You can see symbolic thought occurring in your child’s play, especially during times when he is engaged in social interactions.
Symbolic thinking involves symbols or internal images used to represent objects. When we provide three year olds with socio-dramatic play opportunities, we must also include materials (e.g. a box, broom, empty cans) to play with. By doing so you encourage your child to use his symbolic thinking skills. These materials allow your child to use objects to stand for things that are completely different, thus supporting symbolic thought.
Your child puts a lot of thought into a symbolic play event. He has to think about what he wants to be, think about what objects he wants to use to transform himself, and think about how to be or do something new. It requires a lot of imagination and memory.
Memory goes hand in hand with symbolic play because in order for your child to imitate the behavior of what he sees in his mind, he must store and later retrieve information about the behavior from his memory. As your child grows, his ability to store more information over a period of time (weeks and months) and pull from his memory for later use will increase. This will then make his symbolic play more complex and longer in duration. In a few years you can sign him up for a play at school or a theater class. Symbolic play provides a great example of your child integrating experiences from her past into her present to plan for her future.
