My youngest granddaughter once spent an entire afternoon explaining the political system of a kingdom ruled by talking vegetables.
There was a carrot prime minister, a rebellious onion faction, and something called the Great Potato Accord of last Tuesday. I sat there nodding along, equal parts amused and genuinely impressed.
If your child spins elaborate tales featuring characters who exist only in their imagination, you might wonder what’s happening inside that busy little head. Should you be concerned? Quite the opposite, actually.
Research in developmental psychology suggests these young storytellers are exercising some remarkably sophisticated mental muscles. Let me walk you through what the science tells us about these imaginative children and the cognitive gifts they’re quietly developing.
1) They’re building exceptional theory of mind
When your child creates a character with their own thoughts, feelings, and motivations, they’re practicing something psychologists call “theory of mind.”
This is the ability to understand that other people have mental states different from our own. It sounds simple enough, but it’s actually one of the most complex cognitive achievements humans develop.
Think about what’s required here. Your child must imagine what their character knows, what they don’t know, what they want, and how they might react to various situations. That’s mental heavy lifting.
Research published in Developmental Psychology has shown that children who engage in elaborate pretend play often demonstrate more advanced theory of mind capabilities than their peers.
This skill becomes crucial later in life. Understanding that your boss, your spouse, or your own children see the world differently than you do is fundamental to navigating relationships successfully.
Your little storyteller is getting a head start on this essential human skill, one imaginary adventure at a time.
2) They’re developing narrative intelligence
Have you ever tried to tell a coherent story? It requires keeping track of characters, maintaining plot threads, building tension, and delivering some kind of resolution. Adults struggle with this. Yet children who create elaborate imaginary worlds often manage it with surprising sophistication.
Narrative intelligence goes beyond simple storytelling. It’s the ability to understand how events connect, how causes lead to effects, and how actions have consequences.
When your child explains why the dragon couldn’t simply fly over the magic mountain because of the ancient spell cast by the wizard who was actually the princess’s grandfather, they’re demonstrating causal reasoning that would make a philosopher proud.
This kind of thinking translates directly into academic success. Understanding history, grasping scientific processes, even solving math word problems all require the ability to follow narrative threads.
Your child’s imaginary kingdom is essentially a training ground for logical thinking wrapped in a much more entertaining package.
3) They’re exercising working memory like champions
Working memory is our mental workspace. It’s where we hold and manipulate information in real time. And elaborate imaginative play gives it quite the workout.
Consider what your child must track while playing in their imaginary world. There’s the cast of characters, each with their own traits and histories. There are ongoing storylines, past events that affect current situations, and rules of the imaginary universe that must remain consistent.
My granddaughter’s vegetable kingdom had trade agreements between the root vegetables and the leafy greens that she remembered weeks later. I can barely remember where I put my reading glasses.
As noted by cognitive researchers at the University of Cambridge, children who engage in complex pretend play show improvements in working memory capacity.
This matters enormously for academic learning, where students must hold multiple pieces of information in mind while solving problems or understanding new concepts. Every time your child adds another layer to their imaginary world, they’re essentially doing mental push-ups.
4) They’re practicing emotional regulation through safe exploration
Here’s something that might surprise you. Those dramatic storylines your child creates, complete with villains, conflicts, and scary situations, are actually helping them learn to manage their own emotions.
Imaginary play provides a safe space to experience and process big feelings.
When a child’s character faces fear, loss, or anger, the child gets to explore those emotions at a comfortable distance. They can experiment with different responses and see how various choices play out, all without real-world consequences.
I’ve watched my grandchildren work through genuine anxieties this way. A child worried about starting at a new school might create a character who bravely enters an unfamiliar land.
A child processing a family change might tell stories about characters adapting to new circumstances. It’s therapy disguised as play, and children seem to instinctively know how to use it.
The American Psychological Association has highlighted research showing that imaginative play helps children develop coping strategies and emotional resilience. Those elaborate stories aren’t escapism. They’re preparation for real life.
5) They’re cultivating creative flexibility
What happens when your child’s imaginary story hits a dead end? They improvise. They find another way. They discover that the locked door actually had a secret passage, or that the captured hero had a hidden ally all along.
This is creative flexibility in action, and it’s one of the most valuable cognitive skills a person can develop. The ability to approach problems from multiple angles, to generate alternative solutions when the first approach fails, to think around obstacles rather than giving up when facing them directly.
If you’ve been a regular reader, you may remember I’ve mentioned before how important adaptability has become in our rapidly changing world. The jobs our children will hold may not even exist yet.
The problems they’ll need to solve haven’t been identified. What will serve them well is the mental agility to approach novel situations creatively. And that’s exactly what elaborate imaginative play develops.
Watch how your child handles contradictions in their stories. When you point out that the character couldn’t be in two places at once, do they get frustrated or do they invent an explanation? That moment of creative problem-solving is cognitive gold.
6) They’re strengthening language and communication skills
Children who create elaborate imaginary worlds tend to have impressive vocabularies. This makes sense when you think about it. They need words to describe fantastical creatures, magical places, and complex situations that don’t exist in their everyday experience.
But it goes beyond vocabulary. These children are practicing the art of communication itself. They’re learning to convey ideas clearly enough that others can follow along. They’re discovering how to build suspense, create interest, and hold an audience’s attention.
These are skills that will serve them in school presentations, job interviews, and every relationship they’ll ever have.
I’ve noticed that my grandchildren who are the most elaborate storytellers are also the ones who can most clearly articulate their needs and feelings.
There seems to be a connection between the ability to construct imaginary narratives and the ability to express oneself effectively in real life. The practice of putting thoughts into words, of making the invisible visible through language, transfers across contexts.
Encourage your child to tell you about their imaginary worlds. Ask questions. Show genuine interest. You’re not just being a good listener. You’re providing them with an audience that helps them refine their communication abilities.
7) They’re developing executive function through self-directed play
Executive function is the brain’s management system. It includes planning, organizing, initiating tasks, and seeing them through to completion. These skills predict success in school and life better than IQ does, according to many researchers.
When your child creates and maintains an elaborate imaginary world, they’re exercising executive function constantly. They must plan storylines, organize information about characters and settings, initiate new narrative threads, and maintain consistency across play sessions.
All of this happens without adult direction, which makes it even more valuable.
Self-directed play requires children to be their own managers. They set their own goals, monitor their own progress, and adjust their approach when things aren’t working.
As Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child has noted, these executive function skills are built through practice, and imaginative play provides abundant opportunities for exactly that kind of practice.
The child who can spend an hour developing an imaginary scenario is demonstrating sustained attention, goal-directed behavior, and cognitive control. These are the same skills they’ll need to complete homework assignments, manage long-term projects, and eventually navigate adult responsibilities.
What this means for you as a parent
So what should you do with this information? Mostly, get out of the way. Resist the urge to correct, direct, or improve your child’s imaginary play. The cognitive benefits come precisely because the child is in charge.
Provide time and space for unstructured play. In our overscheduled world, children often don’t have enough opportunity to simply imagine. A bored child with nothing to do might just invent an entire universe to explore.
Show interest without taking over. Ask about their characters and stories. Be an appreciative audience. But let them remain the author of their own creations.
And perhaps most importantly, don’t worry. That elaborate imaginary world isn’t a sign that your child is disconnected from reality. It’s a sign that their brain is developing exactly as it should, building cognitive architecture that will serve them throughout their lives.
The next time your child introduces you to their invisible friend’s extended family or explains the complex history of their imaginary planet, try to see it for what it really is. Not just play, but preparation. Not just imagination, but intelligence in development.
What stories is your child telling these days?
