Harnessing the learning potential of pretend play needn’t be complicated or expensive, says Sarah Owen…
A three-year-old asks you to play, grabs your hand, and excitedly leads you through the classroom towards an activity area.
Which would you rather it be? Do you hope they’ll lead you to the outdoor area? Would you prefer to read in the book corner? Do you enjoy the roleplay area? Or would you rather get down on your hands and knees to play with trucks and tractors?
We all have play preferences, and these develop in early childhood. By the age of one, 90% of children have a favourite object.
Although these preferences regularly change, what you enjoyed playing most as a child is likely to be what you’d also prefer to play now you’re an adult.
Of course, no one type of play is more valuable than the other. Physical play, social play, constructive play, games with rules – they all help children develop and learn.
By the age of three, however, it’s pretend play that’s at its peak. Therefore it’s worth considering how you might facilitate it (even if the idea of “doing drama” with your children feels uncomfortable).
And it’s worth knowing that it doesn’t have to be difficult, or restricted to the roleplay area. A well-resourced roleplay area is a rich environment for pretend play, naturally. It’s not surprising that early years settings put so much effort into creating such spaces complete with both realistic and fantastical props and costumes.
But actually (and stay with me here), although props and costumes are great ways to ignite children’s imaginations, they also have the potential to limit them and therefore reduce potential learning outcomes.
Think about the dressing-up box in the corner of your classroom. Maybe there’s one pirate outfit, chef’s whites, a doctor’s coat, and yes, that popular princess dress – all of which only one individual child can wear at a time.
Not only that, costumes get broken, stained, and ripped, but most importantly (and this is key!) that sparkly princess dress in your dressing up box will never be as sparkly as the one in your child’s imagination.
I’m not saying there’s no place in early years practice for dressing up or a roleplay area, just that you don’t need to rely on them.
And if we invest all our time, money, and effort into this type of play, we’re missing out on enormous opportunities for learning and growth.
With imaginative play there are no resources to invest in – just the power of the imagination. If you harness this, children can be anyone, go anywhere, do anything, and learn so much, all in the safe and supportive environment of the classroom.
“But I can’t do drama!”, you may say. Yes, you can. If you can put on different voices when reading a story or pull a funny face to make a child laugh, you’re already using drama.
Here are three easy drama-based circle time activities (absolutely no props or costumes required!)...
Share a made-up story starting with the words, “You’ll never guess what happened to me this morning…”. For example: I…
The more far-fetched your tall tale is, the better! Include the emotion of the story (how did you feel?) and show this through your voice and facial expression.
Ask questions: “Have you seen a spaceship around here anywhere?” “What should I tell mum about the broken vase?”. Encourage children to share their own tall tale: “What did you do this morning?”
Tell the children you’ve bought a birthday present (for grandad, the Big Bad Wolf, the Lollipop Person, the Very Hungry Caterpillar).
Pick up and describe the imaginary present before asking, “What present did you buy?”. Model playfulness by giving unexpected presents (a pet jellyfish for grandad, a hot water bottle for the Big Bad Wolf, a unicorn for the Lollipop Person).
Model using descriptive language to give a vivid description of your present. Show how you feel about each child’s gift through your voice, facial expression, and body language (Yelp! A hairy spider! I hope grandad likes creepy crawlies!)
Pretend to fall asleep when you’re in the middle of reading a story, that you smell something disgusting, or that you hear something scratching at the door.
Try pretending to sneeze every time you go near a particular child or suddenly start giggling as if someone (or something!) is tickling you.
Then repeat, repeat, repeat. There’s no limit to how many times a child will love to wake you up, watch you gag over a disgusting smell or help you search for the culprit making that scratching sound.
Be “big” as well as silly; there’s no such thing as a too-loud snore or a facial expression that’s too exaggerated.
Allow children to lead the direction of the drama themselves – maybe they find and name the spider who is tickling you or cast an anti-sneezing spell that actually ends up making you fall asleep.
Sarah Owen is the founder and director of Pyjama Drama.
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