In which stage do children begin to engage in symbolic play and learn to manipulate symbols?

Children begin to engage in symbolic play and learn to manipulate symbols during the preoperational stage of cognitive development, as outlined by Jean Piaget. This stage, which occurs roughly between the ages of 2 and 7, is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thought. Symbolic play involves the use of objects to represent something else, which shows that children are beginning to think abstractly and represent ideas and experiences through symbols, such as words, images, or objects.

During this stage, children might use a stick as a sword or a box as a car, demonstrating their ability to represent real-life actions and objects in a more imaginative way. They also begin to understand that words can represent objects or concepts, enhancing their language skills. This capacity for symbolic thought is crucial for further cognitive development and aids in problem-solving and understanding complex ideas as they grow older.

In contrast, the other stages—like the sensorimotor stage (which focuses on sensory experiences and motor actions), the concrete operational stage (where logical thinking about concrete events emerges), and the formal operational stage (involving abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking)—do not emphasize the initial development of symbolic play to the extent that the preoperational stage does.