Research shows that pretend play develops higher level thinking in children. Piaget says that pretend play helps children gain abilities in dealing with mental representations of reality, therefore, helping them develop skills for adulthood such as social skills, flexibility, and stress reduction. He identified three processes of play; decontextualisation, decentration, and sequencing.
Decontextualisation involves the ability to use materials with symbolic similarities to recreate past events or even imagined events. An example would be when a child pretends that a block is mommy’s cell phone. This type of play grows a child’s creativity, imagination, and problem solving skills.
Decentration would be when a child involves others in their play. This could be other peers or even imaginative character such as a doll or stuffed animal. This type of play allows a child to explore relationships, reactions, and cause and effect.
Sequencing is when a child will logically combine the actions and the objects. This is when interactive pretend play happens. Children develop skills of beginning, middle, end, cause and effect and problem solving skills. A child also develops many emotional skills such as developing and being able to read verbal and non verbal cues, and empathy.
Nicolich also proposes a fourth process he calls planning. Planning is the process that involves the child to organize actions and materials based on prior ideas and thoughts. This is when a child builds on previous experiences and expands on their play.
Pretend play correlates with the development of behavior, social, emotional, language and thinking skills. Pretend play can help develop behaviors such as helping to reduce aggression, improve empathy, practice negotiation, and helps them learn to self regulate.