What’s dramatic play?

It’s a form of play that allows children to engage in real life scenarios without disrupting real life itself. This article will go into detail about which skills will be taught, and how this type of play will teach all these skills at one time. I will also talk about how dramatic play is not just a learning center found in preschool class rooms, you can start such a beneficial play when they first begin to comprehend what pretending is. So without further a due…

What Is Dramatic Play?

Dramatic play is similar to censorial play, it’s not solely focused on senses, but scenarios that make developing censorial, fine motor, and gross motor skills much more fun for tiny humans. It is the act of pretending something is real. “What do you want to be when you grow up” can come to life using dramatic play. It can teach

• life skills,
• motor skills,
• social skills,
• social emotional development,
• academic development,
• and so much more,

which we will discuss later in this article.

Pros And Cons Of Dramatic Play

The positives and negatives of this type of play break evenly in my opinion, but you can make your own with these lists. Pros:

• encourages creativity,
• problem solving,
• resourcefulness,
• develops social and language skills,
• hones fine and gross motor skills,
• improves academics and stem,
• and also hones the senses.

Cons:

• Outsiders such as parents and leadership ill advised on the subject may disagree with using this type of play as an educational resource,
• can be utilized with or without supervision,
• can cause play anxiety for people including tiny humans,
• if not structured, can become unsafe,
• and if not varied, can diminish in educational value.

I highly recommend a structured version of this type of play, at home, or at school, as it strengthens a trust bond between adults and children, and it increases the educational benefits of this play ten fold to unstructured. Since it’s recommended to vary the theme of this educational tool every couple weeks, you could try one week structured, then one week unstructured, to give the lessons a little more balance.

Creativity

This type of play encourages creativity in tiny humans. It allows them to utilize their surroundings to figure out how things work. For example: you set out

• a box of pretend money and coins

,

• a basket of fruits and vegetables,
• and a few old t-shirts.

and they can come up with a few scenarios on their own as to what to do with the items. They could be a fruit vendor, or a cashier at a super market, or they could pack the fruit and vegetables as food to keep up on hunger as they run around donating coins and bills to the homeless. What guidance did you provide? none, you just found that stuff there, and encouraged their creativity in how to use it.

Problem Solving

Pretending things are real takes some problem solving skills. Your tiny humans can hone this skill when you utilize this educational resource. For example: you set out

• a t-shirt,
• a wash cloth,
• a bucket,
• a couple of empty bottles,
• and a toy sink.

Not only will they be able to be creative, but they will have to figure out how to use just one bucket for what they come up with. Let’s play groomer, and wash the puppy, but how do we do it with just one bucket? they won’t get it right in are eyes the first time, but they will eventually figure it out. This is called problem solving.

Resourcefulness

This is a very valuable life skill, that should be taught at a very young age. It allows for quick thinking, and strengthens the survival instinct. How do I start a fire in the woods with no lighter? My mom always used a lighter. This may take a bit of guidance at first, but during the unstructured periods allowed, they can work on what’s been taught during the structured lessons. For example: you give them

• five apples,
• three carrots,
• and two bunches of grapes.

There’s 5 of them, and they need to be resourceful and figure out how to divide the grapes and carrots amongst themselves. They can:

• count the grapes,
• break each carrot in half,
• and decide who gets the extra bit of carrot.

As I stated earlier, this will take some guidance at first, but this is where the value of unstructured comes in, they get the teaching, then they have to do the practicing. It’s gonna take a barrel of apples for this theme.

Social

Socializing is the very nature of human beings, big or small. Dramatic play will teach our tiny humans to do this properly. Say you set up a super market, with some guidance in the first week, and practice in the second week, this will teach them:

• manners,
• team work,
• delegation,
• and so much more.

They could also learn about forming opinions, which is what makes them unique and special from others. The possibilities of social development with this type of educational play, when utilized correctly, are endless.

Language

The art of language is key. It’s one of the four basics of academics, after all. How can you incorporate development of this into dramatic play? Easy, there’s no rocket science to this. It’s already there:

• when you label everything,
• add books and magazines,
• menus and order forms,
• signs and sign-in sheets,
• catalogs and grocery lists,
• and any other printed materials you may need depending on your theme.

This will encourage:

• reading,
• writing,
• mathematics,
• ETC.

Learning language arts is endless when you introduce printed materials into your centers, at home or at school.

Fine And Gross Motor

Motor skills are essential.
Fine motor skills are key to reading and writing. They teach our little ones:

• how to hold and use a pencil,
• turn pages,
• sort objects,
• and the list goes on.

Gross motor skills are just as important. They help our little ones:

• sit up right,
• carry things,
• put things away or unpack things,
• coordination,
• and that list goes on as well.

How will dramatic play enhance all of this at one time?
Fine motor:

• turning pages in books, magazines, catalogs, stacks of papers, ETC,
• sorting coins and bills by denomination and counting out amounts of money, ETC,
• Signing in on sign-in sheets, filling out order forms, jotting down customer requests, ETC,
• and so on.

Gross motor:

• sitting up and listening to instructions,
• stocking and unstocking manipulatives,
• actively engaging in play such as being a server or cashier,
• cleaning up and putting things back where they belong,
• ETC.

No matter what theme you choose, the opportunities for fine and gross motor development are endless, so you’ll never have to worry about not picking the right theme for it.

Academics And STEM

Dramatic Play, though it seems like kids are just playing and not learning, they’re actually learning. They are actually learning all four of the basic academics we drill into their heads through a strict structured setting every day. It’s just through dramatic play, they are learning it all in a playful way, without even knowing it. They are also learning:

• science,
• technology,
• engineering,
• and mathematics

or STEM. So, they are learning all about language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, technology, and engineering all at once? Yes, Through this kind of play, they learn to:

• count: math,
• they learn how things work, like how one seed can grow into a tree: science,
• they learn about where different animals live: social studies,
• they learn to read and write: language arts,
• They learn how to use a cash register: technology,
• and they learn how to put blocks and other assorted toys together: engineering.

So yes, they are essentially learning all their academics, and STEM all at once. Now go on, let them play till their heart’s content, they’re learning, I promise.

Senses

If you’ve read:

Satisfy The Senses; Censorial Play

Then you know all about why developing the senses through play is important.

Dramatic play is a type of play that will work with all five at once.

• What does a puppy feel like compared to a lizard?
• What does this flower smell like?
• What sound does a cat make?
• What’s this banana taste like?
• What’s the earth look like from space?

The censorial questions children ask are endless, and how you answer these questions play a key role in the development of their senses. Dramatic play can help a lot with this, because hands on learning is truly an eye-opener for kiddos.

Final Words

I believe dramatic play, if promoted and advocated for properly, could potentially be a required educational tool utilized globally. It gives our tiny humans so much education without overwhelming their thought process, it’s unbelievable. When you think, oh my five-year-old doesn’t know as much as my seven-year-old, then a year of proper dramatic play curriculum, and you’d think he was just as eight as your now eight-year-old. This is just my opinion, I think the list of cons above could be worked out with the proper advocation and research and promotion of this tool, but for now, I will just continue my opinionative crusade to incorporate education through different types of play for tiny humans.