The imaginative thinking of children of early and preschool age develops gradually. By the beginning of the fourth year of life, babies begin to have a need to play various roles in games. The ability to symbolically transfer the image of a salesman, doctor, driver or educator into a game situation is already a manifestation of an internal position, on the basis of which visual thinking begins to manifest itself.
A role-playing game with children of three to four years old is organized by an adult who unobtrusively demonstrates how to act with a daughter doll: feed it, rock it, roll it in a stroller. The child repeats the steps for the adult with the same or similar toy. At the same time, the teacher continues to play alongside and name the role that the child plays: "You are now mom, and Lyalya is your daughter." In the following days, the teacher creates a game environment, and the child can independently repeat the role-playing actions that he has learned before. At this stage in the development of the game, the child’s imaginative thinking is adjacent to the visual-effective thinking, which was dominant at an early age.
Gradually, the child begins to independently choose toys for organizing the game plot, but initially relies on the assortment that is presented in the kindergarten group. Figurative thinking is not yet developed, and it is rather difficult to imagine what is not in the immediate environment. The task of the educator of the younger group is to teach the child to unfold the plot action, combining several simple situations in succession: they fed the doll, went to the store together, returned home, put the doll to sleep. In the middle group, children can already use their substitutes with a lack of toys. Figurative thinking helps a preschooler present a stick in the form of a spoon, and a pin in the form of a bottle. At this stage, the child can already make the transformation of the environment without relying only on objects that are presented in the playroom. Fantasy appears, imagination begins to work. The game is organized by combining two or three people, where everyone fulfills his role, which the child chooses on his own, and not according to the instructions of an adult. Roles are selected in accordance with the gender of the child: boys play the role of father, grandfather, son, and girls - mothers, daughters, educators, princesses.
In the older group, symbolism in thought can reach such a level that even substitute objects are not required. Children can transfer imaginary money to each other , eat imaginary donuts and drink them with milk, which is only in the picture. At this age, the development of imaginative thinking goes into the stage of forming an image on the basis of thought, fantasy, which helps children organize a game without toys: children themselves become images, playing all roles. Therefore, they are happy to stage fairy tales, familiar works, playing the roles of both people and animals. The plot of the game may include groups of children where there is a leader who assigns roles if the children find it difficult to choose them.
The imaginative thinking of children in the preparatory school group is characterized by the fact that in games children not only take the initiative, but can widely use natural images, as well as metaphors, comparisons, proverbs, sayings. In this case, we can talk about the development of the child's artistic type of thinking, as a variant of the figurative. Playing sketches of the folklore genre, participating in public holidays, using antiques in games help children imagine the life of their ancestors. Games begin to be informative, which indicates that the child is at the stage of transition to schooling.