Dramatic Play Dramatic play permits children to fit the reality of the world into their own interests and knowledge. One of the purest forms of symbolic thought available to young children, dramatic play contributes strongly to the intellectual development of children (Piaget, 1962). Symbolic play is a necessary part of a child's language development (Edmonds, 1976). Elements of Drama in the Early Childhood Classroom Dramatic play includes role-playing, puppetry, and fantasy play. It does not require interaction with another. Socio-dramatic play is dramatic play with the additional component of social interaction with either a peer or teacher (Mayesky, 1988; Smilansky, 1968). Creative dramatics involves spontaneous, creative play. It is structured and incorporates the problem solving skills of planning and evaluation. Children frequently reenact a scene or a story. Planning and evaluating occurs in creative dramatics (Chambers, 1970, 1977) They choose the language that fits the role they have selected. They use reading and writing skills when literacy props are included in the Dramatic play. While pretend play is considered natural-something all young children do on their own-it is less common today than it was in the past. Teachers in all types of settings are finding that young children do not necessarily engage in dramatic play on an advanced level. Because the ability to engage in and sustain imaginative play is so central to children’s development- particularly cognitive and social/emotional development-we recommend that teachers take an active role in teaching the skills to make-believe. Your role, as in all interest areas, is to observe what children do and individualize your response. Based on what you learn, you can interact with children and support their play. To get the most from their play, children need specific skills and a range of experiences to give them ideas for make-believe. It is therefore useful to familiarize yourself with the six skills children use to pretend at a high level. Children who have and use all six skills are engaging in what Sara Smilansky calls "socio-dramatic play." Here are the six skills that she identifies (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Role-play.Children have to be able to pretend to be someone or something else and mimic typical behaviors and verbal expressions. At a beginning level of role-play, children simply imitate one or two actions of familiar people or animals: a mommy feeding her baby or a dog eating out of a dog dish. On an advanced level, children think of many different actions relevant to their chosen role and expand the types of roles they play. Use of props.Children elaborate their role-play by incorporating objects into their make-believe. At a beginning level, they rely on real or realistic objects. Then they use objects to represent a prop (e.g., a paper plate for a steering wheel). Children at the advanced level of pretend ability can substitute words and actions for real objects (e.g., they use hands in circular motion for a steering wheel). Make-believe.In early dramatic play, children imitate actions they have seen others do, such as picking up a toy phone and talking on it. At a higher level, they are able to use words to describe and then re-enact real-life actions or events. For example, a child might point to the table and say, "I’m the doctor. Pretend this is my office. You be the Mommy and bring your baby for a checkup." Children may also engage in fantasy-enacting Situations that aren’t drawn from real life such as slaying dragons or Battling monsters. Site Map