If you are an Early Childhood Educator and you work in a Child Care Centre then I am sure you are already planning for the Dramatic Play/Dress-up area in your weekly programming.
If you are a private home child care provider or a parent, this type of play is very important to all areas of child development but especially social and emotional.
Here is a 5-day Dramatic Play idea for all E.C.E.'s and Home Child Care Providers.
When you program for this area and make it available to the children, you are giving them an opportunity to express themselves emotionally through their real life experiences at home and real life experiences through friends and other family.
Socially, it gives the children a chance to interact with their peers in a different type of social setting. They will be able to enhance on co-operation skills, sharing skills, taking turns, waiting, and sharing their feelings with their friends.
These are just to name a few. There are so many Dramatic Play ideas out there you can use, and many I have used myself. The one I tend to like the most is having a "house centre."
The house centre usually consists of a kids kitchen centre, kids table with a couple of chairs, and the rest is ready for you to add in.
What are the best things to add into a "house centre." Well as nice as it is that they manufacture just about everything as a kids toy, I prefer adding as many "real-to-life" objects as I can.
For example, instead of putting a kids telephone with googly eyes that makes silly noises, I would put in a real telephone that you would find in a real home. I have found many things free just by asking around. I ask friends and family that if they are ever throwing out anything please let me know so I can see if I can use it in my child care class.
I have found through over 10 years of programming that when you use real-to-life objects as opposed to "silly" kids toys in this area in particular, you get more role-playing from the children.
Please don't think I am against kids toys all together; my toy shelves are filled with kids toys, I am just focusing on the Dramatic Play area only at this point.
The way to keep this area interesting for a full week and have the children wanting to play in it everyday is simple. All you have to do is add in a few things daily instead of adding everything in all at once. Adding everything in your Dramatic Play centre will overwhelm the children, and you will end up with a huge mess and children just going bonkers with all the new things to play with.
When you add a few things everyday it gives the children a chance to explore and play with these items and get used to them. When you add more the next days, the children will actually use the new items with the ones they are now familiar with. You then end up with real-to-life play in a home setting.
What should you add in?
Here is an example below:
Day 1 - Add in simple objects they are used to. SOME Play food*, pots, pans, play cutlery, telephone, adult shoes (men's/women's).
*Play food is great to use because so many companies make play food look so real. One thing I like to do with food boxes like cereal and crackers is, when I am done using them at home, I take the paper liner out of the box and bring it in for the Dramatic Play area. The kids love it because they see the same things at home.
Day 2 - Add in a little more play food, a small broom and dust pan, a few hats.
Day 3 - Add in some shirts, ties, bracelets, necklaces, skirts, and a mirror or little hand-held mirrors.
Day 4 - Add in some magazines, pretend reading glasses, ice-cube trays.
Day 5 - Add in a clock, a few play watches, empty lotion bottles, empty and rinsed small juice/milk jugs/cartons.
The children are going to love this home-style set up.
You don't need to get rid of this Dramatic Play area after Day 5. If the children are having a great time, leave it set up for as long as they are interested in it.
Observe the children while they are playing and you will see a whole other side to their play that you may not have noticed before. Their play will be more real-to-life and you will see them playing through their real life experiences.
Have a wonderful time. : )
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My name is Marisa and I am a Registered Early Childhood Educator. I have been actively practicing in the field for over 10 years and am one of the operators of the free resource website for teachers, parent's and caregivers: http://www.preschoollearningonline.com
Be sure to click the above link and visit my web site if you are looking to get more free Early Childhood Educational resources such as games, art activities, science activities, song ideas, circle time ideas, sensory ideas, snack ideas, programming ideas, printables, and so much more.
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