ABSTRACT
Children are excellent players and do not distinguish between fantasy and reality play. They move easily between the two. Within early childhood education we are mindful of the importance of starting with concrete, hands-on, real experiences when working with young children. When we relate concepts and themes to children’s own interests we start with the premise that children are competent and knowledgeable and we can build on their prior knowledge and experience. Young children are developing understanding of what is real and what is not. Sharon and Woolley refer to the “basic human condition” of attempting to define fantasy and reality and refer to various studies demonstrating that children can distinguish between real objects and images or thoughts and thus between fantasy and reality. However, other research suggests that children do have a clear understanding of what is real and use their, sometimes limited, knowledge about how world works in reality to make predictions and assumptions in their pretend play.
