Is There Anything More Beautiful?

"Let's pretend . . ."

Is there any more beautiful way to start a sentence? 

It's an invitation to entwine imaginations.

Psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik, a pioneering researcher, writes in her book The Gardener and the Carpenter: "By far the most important and interesting problem for young children is figuring out what's going on in other people's minds. Theory of mind, as it's called, is the ability to figure out the desires, perceptions, emotions, and beliefs of other people . . . Children who pretend more have a distinct advantage in understanding other people."

Gopnick sees the period from 18 months to five years as "the great watershed" for developing theory of mind.

When I hear "Let's pretend . . ." I know I'm not needed as the children engage with this "most important and interesting problem." I can, as a teacher, turn my attentions elsewhere, although there are few things more delightful than to act as a fly on the wall as children weave their stories of princesses and firefighters and mommys and daddys. They might pop on a hat or a cape or wrap a scarf around their waist and in that instant they are transformed into something they were not, embodying a person, or even an animal, about whom they are curious or by whom they are inspired. And then they play their way to a deeper understanding of another's experience from the inside out. When it begins with "Let's pretend . . ." it means they are doing it in collaboration with another mind who is likewise transformed.

As adults we tend to stop inviting one another with "Let's pretend . . ." although reading fiction or engaging with drama via theater or screen serve a similar purpose. Research finds that reading fiction, especially literary fiction, greatly increases empathy for, and understanding of, others. Even more so than a movie, novels put us into the minds, or shoes, of others, allowing us to experience the world from a new perspective and that works on us in much the same way that "Let's pretend . . ." works for young children.

The great beauty of "Let's pretend . . ." for early childhood educators is that most of the time all we have to do to make it happen is get out of the children's way. It emerges. Even without costumes, even without props, children are driven to entwine with one another to explore this most important and interesting problem.

"Let's pretend . . . " Is there anything more beautiful?

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I've been writing about play-based learning almost every day for the past 15 years. I've recently gone back through the 4000+ blog posts(!) I've written since 2009. Here are my 10 favorite in a nifty free download. Click here to get yours.

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