Symbolic Game play has a very important role in the cognitive development of our children between 2 and 7 years. SYMBOLIC GAME: DEFINITION, AGE OF CHILDREN, PIAGET, MONTESSORI, AND PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

Symbolic game: Piaget and his research

The psychologist Jean Piaget, a great scholar of cognitive development, analyzed the symbolic game. This type of game concerns a phase of the child’s growth that typically ranges from 2 to 7 years. Technically it is called the preoperative thinking phase.

Think of your child when he says “let’s say I was the teacher and you my school friend” . This is the moment in which the little one implements deferred imitations, essentially replicating behaviors observed in other situations and often held by reference adults.

In addition to replicating the gestures, the child uses objects that imitate the situation he wants to reproduce: for example, he uses a cardboard box and makes the gesture of guiding it.

Montessori symbolic game

Piaget in his work has very often cited Maria Montessori and her method in her works. Moreover, this estimate was reciprocated by the Italian scholar.

So how to combine symbolic play with the Montessori method ?

First of all, preferring natural materials such as wood to create symbolic play corners at home. Then making sure that the little one can independently reach the objects necessary for the game and put them away at the end of the activity, as we often repeat in applying the method, it is essential to minimize the intervention of the adult. Unless you become one of the protagonists of your child’s symbolic game. And then you’ll have to cook together or play school with the blackboard or sip a coffee even if it’s not there.

Examples of symbolic play

Here are some tips for setting up symbolic play corners.

SUPERMARKET

Cashier, shelves, products for sale, perhaps even adding price tags. Here is the wooden supermarket that allows you to imitate daily shopping both inside a shop and those who pass by from the outside.

LAUNDRY

An area dedicated to the management of dirty clothes, a laundry. Lavo lie down and stir or is an angle made of birch plywood which includes washing machine, clothes dryer, ironing board and shelves on which to store the ready cloths.

DIY

A highly resistant Durafoam bench, simulating a carpenter’s bench . Equipped with numerous accessories such as work tools (hammer, nails, drill, screwdriver, etc.) and blocks to combine to produce objects.

CLEANING

A cleaning trolley with the broom, dustpan, mop, bucket, brush, etc. There is also a sign that warns that the floor is wet and you have to be careful. Ready to clean the house? SYMBOLIC GAME: DEFINITION, AGE OF CHILDREN, PIAGET, MONTESSORI, AND PRACTICAL EXAMPLES