises and makes little pile-ups or queues (creating the M25 I call it ).

Animal toys get trotted along or put in the toy buggy and wheeled around.

All toys kiss each other and fly around the room. (she does this, this isn't Toy Story )

All toys pretend to drink out of my tea cup.

All toys (including cars) get their teeth brushed when she brushes her own teeth, and sometimes she does their hair with my hairbrush too.

That's it I think. Can't say I've really encouraged her to do it, she just seems to copy what I do for her with her toys. Kids love to copy, maybe just start doing it with her toys and see if she copies you? I wouldn't worry though.

My 22 month old ds just started to pretend recently. We had been crabbing and he started to "see" crabs and catch them.

At that age they are just starting to "make believe by pretending" - things like picking up your phone and chatting to someone who isn't there, or even picking up a shoe and pretending it's a phone, pretending to give a dolly a drink. They often start to show an interest in "small world" cars/trains/farms/dollshouses. Actually playing make believe games (I'm a baby dragon and you're a mummy dragon etc) happens more from 2.5-3 onwards.

I do do this stuff with her, but she doesn't really copy it...she copies loads of things, so it's not the lack of imitation that concerns me.

Should I be concerned that I don't really see much?

Pretend to talk on a toy telephone and feed teddies. Other than that i think it's around 22 months when they really start imaginative play, so watch for gradual increase from now really - mimicking what adults do is the beginning.

Oh she picks up everything and pretends that's a phone...but that doesn't seem a lot to me.

Cross with matana...as I say she talks endlessly on the telephone (which could be a shoe or a banana). She will feed her teddy if I initiate it..but not of own violation really

My 22 month old's favourite game at the moment is lying his teddies in a row on the floor, covering them with a blanket and rubbing their heads (like I do to him) saying "Night night, shhh". something then he lies beside them for fun and I've to rub his head too.
I'm getting more ideas from here as putting his teddies to bed is getting boring.

She is only 22 months, I think you might be expecting a bit much.

DS (21 months):
Puts a piece of duplo on a stick and calls it an icecream and gets me to "eat" it
Uses the chest of drawers as a oven, puts things in a bowl and puts it in the oven to cook, takes it out, serves it to his toys.
Feeds Teddy, gives him a bottle, puts a nappy on him
Makes pretend houses with blankets and makes me knock at the door to be let in
Rolls his cars around making car noises
Makes animal noises for his stuffed toys
Talks on "phones" which can be anything from a real phone to a piece of banana.

I'm surprised at how much imaginative stuff he does really, I didn't expect him to do so much at his age. A lot of children don't start imaginative play till they're well gone 2 so I wouldn't worry if you're not seeing much of it at the moment. Is she talking much?

Yes she's good with words. Every day more are coming

That's a good sign. Some children just aren't very imaginative - they start later at it and don't show much interest, they prefer rule-based games. Try this - show her an object she wants then pass it from hand to hand, letting her see. Close your hands (so that she has seen which hand the object is in but now it's hidden) and ask her to choose a hand. It'll take her a few goes to get it but I'm guessing she'll like it.

Thanks, thats helpful - worry about ASD - stupid but there you go

Is there a reason to worry? What I mean is, is there a history in your family, or problems you're worried about?

No - no reason. Just something I think about!

Mine shows imagination only regarding the oven glove. She puts it on her hand and chases me going rarrrrr :)

It's very early for me to expect cups of imaginary tea and stuff

Sounds like your DD is doing fine, OP! I wouldn't worry :) she sounds like most 22 mo I have ever known.

Like the million other things there are to worry about eh? :) She sounds absolutely fine to me, chances are you'll be posting in a year saying "My bloody DD won't shut up about fairy castles and dragons. AIBU to shut her in the cupboard dungeon for 20 years until the prince rescues her?"

My DS has a slight speech delay, which means we have to guess when he's playing imaginatively. The speech therapist who observed him said that symbolic play (like feeding a doll) is the key precursor to imaginative play and it sounds like your DD does lots of that.

My DS pretends to talk on the phone, feeds Iggle Piggle and changes his nappy if I initiate it, and enjoys 'cooking'. He also pretends to do the laundry quite a lot. And he was once spotted, in the bath, pushing a rubber duck around saying 'Ka Ka Ka'.

But that's about it. His real loves are kicking and throwing balls, building towers, drawing, running around and stickers and Abney and Teal.

He's been at the slower end of development with everything, but once he gets there you really can't tell the difference between him and a child who walked at ten months, say. I'm confident that the imaginative stuff will come.

Thanks all. She will do the phone talking and toy food cooking/play in play kitchen - but say, if we put the doll in her pram to walk around, she'll more often than note take it out. She hasn't been the fastest developer, so maybe she is just a bit slower . But she doesn't jump to initiate stuff so that concerns me, probably more than it shuld