Updated: November 7, 2023

Watch a child at play and you can’t help but smile at their uninhibited creativity. The phrase: "Let’s pretend" opens up a new world.

According to Scholastic.com, pretend play helps children develop social, emotional, language and thinking skills:

“When your child engages in pretend (or dramatic) play, they are actively experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. Through cooperative play, they learn how to take turns, share responsibility, and creatively problem-solve.”

Pretend play helps your child to connect the dots between spoken and written language. It builds a platform for future reading and problem solving.

At HABA, we couldn’t agree more. We work hard to develop toys for pretend play that help develop important skills while creating hours of fun for children. Some of our favorite pretend play items for youngsters are:

Play With Your Food: Play Food

Let them become a chef extraordinaire with our selection of interactive play food items! Have some sweet treats with this plush ice cream cone set, then fly off to Japan for some sushi with our elaborate soft sushi set. The cooking continues with every child's favorite meal, our Mini Pizza Play Food Set. Make sure they are getting their daily veggies with our salad bowl set and encourage healthy eating choices.

All You Need Is Love: Plush Dolls

It’s never too early to start learning how to be compassionate, caring and responsible. Tending to dolls or stuffed animals encourages a nurturing nature.  Till, Nick, William, Graham, Mason, Matteo, and Luis break the mold of all dolls being girls. With so many to choose from, our adorable plush dolls encourage all children to copy their mommy & daddy, allowing them to develop their parenting skills.

Take on a New Role: Role Playing with Puppets

Bringing dolls and puppets to "life," role playing or mimicking adult behavior is a vital part of childhood! Children are natural pretenders with boundless imaginations and roleplaying provides a release for their creativity!

With HABA puppet characters, there is no limit to what you and your child can come up with! Puppet play encourages conversation, helps build vocabulary and improves social skills that are particularly important once your child goes off to school. Re-enact fairy tales together, make up stories or tell knock knock jokes to make each other laugh! And if you, as the adult, get recruited to pour at a tea party, help burp a baby or aid in fending off a beast, it’s your excuse to enter (re-enter) that wondrous world of pretend.

Wishing you and your family many pretend adventures that turn into real life memories and bonding!