Play and imagination are children's natural way of looking at the world. This skill often lost with adulthood, but traces of our play worlds remain in memories. This unique study combines historical and developmental psychology perspectives and focuses on children's mental and abstract play worlds rather than on their tangible everyday reality.Focusing on autobiographical childhood memories in post-war Finland and Britain, the project explores how the imaginative play worlds reflect children's relationship with their changing multisensory environment. In sum, this project will 1) explore how childhood imaginary worlds are remembered and what they tell about children's immediate experiences, 2) develop a new theoretical concept, 'remembered imagination', as a tool for interpreting past experiences, and, thus, 3) renew the scientific discussion on the histories of the mind.

2025

2029