An instinct to play: an evolutionary approach to pretend play

This paper employs an ecological framework in
order to capture the complex, dynamic, interactive and
self-organising nature of children’s engagement with
their world. Drawing on the principles of ecology it
examines parallels between the properties of systems
found in nature and children’s cognitive and adaptive
processes. Similar to ecological systems, children’s
engagement with the world involves constant and
mutually influential interactions between the individual
and his/her environment. This interconnectedness and
inseparability with the world, termed being-in-the
world, enables the exchange of information between
the person and the world and thus allows the
individual to organise his/her own information
structure. Children’s being-in-the-world finds its
expression in role play. This is the field of mimesis,
where children engage in creative appropriation of
their real worlds. The play worlds that children create
whilst in role play may therefore fulfil self
organisational, evolutionary purposes.