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Mimesis is an innate feature of human beings. It manifests immediately after birth and constitutes a very early form of learning, substantiating interpersonal relationships, fostering empathy, and facilitating self-awareness, together with many practical and operative notions, through mirroring oneself in the significant other. The mimetic dimension evolves into fictional and symbolic ludic forms, which we have called dramaturgic, and which constitute a crucial socio-relational and cultural resource in infants’ development. These findings, backed by numerous studies, prove the need for a new attention to subjectivity in the education of pre-school children. From an operational viewpoint, these considerations offer countless cues for drawing new hypotheses about the pedagogical function of theatrical practices to support the development of young children individually and in groups. Specifically, using field research conducted among toddlers in a nursery, the paper establishes the hypothesis that direct theatrical practice, following precise methodical guidelines, accompanies and fosters the natural evolution of mimetic dynamics into dramaturgic play. It does so by developing the children’s ability to creatively rework their experiences through the co-construction of imaginary worlds and their bodily and kinetic experiences. Direct theatrical practice also facilitates the growth of abstract thinking and nurtures pro-social and cooperative behaviours.
