Pretend play as a creative action: On the exploratory and evaluative features of children's pretense

Linking children's pretense with creativity has a long tradition. Most authors claim that pretending children exercise divergent thinking, so they can generate many diverse ideas. We show that focusing on divergent thinking when describing the creative features of pretense is not enough. Both pretending and creating are not only aboutthinkingideas, but also about acting, exploring the surroundings, and adjusting oneself to other people and to the ongoing happenings. Furthermore, both pretending and creating do not entirely rely on generatingmany and variousideas or actions, as they also include exploration and evaluation of the outcomes. Consequently, we propose to link creativity and pretense by focusing on children's exploratory and evaluative actions. In our view, pretend play is a creative activity resulting in outcomes that are both novel and valuable.