Final answer:
Children's play focused on expressing ideas and fantasies is associated with Imaginative or symbolic play, which aids in their cognitive development and fosters creativity.
Step-by-step explanation:
Children's play that centers on expressing ideas and fantasies is often associated with D) Imaginative or symbolic play. This form of play allows children to enact scenarios and roles that transcend the boundaries of the real world. It is where they can impersonate characters, create stories, and represent objects as something else entirely, playing without the constraints of reality. Imaginative play is crucial as it builds creativity, enhances problem-solving skills, and fosters cognitive development. It reflects the capacity known as cognitive decoupling, where a child can imagine the perspectives and actions of others, thereby nurturing theory-of-mind development.
Other forms of play, such as Associative play, Parallel play, and Cooperative play, serve different roles in children's development. Associative play is about children playing the same game but not necessarily together or organized, while Parallel play involves children playing side by side but again, not cooperatively. Cooperative play, on the other hand, is when children actually play together, working towards a common goal or game.