This is the principal finding of a study that involved 144 children agedfour to five years old, six teachers and six teaching assistants in theSouth West of England.
Role Play in Reception: Pupil and Teacher Perspectives' author SueRogers, project leader at Plymouth University, said: "The problem withmany schools today is that there is so much pressure to cover so manyareas and to get children reading and writing as soon as possible.
"But the optimum age to get children to develop their social,co-operative and creative skills is at four years old and the ideal wayto achieve these is through imaginative play."
One of Rogers' suggestions is to encourage children to use constructionmaterials such as bricks, drapes and stones to make their own densoutside in non-defined areas.
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