The present study examined whether three-year-old children (age = 42-48 months, n=57; 31 boys) understand that object identities stipulated during pretend play could only be known by people witnessing the stipulation. Children participated in pretend scenarios that included some objects and two experimenters. Two pretend episodes corresponded to an object: one connected to its conventional function, the other to a pretend identity made up on the spot. These episodes happened either in the presence or absence of the other person. In the test phase, this experimenter expressed an intention to do something with an object and asked for a “missing” prop. The prediction was that in case she was present previously, children would be more likely to select the prop corresponding to a pretense stipulation, compared to when she was absent. The results confirmed this pattern: in the absent condition, 68.42% of the participants chose the prop connected to the conventional use of the object, while 31.58% chose the prop corresponding to its identity stipulated in pretend play. It seems that preschool aged children refrain from generalizing their knowledge about the pretend identity of an object, in case their interactive partner could not know of this identity.

Pretend play has been extensively studied in developmental science. First, we briefly review theories regarding the cognitive underpinnings of pretend play and proposals about its potential role in development. Following this, we explore accounts of pretense which emphasize the social nature of this type of play in early childhood and propose an extension to a novel account of playing in general (Chu & Schulz, 2020) by exploiting the importance of social interactions in pretense. We contend that engaging in shared pretending during early childhood can be considered a manifestation of children’s ability to participate in and set up arbitrary contextual boundaries with others. Additionally, pretend stipulations result in information that is “true” locally and contingently within the pretend framework and is only valid for a limited group of people. Engaging in pretend play thus may allow children to gain a deeper understanding of how some information is useful only within a certain scope and support them both in creating and identifying social contexts. Being sensitive to social context is crucial to navigate successfully in societies that are becoming increasingly multicultural.

The present study examined whether three‐year‐old children (age = 42–48 months, n = 57; 31 boys) understand that object identities stipulated during pretend play could only be known by people witnessing the stipulation. Children participated in pretend scenarios that included some objects and two experimenters. Two pretend episodes corresponded to an object: one connected to its conventional function, the other to a pretend identity made‐up on the spot. These episodes happened either in the presence or absence of the other person. In the test phase, this experimenter expressed an intention to do something with an object and asked for a ‘missing’ prop. The prediction was that in case she was present previously, children would be more likely to select the prop corresponding to a pretence stipulation, compared to when she was absent. The results confirmed this pattern: in the absent condition, 68.42% of the participants chose the prop connected to the conventional use of the object, while 31.58% chose the prop corresponding to its identity stipulated in pretend play. It seems that preschool aged children refrain from generalizing their knowledge about the pretend identity of an object, in case their interactive partner could not know of this identity.