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The authors review the research on children's imagination and fantasy as they relate to children's socio-emotional and cognitive development and link those findings to children's academic and classroom competence. Specifically, children who are imaginative and/or fantasy prone tend to have better coping skills and the ability to regulate their emotions as well as score well on measures related to thinking, logic, and communication. Provided in this paper are also both conceptual and applied suggestions for teachers about how and why they should encourage imagination and fantasy in their classrooms. Concluding the paper are practical suggestions for activities and curriculum that use imagination and fantasy to enhance children's academic experiences and competence.
Children's imagination and fantasy life are topics that often fascinate people who interact with children professionally and personally. We know that, in general, parents tend to view children's imagination favorably. For example, Manosevitz, Prentice, and Wilson (1973) documented that 63% of parents believed that an imaginary companion was a positive addition to the child's life and only 4% thought it had an adverse effect on the child's development. Some 30 years later, Gleason (2005) again reported that parents viewed the imaginative capacities and experiences of children favorably (see also Gleason, Sebanc, & Hartup, 2000). By age 4, children have been exposed to cultural practices and activities that promote and even encourage children's belief in magic and engagement in fantasy and imagination (Woolley, 2000). That is, across various cultures there are sets of culturally accepted fantasy and make-believe constructs (e.g., in Western cultures the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Leprechauns on Saint Patrick's day, and witches at Halloween) and activities (e.g., children are told to "make a wish and blow out the candles" on their birthday cakes) that parents teach their children.
However, parents' encouragement of pretend play (and, thus, fantasy and imagination) varied by their belief on the importance of play for child development. Parents who valued this type of play extended pretend play and participated in elaboration of this type of play, whereas parents who did not recognize the value of this play tended to deemphasize this type of play and encouraged other types of activities (Carlson, Taylor, & Levin, 1998; Haight, Parke, & Black, 1997). These parents were...