Abstract

The study examined children's sociodramatic play, hypothesizing that higher imaginal play object-use leads to higher level of play narratives' structure and communication. Two steps were performed to examine this hypothesis: (a) an intervention method in situations other than play; and (b) correlating the level of imaginative objects use in sociodramatic play, and the level of its narrative, measuring two aspects: (1) The quality of the play’s narrative: Its structure, its complexity, and the level of its sophistication; and (2) the level of interactive communication used to construct the narrative. The research examined natural sociodramatic play situations in 16 kindergartens with children of different SES (socio-economic status) backgrounds. Four experimental and 4 control groups of each of two SES levels were sampled. The results indicated that the level of the imaginative object use performance over time, impressively improved in all experimental groups in comparison with the control groups, indicating that the imaginative level of object use was highly correlated with the level of the play narrative and communication. This was found in plays with more complex components and higher structure of the narratives, and more effective communication, in the experimental as compared to control groups, in both low- and medium-SES background. The latter's standard of play was superior as compared to the former, and the gap between groups expanded over time. The results of the study point to the important role of imagination in pretense play narratives and strengthens the potency of narrative theory approach in explaining children’s fantasy in play.