© 2024 WMRA and WEMC
WMRA : More News, Less Noise WEMC: The Valley's Home for Classical Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Pretend Play

Playtime is important for kids... right?

Certainly research has led to that conclusion for decades.

But now a Virginia study has discovered that imagination and play might not be having quite the effect on kids many of us assumed it did. 

NOTE: This is an encore presentation which originally aired September 17, 2012.

Guest:
Angeline Lillard, Ph.D. -
Research psychologist specializing in early childhood development. Lead author of the new study The Impact of Pretend Play on Children's Development: A Review of the Evidence (Psychology Bulletin). Author of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius (Oxford University Press). Professor of Psychology and Director of the The Early Childhood Development Lab at the University of Virginia.

Tom Graham was Senior Producer and host of WMRA's Virginia Insight from 2006 to 2015.