Planning a Successful Dramatic Play Center in Child Care – eXtension Alliance for Better Child Care (2024)

FAQs

How do you set up a dramatic play in childcare? ›

Setting Up a Dramatic Play Center in Your Classroom

Location: Good places for a dramatic play center might be near a block center or another area where children's play tends to be noisy. Ideally, the center should be bordered by shelves and/or other furniture (e.g., table and chairs, play refrigerator, etc.), or walls.

Ask questions and read stories about topics that your child uses in their dramatic play, such as buying new shoes or going to the clinic. Encourage your child to explore print, letters and words by placing writing tools and paper in the Dramatic Play area.

A dramatic play learning center is an essential part of the preschool classroom. Dramatic play helps children explore different roles and situations as children play with items and tools adults use in everyday life.

Job roleplay: Children take on roles of various professionals they're familiar with or admire, such as chefs, doctors, firefighters, teachers, and astronauts. Animal play: Whether a cat, dog, or T-rex, children pretend to be animals, mimicking the behaviors, sounds, and interactions of their chosen animal.

Dramatic play encourages children to resolve conflict, consider perspectives beyond their own and recognize the various roles and responsibilities individuals have in our society. Structured dramatic play often encourages children to consider a specific problem and propose their own solutions.

Introduce the area: Especially if a dramatic play theme is new to the children, spend some time in a large group talking about the theme and discussing what children know about it. Read books about the theme to familiarize children, and leave those books in the dramatic play area to give children ideas.

Provide varied materials to encourage exploration and play.

These allow children to engage in open-ended and exploratory play. Supply natural and synthetic materials—feathers, leaves, sand, water, shaving cream (in the water table), Styrofoam, scarves, stickers.

How do you increase involvement in children's play? ›

Whether you're a parent, nursery leader or teacher, if you get involved in play – meeting children where they are to share and encourage their ideas – you'll both get lots out of it. Resist the urge to take control. Instead, try asking open questions that invite little ones to explore for themselves.

Offer open-ended toys.

“The simplest toys allow for the highest creativity,” says Dr. Ginsburg. Playthings such as blocks, dolls, and balls (see “Let 'Em Loose!”) that can be used in more than one way encourage imagination better than things like coloring books or board games, which have specific rules to follow.

Create a welcoming print-rich dramatic play center. Add functional labels, pictures, books, and other materials reflective of children's cultures, such as familiar recipes, photos of cultural sweet breads, and spice or extract bottles (for example, vanilla, cinnamon, or piloncillo—unrefined brown sugar).

The teacher acts as a secondary source and brings in the materials for the students to play with. The students become the teachers and take on the role of what adults would normally do. Teachers may need to scaffold students in order to build upon play skills and develop more complex ideas, roles and scenarios.

Provide Varied Resources and Equipment

All the equipment and resources children play with need to be safe for all learning environments, and there needs to be a clear sectioning for indoor and outdoor play within the childcare environment so that children can adapt to the setting.