Just under half of young children (43 per cent) play make-believe every single day and one in five have an imaginary friend according to The Charlie and Lola Imagination Study, published today. Despite media speculation around the demise of childhood and the rise in digital platforms for children, imagination amongst our young people is alive and kicking according to this latest report.
The study, commissioned to celebrate the latest Charlie and Lola DVD release in consultation with parenting skills expert Dr Pat Spungin, examined the lives of 1,400 of today’s young children and their propensity to engage in imaginative activity.
The new report reveals that one in five children have an imaginary friend like Lola’s invisible confidante Soren Lorenson in pre-school series Charlie and Lola. The majority (62 per cent) are girls and tend to be between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. When asked about the ‘kind’ of imaginary chum their child had, most cited them as other little boys or girls, some parents thought their child had fantasy pets or characters from fiction and many attributed their child’s alter-ego to an entirely made up creature.
Dr Pat Spungin, parenting skills expert and founder of raisingkids.co.uk comments: "It’s good to see the imagination is still alive and thriving in young children. Sometimes parents whose children have an imaginary friend worry about it but children have always had imaginary friends and to me it’s a sign of an active and creative imagination."
43 per cent of children play at make-believe every single day according to the report and girls were found to ‘more imaginative’ on a daily basis than boys. And where do children draw their inspiration for make-believe play? According to 78 per cent of parents, children act out what they see in everyday life. Experience-based activities such as ‘school’, ‘house’ and ‘shop’ are top of the list of favourite make-believe games with imaginary fictional characters like princesses and superheroes a close second.
Of those parents questioned, over half (56 per cent) cited imaginary games with occupational characters such as doctors, pilots and ballet dancers being enjoyed by their children. Largely unaffected by the celebrity obsessed culture of the UK today, only 6 per cent of our young children are likely to imitate celebrities in their imaginary game-playing but over half of them will use TV characters as their inspiration with the likes of Charlie and Lola and Bob the Builder forming part of their make-believe games.
Despite a burgeoning digital arena being available for our young children, few utilise the internet to role-play or make-believe. Of those parents interviewed, only 8 per cent said their children used cyberworlds to interact with friends, fewer (4 per cent) take part in online role-playing games.
Dr Pat Spungin comments: "There are lots of psychological reasons why children play make believe. In games like ‘house’ and ‘shop’ children are practicing the adult roles they will eventually play and parents are often shocked to hear how closely their children imitate them. Wanting to playact princesses and superheroes is more aspirational; it’s about having a bit of the power and glamour of the adult world."
Childhood homes today are breeding grounds for the imagination according to this latest report. Three-quarters of parents today have a dressing-up box in the house and 36 per cent will hand-down old clothes for their children to play ‘grown-ups’. The Charlie and Lola Imagination Study also revealed a whopping 88 per cent of houses with children contain an abundance of art and craft materials for use in their make believe play. Parents are also fostering their children’s thespian inclinations by providing hats, wings and fairy wands galore for imaginary games.
The Charlie and Lola Imagination Study also examined the differences between generations. When comparing their imaginative world to that of their children, parents thought the biggest difference was the fact that they spent more time out of doors. A huge 71 per cent of parents interviewed agreed with the statement ‘We spent more time outside’ when comparing their childhood to that of their offspring. Parents were also vehement that ‘created’ fun was far more prevalent in their childhood, 60 per cent agreed ‘We had to make our own fun a lot more’ and over half agreed that there were fewer out of school activities for children in their day.
Dr Pat Spungin comments: "Children of the previous generation had more freedom and in their own words ‘made their own fun’. This research shows that children still make their own fun in their make- believe play, the difference is that it is usually indoors and when out of doors is under adult supervision."