Dramatic Play in the Classroom
What is Dramatic Play:
Dramatic play is when students take place role-playing and reenacting everyday activities, jobs, or situations. The best part about dramatic play is that it is student-led and they are learning how to play. Playing is important in pre-k and kindergarten because it allows students to learn cause and effect, how the world works, time relationships, how to get along with others, and problem-solving. If you want to learn how about dramatic plays, grab my FREE guide at the bottom.
Why I love Dramatic Play:
Dramatic play can sometimes be called imaginative or pretend play. I love it because I get to change out my DIY dramatic play stand (click here to learn how to make your own) every month and watch my students learn new literacy skills, develop vocabulary, practice fine and gross motor skills and develop creativity. Also, when I change it out monthly it allows my students to see that different texts go with different tasks. They can start to compare text they see at home and in the real world and make connections. Some play skills are self-taught like building blocks or connecting snap cubes. Dramatic play when incorporated with literacy concept, it must be taught, they won’t learn it on their own. My dramatic play center allows my students to be engaged and have fun playing while also reading text, writing down order, making signs and in general creating their own text.
How to Use in the Classroom
This has become a center my students use weekly and use it during literacy centers. I allow a limited amount of students here (4) and show them how 2 people can be the customer and 2 people are the workers and have a timer on when to switch. Later on, in the year I let them be more independent about choosing a role. Every month when I change out the dramatic play I go over how to use the materials, decorations, and what I have added. You can see my monthly dramatic play ideas here. You can also add in money and coins which is part of our Kindergarten Math standards. Most of my dramatic play decorations are from the Target Dollar Spot, Dollar Tree, or Melissa and Doug on amazon (sometimes can be found at TjMaxx, Marshalls, and HG). Click here for my amazon storefront page that has a section for dramatic play.
Although, this is not part of my “curriculum”, I match it to common core standards and include writing prompts for my students to complete. You can grab some of the writing prompts for FREE at the bottom of this blog post. Some common core standards you can have displayed with it are:
RF.K.1: Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
RF.K.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
SL.K.3: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
SL.K.5: Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
Also, this is perfect for indoor recess.
3 Benefits of Dramatic Play:
The first benefit is it allows children to interact with text and literacy that they are becoming familiar with. It allows them to interact with the text firsthand by writing menus and shopping lists. These are things they see adults and their parents do and it allows them to imitate you.
The second benefit is it allows them to see multiple purposes of text, you can have coupons, letters, bullet points, posters, receipts, and the list goes on. Allowing them to see these types of texts helps them produce text on their own.
The third benefit is expanding their comprehension. It allows them to understand different characters and jobs, the setting around them, problem-solving, and how they all connect together. They will understand how cause and effect works, you must ask the customer what they want before making the food.
