Fantasy play and related cognitive development in 2- to 6-year-olds.

Developmental changes in specific types of material and ideational fantasy play and the relation of role taking, egocentrism, and receptive vocabulary from the PPVT were examined in a group of 78 2–6 yr olds who were randomly assigned to play in dyads. Each dyad engaged in free play for 3 15-min periods each week, for 3 wks in a playroom of the daycare center or school. Both frequency and duration of material and ideational fantasy play increased with age, but the play patterns differed. Material fantasy play followed a curvilinear trend, whereas ideational fantasy displayed a linear trend for frequency but a curvilinear trend for duration. Contrary to previous research, sex differences were not found for material or ideational fantasy play. Role taking was negatively correlated with material fantasy and sociodramatic play. Egocentrism did not correlate with the play measures, and the PPVT measure of receptive vocabulary correlated only with material play. Data suggest the developmental progression from object to person fantasy play does not occur as presumed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)