D is for Dramatic Play

   

     The last few days I have experienced my child pretend to be a doctor. I have watched him run superfast around our backyard exclaiming loudly "SUPER WHY" (his version of super heros at the moment). I have seen him pretend he is a puppy dog, cat, and cow. I have watched him have comversations over his fake cell phone while working hard at his tool bench like daddy and papaw do. Playing pretend and using his imagination is what  educators refer to as dramatic play.
     Dramatic play both in their own time as well as structured through an adult are very important for the social and emotional growth of children. It may seem like a silly game your child has made up and you may get bored after 10 minutes of whatever scenario they are excited about sharing with you, but maybe after reading this post you will find their dramatic play not so silly anymore. That is my hope, anyway.
      So what exactly is going on that is so developmentally big? Many different things actually. Through dramatic play your child is able to figure out and understand more of the world around them. Young children are not quite able to think through what they have experienced. Just like art is an outlet to physically work through emotions, dramatic play is used in the same way for them. If something is scary or upsetting to them they will use dramatic play to work out why.
     They need dramatic play to help work out how roles work best. Dramatic play helps them make sense of why a doctors do check ups, or explore how cooking and service work through playing in a kitchen set and taking turns serving, cooking, and ordering. It helps them learn  social behaviors and social cues. Through interaction with peers there will undoubtedly be disagreements and fights, but they also learn how to cooperate with other people and how to find solutions that can make everyone happy. Conflict-resolution skills are started through these interactions and it will continue to grow as they get older. It is easy to see that along with conflict-resolution skills they are also learning self-regulating skills. Skills that help them learn the rules and behavior acceptable to those around them.
      Believe it or not acting and playing make-believe is also inportant for early literacy. They learn the importance of needing and wanting to read and write through their role playing. A waitress needs a pad to write orders on. A child playing store needs to understand what labels on food are as well as paper for writong down a shopping list. A mechanic needs to know how to understand the instruction manual.
     Dramatic play is part of their learning experience. It is work for them. Fun work, yes, but work still. Hopefully next time you catch your kids playing pretend you may be more interested in what they are working on or out through their adventures. Maybe you will find it even more enjoyable jumping in and following their lead. You will probably be able to learn even more about how they view their world. It may make notmal scenarios more exciting and interesting stepping into their cute and little shoes.