Does your child narrate during pretend play?

[bakpak]

My DD3.75 has a habit of narrating during her pretend play that cracks me up. She does regular pretend play where she's in character, but what I'm talking about is when she she narrates like it's a story. An example that I heard this morning:

 

'Then the pirate king sat down for tea. 'Oh no! Not strawberry tea again!' he exclaimed. 'But strawberry is all we have' replied the mermaid.'...

 

I've never seen a kid do this type of story-telling in their pretend play before. Is this common? I'm specifically referring to the 'he exclaimed' and 'replied the mermaid' bits.

 

It's great fun to listen to. I think it could partially be a function of being an only child and reading excessively :)

[Mabeline]

Yes my oldest used to do this when he was younger. He was read to a lot and was an early reader. It was fun listening to his stories, complete with dialog and voices. He also reads aloud with great inflection.

[Tap]

Yep, my kids did it too. Especially during solo play when they were bringing other characters into their world.

 

DD6 will even do it with her friends sometimes but it looks a little different.

 

dd to friend "now, you go there and you say 'oh, no the princess is gone' like you are surprised. Then go over there and say 'here are some foot prints for us to follow'....." She directs their pretend play....well like it was a theatrical play. lol sometimes the kids let her get away with it, sometimes they don't.

[Lisa in SC]

My children did this also. The strangest thing they did during pretend play was to vocalize actions. "Walk, walk, skipping along merrily. What's this? Sudden stop. Bend over to examine closely." I have no idea why they did this, and they all grew out of it, although my 7yo will sometimes still do it when playing with his bear pal.

[Oakblossoms]

My third son has always made the most amazing sounds and he usually has theme music. He is like a walking movie. He was also a late talker and reader.

 

My fourth is my only girl and she talks non-stop while she plays.

[BarbecueMom]

DS4 does this. Exclusively in a British accent (and terminology, i.e. torch instead of flashlight). When he's just pretend playing, but not narrating, he uses his regular Midwestern dialect.

 

I always try to catch him on video, because someday he won't believe that he actually did this.

[Um_2_4]

ds9 did this (kinda still does, but less now) and dd3 does it too. ds3 is a late talker and dd6 never did that, but she was a late talker too.

[Zuzu822]

Yes, my oldest does it too.

 

He also narrates his own actions under his breath: "M tiptoed to the refrigerator to refill his water glass. On the way he noticed something on the floor. Was it a bug? 'No,' he sighed with disappointment. 'Just dust.'"

 

It's non-stop and listening to it cracks me up.

 

The four year old has started it too, but it's not as detailed.

[swellmomma]

My youngest has a killer imagination but no she doesn't narrate. If she did I would likely set up a recorder and tape it and then transcribe it on the computer, she sounds like an author in the making. I think my imaginative one is going to be very good at writing but dialogue is not something that she does already. She is the only of my 4 that really got into pretend play. That girl has an invisible world she can pull anything out of, and her best friend is friend zombie, but no narrating like that. She will talk to the air like having a conversation with friend zombie, answering questions etc that supposedly were asked, (which gets creepy at times lol) but no narration at this point

[swellmomma]

Yep, my kids did it too. Especially during solo play when they were bringing other characters into their world.

 

DD6 will even do it with her friends sometimes but it looks a little different.

 

dd to friend "now, you go there and you say 'oh, no the princess is gone' like you are surprised. Then go over there and say 'here are some foot prints for us to follow'....." She directs their pretend play....well like it was a theatrical play. lol sometimes the kids let her get away with it, sometimes they don't.

 

All my kids did that, so did I and my siblings and friends growing up. There was always a director of whatever the makebelieve game was at that time, and then someone else would be next time.

[Cinder]

My dd does this but my sons did not. What's even funnier is that when dd and her little friend are together they'll tell each other what the other is supposed to do or say to keep the story going.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

Ds6.5 did that; he was obsessed with Thomas and Friends when he was little to I figured he got it from that. He watches a lot of "How It's Made" and makes facotries with his blocks with coveyer belts and narrates that, too.

 

Ds4 is the one who will tell you what you're suppose to say in his play scenario. :)

[*********]

Um, I kinda do this. :blushing: For example, say my boys and dh and hanging out in the living room, and I'm headed to the kitchen. I might say out loud, "Does anyone need a drink?" If everyone's engrossed in what they're doing, I may not get a response from anyone. Then I'll say something kinda to myself like "Alas, no one appeared to hear her; or were they ignoring her? Either way, the damsel proceeded to the kitchen, no longer worrying about the beverage needs of others". I do it to amuse myself. :D

 

And I can almost guarantee my older sister either does this too or would chuckle at me. We have very, VERY similar senses of humor/patterns of thought. We're only 16 months apart, and have always been alike in that sort of way.

[mommymilkies]

My children did this also. The strangest thing they did during pretend play was to vocalize actions. "Walk, walk, skipping along merrily. What's this? Sudden stop. Bend over to examine closely." I have no idea why they did this, and they all grew out of it, although my 7yo will sometimes still do it when playing with his bear pal.

 

 

My kids aren't the only ones? Hallelujah. I thought they had some serious mental instability. Good to know they're not the only ones!

[Belacqua]

If I can substitute "doing math problem sets" for "pretend play," I'm a yes vote. Cracks me up, especially when he employs a (terrible) French accent because the professor from an online class was French. He'd probably be mortified if he realized I can hear him muttering about the "geometric interpretation of the cross product" sounding like Pepe LePew.

[Mommyof4ks]

My kids did that too when they were younger. Now they know that those parts of a story are implied in conversation, but they need to be said in books so the reader knows who is talking and the inflection to use. It is tons of fun to hear! Enjoy it while it lasts.

[Kim in Appalachia]

Yes, my 2 younger ones still do this (11 and 8). They both talk the whole time, narrating everything. It's cute.

[Grover]

yes! And the action stuff too... "let's eat this apple". "eat, eat, eat". "I ate the apple". Now we're running away from the evil queen" "run run run" crazy children.

[Juliegmom]

All three of my daughter have done this. My youngest still does...all the time! I enjoy listening to her imaginative play knowing how quickly these years will pass by.

[Farrar]

Yes, but it mostly makes no sense. And it's not totally for himself, it's for his twin (and vice versa). It's not twinspeak because I can understand all the words... but they usually don't make sense together except to the two of them.

[BrookValley.]

Yes, my six-year old has done this for a couple years now. Bonus when he channels David Attenborough or Peter Dennis. :laugh:

[garddwr]

My kids narrate like this; I love listening in.

 

Some of them also narrate their games in song--it's like living in a musical.

[Mergath]

My dd is doing it right now. :p Some combination of My Little Ponies and Catan Jr. pieces that she's narrating.

[annandatje]

Yes, all of them narrated play when they were younger.

[Mandylubug]

Mine don't narrate but they do turn just about any play activity into a Disney"ish" song... I will share because I caught them today singing VERY loud... The lyrics were funny because obviously "prince charming" is a jerk HA HA

[OrganicAnn]

Narrate and also my DD tells me what character I am and what I'm supposed to say.

[ZeeMommy]

Mine give each other names/titles, and call me by something different as well. As in she will be Eagle, and he will be Falcon, and I'm apparently Mrs. Crow. They even correct me if I don't use the right name. They also do the action words as well, and tell each other what to say.