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Pretend Play
Developmental Milestones

By , About.com Guide

Updated July 23, 2007

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Pretend play, or imitating activities, is an important developmental milestone that most infants reach when they are about ten to 16 months old.
Pretend Play

Pretend Play

Photo (c) Alex Motrenko
Pretend play often involves things like using a computer mouse like a phone, imitating an activity a toddler has seen his parents do over and over.

Toddlers will also begin to copy more of their parents daily household tasks, such as dusting and sweeping, at around 18 months.

Pretend play will get more elaborate as your child gets older; for example, your child pretends he is a doctor, fireman, or race car driver.



Sources:

Functional developmental evaluation. Prerequisite to habilitation. Capute AJ - Pediatr Clin North Am - 01-FEB-1973; 20(1): 3-26

Linguistic and auditory milestones during the first two years of life: a language inventory for the practitioner. Capute AJ - Clin Pediatr (Phila) - 01-NOV-1978; 17(11): 847-53

Clinical linguistic and auditory milestone scale: prediction of cognition in infancy. Capute AJ - Dev Med Child Neurol - 01-DEC-1986; 28(6): 762-71

The Denver Developmental Assessment (Denver II)

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