How Pretending and Dramatic Play Drives Child Development

When I was a child, I love to cut out human pictures and nice dresses from magazine to play. Growing from a small middle class family, I did not had a doll to play with. But I had tons of fun playing with my own DIY paper dolls and dresses. It has been one of the greatest childhood memories for me.

Now, as a mother of two growing up kids, I want to give them more than what my parents had given to me. Not only from the daily nutrition, but also spend time to accompany them to play and learn.

I believe that pretending and dramatic play drives child development. Not only the kids will have fun in it, it will also improve their imagination. Through pretend plays, children become more comfortable and prepared for life events in a safe way. Children often use pretend play to work out more personal challenging life events too, whether it is coping with an illness in the family or a house fire.

I believe that pretend play is much more than simple play activities; it requires advanced thinking strategies, communications, and social skills. Through pretend play, children learn to do things like communicate with strangers, consider others’ perspectives, transfer knowledge from one situation to another, delay gratification, balance their own ideas with others, develop a plan and act on it, explore symbolism, express and listen to thoughts and ideas, assign tasks and roles, and synthesize different information and ideas.

We are glad that KidZania has opened in Kuala Lumpur seven years ago. As an interactive edutainment theme park for kids to role-playing activities, KidZania is designed to imitate real-life World.

I have been bringing my girls to KidZania Kuala Lumpur frequently over the years. It is indeed the best place for them to 'Learn Life Today'. There, they learnt about their profession preference, their abilities and team work. It also built their sense of responsibility throughout the accomplishments of the roles. They have more than 60 establishments for the kids to pretend play, hence there's always something new for my daughters every time we visit there.

For instance, at the Hospital, my girls learnt to become a doctor or a nurse taking care the patients patiently. At Z-Mart, they had played the role as a cashier and making sure the items that they scan are being paid. At the fire station, the kids were educated on fire preventive steps and performs fire extinguishing activity at Building in Flames establishment after commuting in a fire truck.

After a fun day working in KidZania, they got to keep their hard-earn KidZos into the bank. Sometime they would also buy things at the store with the KidZos they have earned. It is a good idea for the kids to learn about money and financial planning. So that they will spend money wisely in the real life too.

It's indeed a day well spent to pretend play and build their imagination. More importantly, KidZania is a safe place for my children to learn and play.

For more information about KidZania, please visit https://www.kidzania.com.my/.