Looking for some fresh ideas for pretend play games? We love our kids to engage in imaginative play and have lots of fun and simple pretend play games and activities for them.
To me, there is nothing sweeter than a young child making up a scenario and acting it out with supplies they find in the home. It could be doctoring a sick teddy bear, scanning the groceries from the pantry, or making a library from a bookcase filled with books.
Our playroom has several pretend play games set up or available for our kids to interact with, but they also come up with some fun (and silly) games on their own. Which is great!
Kids using their imagination, being creative and resourceful with what’s around them, and using some critical thinking skills is such a great way for them to spend their time playing. They are having fun, but also learning a lot along the way.
I wanted to list some of our favorite pretend play games, that you may want to incorporate into your play area to inspire imaginative play.
15 Favorite Pretend Play Games for Imaginative Play
Before we jump into this list, I want to quickly mention that you don’t have to purchase a single thing to set up pretend play activities for your children. Look around your home to see what materials you can put together, or simply just watch your children to see what games they are already playing and what materials they are using to make a simple game.
I like to set up baskets in our cube storage to store our pretend play games, so the kids can quickly access them, and (hopefully) place them back where they go.
Here’s a quick FREE tip for some pretend play games: Use your junk mail!
You know that junk mail you get and it goes straight to the trash, your kids would probably love it!
These aren’t always long lasting games, but could be fun for a while. Here’s some ideas:
- Use a jewelry store advertisement to set up a jewelry store. Cut out the pictures and write prices on them.
- Use a furniture store magazine to sell furniture. Cut out the pictures and write prices on the.
- Use a to-go menu to set up a restaurant. Have your child take orders and make you food.
- Use un-wanted coupons for a pretend grocery store.
- Use a garden center ad or seed ordering catalog to set up a flower or garden shop.
Take a second look at that junk mail before you toss it in the trash!
Here are some great pretend play games you can setup to inspire creative play in your home:
I snapped some pictures of our games to give you some realistic ideas. Most everything was either purchased second-hand or hand-made.
Get creative with what you have on hand and don’t be afraid to make your own games with what you have on hand!
You’ll find most of our set ups are less than perfect, but the kids really don’t care. They have so much fun being creative with what they have and less is usually more when it comes to toys. Bu
What are some examples of imaginative play?
Pretend Play = Imaginative Play
Pretend play is all about children using what’s around them to act out something they might see in real life (like at the grocery store or library), or more imaginative like making us something completely fictional – both are wonderful ways to enjoy playtime!
Here are some great pretend play games for preschoolers!
1. Ice Cream Shop
This pretend play ice cream shop was a birthday gift for my daughter, and the kids usually play it every single day. They go around and take orders and bring us ice cream, or they just walk around and pretend to eat ice cream cones.
They have had so much fun with it, and I love that there are different variations they can make to change it up.
You can shop for a pretend play ice cream shop here.
2. Chick Fil A
You can make this with any restaurant your kids love. My kids love Chick Fil A, so I found this awesome printable on Teachers Pay Teachers.
I laminated the pieces, so they will hold up well.
We play this all the time!
We have little trays to place the food on, a menu, and a order sheet, as well as the little food cards, and even a (used up) Chick Fil A gift card to pay with.
Get the Chick Fil A game on Teachers Pay Teachers here.
3. Farmer’s Market
I didn’t add a whole lot to this setup. You could add pretend food, or baskets to make it more fun.
I just made a printable with some things to buy at a farmer’s market, and pictures they could use as the things to buy.
This was especially fun to play in the fall, when we were reading books about vegetable gardening, pumpkins, and farmer’s markets.
You can read more about how to incorporate games with books here.
4. Camp Stove / Grilling Set
This set was given to us as a gift, and the kids have loved it.
We have even set up a small tent inside to pretend camp. They love making different food creations and taking orders.
I couldn’t find this exact set, but there is a similar one here that looks really neat.
5. Race Cars
My talented mother-in-law made the kids this crochet race track, that we love to play.
You obviously don’t need a handmade race track, this is just what we have and use. Other options for a race track could be making one on the floor with painter’s tape, using a large piece of cardboard to make a race track, or you can purchase something similar here.
Have the kids make paper checkered flags for more fun!
6. Grocery Store
We found this gently used grocery store on Facebook Marketplace for my daughter’s birthday gift. It has been so much fun for both the kids.
They have used it mostly as a grocery store, and I will add empty boxes to it for new items to scan. We keep pretend money, reusable bags, and coupons for extra fun.
The kids have also used the scanner for all kinds of other pretend play shops, so this has been a great investment.
A simple table and cash register like this would work wonderfully, as well. Add some empty boxes from your pantry, and let the kids make the rest up.
This is a great option for a larger cash register setup.
7. Doctor Kit
You don’t need much for a doctor set. We have a basket of random doctor tools from consignment sales and gifts.
The kids will doctor their teddy bears, each other, or us parents.
You can find a simple doctor set here.
If you shop at consignment sales, you can often find doctor kits for pretty cheap, too.
If you want to add more to your doctor kit, check Teachers Pay Teachers for some fun printables to add.
8. Bug Exploring Game
We just finished a weekly lesson on bugs with lots of bug book reading, playing with pretend bugs, and finding bugs outdoors.
I added this bug exploring activity to our playroom since the kids seemed to enjoy it often.
This wooden tray came from a puzzle game, and the other materials were gifted to us. I loved putting this together to use up random pieces from our toy baskets.
You can see our whole weekly lesson all about bugs here.
You can make a simple bug exploring game with a magnifying glass, some pretend bugs, and a great bug book. Or grab a bug explorer kit like this one.
And, of course, take your exploring tools outside to find and observe real bugs, too!
9. Hot Cocoa and Cookies
I set this up for our winter themed week and the kids loved it!
You can find some hot cocoa printables on Teachers Pay Teachers or just make your own. I made a sign, a menu, and some pictures to print and laminate.
I found some leftover Christmas napkins and cups, and we used our Melissa and Doug coffee set with some cotton ball “marshmallows” for serving.
The kids played this over and over and had so much fun serving cookies and cocoa to everyone.
10. Donut Shop
This might be my favorite pretend play game we have created!
There are lots of pretend play donut shop printables on Teachers Pay Teachers, however, I usually end up making my own to have exactly what I’m looking for and to save some money.
I use Canva and found some great graphics to make a welcome sign, open/closed sign, a donut menu, an order form, and little donuts to sell. I laminated everything to make it durable, and so that we could use a dry erase marker on the order form.
I later ended up making some felt donuts for fun, so we added those as well as some confetti plates from the dollar store.
The kids use a dry erase marker on the order form, and then hand out those donuts.
I will update this post if I get my printables added on here!
There are some pretend play donut shop toys you can purchase here also.
11. Flower Shop
This one was really simple to put together and so fun for my daughter!
I found some great printables on Teachers Pay Teachers, some Dollar Tree buckets, and a good variety of artificial flowers (most I already had on hand or were given to me). We also had a flower seed catalog come in the mail, so I added that for more play ideas.
My kids enjoy laying all of the flowers out and either taking orders for flower bouquets, or making their own creations to put on our dinner table or as a tea party centerpiece.
I love to see their creations, and the hands on play.
You really don’t even need any printables for this one – just a plastic vase or bucket and some loose flowers in a basket will be so fun!
12. Kitchen
Oh, how we love our free Facebook Marketplace kitchen! It came with a few stickers, but in great shape and our kids have played with it every day since it came home with us!
I have added scraps of plastic tablecloths, kid sized oven mitts, play food, empty food packages, washed cool whip and yogurt containers, and any un-needed items from my kitchen.
They make so many creations at this little kitchen and are always so imaginative playing here.
I will say, this takes up a whole corner of our very small playroom, but it is well worth it. This is one our play areas that gets used often and used in many different ways.
Check your Facebook Marketplace, local thrift shops, yard sales, or purchase a kitchen set here.
13. Farm Set
We love playing farm here. Our setup includes a couple of little barns and a basket of play animals, hay bales, and lots of animals.
We have acquired all of these things over time, and the kids love setting up a farm with it.
You can find some great farm sets here.
We will also play with our farm animals with play-doh, or kinetic sand to mix things up.
14. Trucks, trucks, and more trucks
I’m a big believer that every kid should have a basket of trucks and cars to play with. To me, there is nothing sweeter than a kid pushing a car around and making “vroom vroom” noises!
Our kids have always been super into playing with trucks, so we have acquired lots of cars and trucks over the years. I have no great organization with them (which would honestly seem silly since they are dumped out and played with daily). We keep a large basket in the living room and the kids set them up and push them all around the house.
We will sometimes have races and push cars down the hallway (with blue painter’s tape lines to show our distance when I’m feeling extra fun). The kids make up tons of scenarios with the trucks and I’m all for it!
You can find these at consignment sales, yard sales, or add them to your kid’s gifts for the holidays.
Search for toy truck ideas here for gifts.
15. Play Town Mat
This play town mat was my Christmas gift to my kids last year. It was something I had been wanting to make for them, since we play our cars so much and they were setting up little stores to go to.
I had so much fun making this, although it was very testing of my sewing skills. It’s far from perfect, but my kids have loved it and play with it several times a week.
This size mat is perfect for Hot Wheels size cars.
You can find some similar type play mats here – the ones that roll up are great, or some stay put like a rug for your playroom.
So, those are our favorite pretend play games. I really love watching my kids be creative, and make up different games and scenarios.
These games and activities are very DIY-friendly, so I hope you feel inspired to use what you have and get creative when you set-up pretend play areas in your home.
Using baskets and cube style storage bookcases has been a great way to keep the games together, so they kids know where to put it back.
I hope you and your family have fun with these pretend play ideas to bring more imagination and creativity into your home!
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