Shared construction of social pretend play sequences at the Kindergarten

Pretend play is usually defined as an activity wherein objects and actions (but also 7 affective expression, at times) are separated from their original meanings. Its developmental 8 appearance is set around the second year of life, and increases dramatically in duration, 9 frequency and quality when play episodes start becoming more complex, both linguistically 10 and interactionally reaching its peak in preschool years. To date, however, little attention has 11 been paid to how social pretend play emerges and develops before the age of three. Our study 12 aims to investigate early spontaneous pretend play interactions between Kindergarten children 13 aged 19 to 28 months. We used micro-analytical coding of video-recorded interactions to 14 explore sequences of interaction where children coordinated their actions to engage in social 15 pretend play with objects. Our analyses showed that co-constructed sequences appeared 16 organised by a turn-alternation structure already at 19 months, and children used embodied and 17 material resources afforded by the sequential organisation of actions to dynamically manage 18 their participation. Although explorative, our results seem in line with previous reports 19 suggesting an early onset of social pretend play developing over a continuum from being 20 predominately an individual activity to progressively becoming a co-constructed endeavour.