Does Montessori Encourage Pretend Play?

Ask five Montessori parents if pretend play is encouraged in Montessori parenting, and you might get five different answers. Some may feel that pretend play doesn't fit Montessori principles, while others embrace it all — fantasy, pretend, real-life scenarios. 

That's because the real answer isn't a clear-cut yes or no.

Montessori's early years approach leans heavily into reality: hands-on work, independence, and purposeful activity. But that was never meant to shut down pretending, storytelling, or imagination.

In fact, the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) directly addresses the misconception that Montessori excludes imaginary play, explaining that Montessori was not opposed to children's play or pretending. At the same time, AMI emphasizes the importance of giving young children a strong foundation of real-world knowledge and experiences, which can later support their developing imagination.

 

Montessori and the Real World

To understand the Montessori approach to pretend play, it helps to understand how Montessori viewed young children's development. Maria Montessori believed children learn best through purposeful engagement with real life, not through a world simplified into make-believe — and that belief still shapes how a Montessori environment is designed today. 

In a Montessori home, children aren't simply given toys to keep them occupied. They are given opportunities to participate in meaningful activities and explore their environment independently.

This emphasis on real-world experiences is particularly clear in “Exercises of Practical Life”, an important part of the Montessori principles of early childhood environment. Practical Life activities resemble the everyday work children see around them, from sweeping and dusting to washing dishes and preparing food. Rather than simply imitating these activities with toys, children are given opportunities to participate in real, purposeful tasks.

For Montessori, the point isn't simply that a child is learning how to wash a dish or sweep a floor.

The child is also developing coordination, concentration, independence, order, and a sense of belonging and contribution. They’re also learning to enjoy the world around them, and the tasks which make up our daily lives.

The American Montessori Society explains that young children are often highly motivated to participate in activities they regularly see at home. Cooking, washing dishes, folding clothes, and setting the table can be deeply engaging because children are participating in real life rather than simply imitating it with pretend objects.

Why Toddlers Want to Do What You're Doing

This is something many parents will recognize.

You're trying to get something done. Perhaps you're preparing dinner, folding laundry, unpacking groceries, or tidying the house.

Your toddler is playing nearby.

Then they notice you.

Suddenly, their toys aren't nearly as interesting.

They want to stand beside you. They want to carry what you're carrying. They want to stir the bowl. They want to wipe the table. They want to put something away.

You might offer them a toy version of what you're doing, hoping it will keep them occupied.

But they aren't interested.

They want to do the real thing.

This isn't a new observation. Maria Montessori herself noticed children's strong interest in mastering the everyday activities they saw around them:

“We do not teach the children these things to make little servants of them, but because we have observed that of their own accord children actually take the greatest interest in perfecting all the movements of daily life.”

— Maria Montessori, Maria Montessori Speaks to Parents, p. 49. American Montessori Society

That's an interesting observation for parents to keep in mind. A young child isn't necessarily looking for another toy to keep them busy. They often want to feel involved in the world around them and develop the ability to do things for themselves. It requires time, teaching, and patience from the parent, but this inquisitive nature is really a positive thing we want to nurture, as it will help our children grow in independence and confidence.

So, when it's safe and age-appropriate, you can look for small ways to include your child in everyday activities.

They might help wash vegetables, wipe a table, put clothes into a basket, water a plant, or tidy their toys. If you're preparing food, a sturdy step can give an older toddler a way to reach an appropriate work surface while supervised. When you're tidying up, a child-accessible toy organizer can make it easier for them to return their own belongings to their place.

Of course, every child has a different personality. Some children are naturally more curious and want to have a part in hands-on tasks, while others may be more drawn to imaginative play or simply need more time to enjoy their own make-believe worlds.

Even within the same family, children can have very different interests. So, rather than expecting every child to want to participate in household tasks to the same degree, parents can consider their child's age, abilities, and individual personality.

 
Does Montessori Discourage Imagination?

No.

This is perhaps the biggest misconception to clear up.

Montessori places enormous value on imagination. The difference is that Montessori's understanding of imagination is closely connected to knowledge and experience.
 
So, are all types of imaginative play encouraged?

Imaginative Play - Pretend Play vs Fantasy 

Essentially, imaginative play can be divided into two groups: pretend play and fantasy play.

Pretend play is essentially acting "as if." A child might pretend to cook, care for a baby, run a shop, or be a doctor. They know that the situation isn't literally real, yet they use their knowledge of the real world to create the scenario.

In contrast, fantasy takes play away from the real world into situations that aren't based on reality—for example, pretending to be a made-up creature, traveling to another planet, or talking to an imaginary dragon.

The Montessori View of Imaginative Play

The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) distinguishes between imagination and fantasy, explaining that imagination allows children to think beyond what they can immediately see—to consider possibilities, the past, and the future. It describes the early years as an important period for building the factual knowledge that later supports this kind of imagination.

Research into children's pretend play suggests that young children's pretend scenarios are often grounded in everyday experiences and real-world knowledge. A child might take something they've seen in everyday life and recreate it in a playful context.

For example:

• A child who has watched you cook might pretend to prepare a meal.
• A child who has visited the doctor might pretend to examine a stuffed animal.
• A child who has helped tidy the house might create a game around sorting and organizing.
• A child who has watched you care for a baby might pretend to feed or put a doll to bed. 

This type of play is an important part of the learning process — the child absorbing the new information and trying it out in a setting that already feels familiar to them. 

Montessori's approach, particularly for children under six, tends to place greater emphasis on reality-based experiences than on deliberately encouraging fantasy. AMI explains that the factual information children absorb during their early years can later provide a foundation for the more developed use of imagination.

That doesn't mean a Montessori parent needs to stop a child who pretends their climbing arch is a castle.

The point is more about what we choose to offer and emphasize in the child's environment.

 

What Does This Mean for Toys and Play Equipment?

It doesn't mean Montessori families should avoid toys altogether.

Instead, it can be useful to think about what an object allows a child to do.

Open-ended materials can give children opportunities to explore movement, build, solve problems, and create their own ways of playing.

A climbing triangle, for example, gives a child a physical challenge. They can practice climbing, balancing, reaching, and navigating their body through space.

A climbing arch and ramp can offer different possibilities for movement and exploration.

Wooden stepping discs can become stepping stones, part of an obstacle course, or simply a way for a child to practice balance.

Foam play blocks can be stacked, climbed over, arranged into structures, or incorporated into a game.

A play tent can provide a quiet space for looking at books—or eventually become a house, shop, campsite, or anything else a child imagines.

The important thing is that the equipment doesn't have to determine the entire game.

The child can decide what to do with it.

Movement Is Part of Montessori-Inspired Play

There's another reason climbing equipment can fit naturally into a Montessori-inspired environment: young children need opportunities to move.

Montessori environments for infants and toddlers are designed to support children's growing independence and freedom of movement. The American Montessori Society describes toddler environments as including gross-motor activities alongside opportunities for hands-on exploration and independent work.

The Association Montessori Internationale also includes movement and climbing among the physical activities Montessori discussed for children, emphasizing opportunities for children to develop physical confidence and prepare the environment to support their natural drive to move.

This is why a climbing triangle or arch doesn't need to be thought of purely as a "toy."

It can be part of an environment that gives children opportunities to move, explore, and challenge themselves.

And if your child decides that the triangle is a mountain and the floor is an ocean?

That's okay too.

The equipment has served its purpose as a physical challenge, while your child's imagination has taken the experience somewhere else.

Creating a Montessori-Inspired Environment at Home

You don't need to recreate a Montessori classroom in your living room.

Instead, consider whether your child's environment gives them opportunities to:

Participate in real life. Let them help with safe, age-appropriate household activities. They might wash vegetables, wipe a table, put clothes in a basket, water plants, or help tidy their toys.

Move independently. Give them safe opportunities to climb, balance, crawl, carry, and explore movement.

Choose what interests them. A prepared environment should offer accessible activities while allowing children meaningful choices within appropriate limits.
Use objects in different ways. Open-ended equipment can become whatever the child needs it to be.

Take part in caring for their environment. A child-friendly space for their belongings, such as a children’s wardrobe, can make tidying up more accessible.

These small opportunities can help a child experience themselves as a capable member of the family—not simply someone who needs to be entertained.

 

So, Does Montessori Encourage Pretend Play?

Montessori doesn't have to be reduced to either "pretend play is good" or "pretend play is bad."

The Montessori approach places particular emphasis on reality, purposeful activity, independence, and hands-on exploration, especially during the early years.

At the same time, Montessori does not require adults to shut down a child's imagination.

A child can help you make real food in the kitchen and later pretend to run a restaurant.

They can help put away their toys and then turn their climbing arch into a house.

They can practice balancing on stepping discs and decide they're crossing a river.

They can build with foam blocks and invent an entire world around their creation.

The real world can provide the raw material.

The imagination can take it from there.

Perhaps that's a more useful way to think about Montessori and pretend play. Rather than questioning whether children should be allowed to pretend, we can ask whether we're giving them enough real experiences, freedom to explore, opportunities for movement, and time to develop their own ideas.

Because sometimes the best way to encourage a child's imagination is not to give them a toy that tells them what to imagine.

It's to give them an interesting world to discover.