Have you seen dramatic play centers in classrooms and wondered what the heck the kids are even learning? Read on to understand the reasons dramatic play is so valuable in the first developmental stage of childhood, early childhood, from birth to age eight.
Diversity in Learning Styles
Kids, like adults, have their own preferences for processing and retaining information. Have you ever seen or experienced someone read the same paragraph 5 times over and not had a clue what it said? Alternatively, watching a video – a mix of visual and auditory – may be easy for you, but overstimulating for your peer. In both cases, efficient learning is being compromised.
By restricting lessons to one or two styles of learning there will always be students who fall between the cracks and struggle.
For this reason, a variety of activities that span across all styles of learning is best for academic success:
- Kinesthetic
- Visual
- Auditory
- Reading
- Writing
Instead of scrambling to lesson plan five different activities each day to satisfy the needs of all your students, consider integrating everything into one.
Dramatic play is an excellent way to ensure many, if not all, learning styles are included in the classroom or your home learning environment on a daily basis.
Since young children learn best using a play-based approach to learning, and they love to mimic the adults around them, dramatic play is a natural fit!
From playing parents in a pretend kitchen to becoming a caring veterinarian for their stuffed friends, children are limited only by their own imaginations!
Do you need more convincing before introducing dramatic play to your little sponges?
Let’s take a look at my Valentine’s Day Diner dramatic play center
This dramatic play center is intended for the month of February and leading up to Valentine’s Day. Adding an additional theme is a great way to raise engagement! Instead of a petting zoo, make it a Hollywood Petting Zoo.
Dramatic play is as simple or complex as you make it. You may choose to use all physical toy props, all printable props, or a mix of the two (my preference).
This center requires only printable props so there is a bit of prep work involved (cutting, laminating); cozy up with Netflix and binge your favorite tv show, it’ll be over before you know it! Plus, this center can be used year after year! Feel free to add in your own physical props such as a chef hat, aprons, and play dishes to take things to the next level.
By embracing their pretend roles, children will be improving upon these 5 important skills for academic success:
- Self-regulation – staying in character to fulfil their role and contribute to dialogue
- Conflict resolution – establishing clear boundaries and creative problem-solving among peers
- Language development – encouraging expressive language, whether playing a role or playing as themselves
- Self-empowerment – allowing kids the opportunity to make choices, act out their feelings, and find a new connection to themselves
- Math and literacy – particularly in play that includes playing with numbers such as play money
I created this Valentine’s Day Diner with three main roles in mind: Customer, Server, and Chef.
Each role focuses on a different set of skills and style of learning, so children would benefit from rotating between roles to find what suits them best.
The Customer
- read menu
- order menu item(s)
- count Valentine’s Day dollars
- create a menu suggestion (drawing & writing)
- socialize with other customers
The Server
- take customer order
- count Valentine’s Day dollars
- relay order to chef
- stamp customer loyalty card
- deliver completed dish to customer
The Cook
- matching game – gather the necessary ingredients for each recipe card
- give completed dish(es) to server
As you can see, there is a lot going on behind the scenes when children are playing! We don’t always need to add pencil and paper activities to access learning; simply include hands-on activities with built-in skills training and observe your students’ interactions. You may just be amazed by what you find!