image
Preoperational Thinking: Manipulating Mental Symbols The young child’s increasing capacity for symbolic thought is delightfully reflected in symbolic play and deferred imitation. In symbolic play, one object stands for another. A box can become a bus, a house, or a rocket ship. Deferred imitation is the capacity to repeat an action observed earlier, such as pretending to steer a car or feed a doll.
JGI/Jamie Grill Collection/Getty Images