Structured Pretend Play for Enhancing Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation in Children Aged 3–8 Years: Findings From a 24-Week Experimental Intervention

Abstract

Executive functioning and emotion regulation are fundamental components of children's cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social development. The preschool and early school years represent an important developmental period during which children progressively acquire inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, emotional awareness, and the capacity to regulate behavior. Pretend Play helps children to sustain imaginary schemas, adhere to role dependent rules, delay immediate reactions, negotiate others, solve problems and learn alternative emotional reaction. In the current 24 week experimental study, the Pretend Play intervention was studied for its effectiveness in improving children's (3–8 years) executive functioning and emotion regulation. A total study sample of 180 children participated in the study. Standardized measures were used to assess executive functioning and emotion regulation, both pre- and post-intervention. The intervention included symbolic pretend play, role play, sociodramatic play, narrative pretend play, emotion focused play, problem-solving scenarios and flexible rule changing activities. Inside of 24 weeks the intervention was delivered, moving from simple symbolic to more complex social, cognitive and emotional scenarios. IBM SPSS Statistics Version 27 was used for data analysis. Results showed that executive functioning, emotion regulation and emotional lability/negativity assessed as domains significantly differed with respect to pre and post intervention scores. To check for gender-specific differences in the effect of intervention, male–female differences were also explored. Results demonstrate that structured pretend play is not only developmentally appropriate, but also may be helpful in promoting children's ECR and executive function.