Playing minds: Parental pretend play input and infants' pretense and vocabulary development

Early pretend play interactions with parents contribute to children's pretend play skills and vocabulary development. This longitudinal study investigated parents' pretend play input to their infants during free play when infants were 14 and 20 months. We also examined infants' pretend play skills at 14 months and vocabulary knowledge at 14 and 20 months through a parental report. Results showed that at 14 months, infants' pretend play and receptive vocabulary knowledge were related. Parental pretense input, both its quality and quantity, concurrently supported 14-month-olds' pretense over and above infants' age and parents' general language input. Furthermore, at 14 months, the interaction of parents' and infants' pretend play concurrently contributed to infants' receptive vocabulary knowledge beyond infants' age and parents' general language input. However, parents' pretense input at 14 and 20 months was negatively related to 20-month-olds' expressive vocabulary knowledge. Last, parents adjusted their pretense based on their infants' pretense at 14 months, yet this relation did not hold when infants' vocabulary was considered. Parents tailored the quality but not the quantity of their pretend play input at 20 months in response to their infants' expressive vocabulary knowledge at 14 and 20 months. These findings suggest early interactions between infants' exposure to parental pretend play input and their pretense and vocabulary development; thus, playing minds.