september 2024
Making Connections with the Real World Through
Dramatic Play
As the children have settled into the Infant Program and become more comfortable with their classroom environment, we have discovered many new interests, curiosities, and ideas come forward! These curiosities and interests stemmed from interactions/tasks that the children see on a day-to-day basis, such as cooking in the kitchen, rocking babies, dressing themselves, etc.! The interest initially began in the kitchen centre as the children created meals for one another, as well as feeding the baby dolls! This then turned into an interest regarding the baby dolls as the children rocked the babies, swaddled the babies, and dressing the babies. Due to the fascination in dramatic play experiences, we received a lovely donation of purses, hats, and tutus from the parents! This sparked an even larger interest as the children began dressing themselves in the ‘dramatic play’ clothing, as well as wanting to dress each other! Due to this interest, new words started forming as well! Some words often used during these dramatic play scenarios are “baby”, “hug”, “night night”, “rock”, “hat”, “tutu”, “please”, as well as “hi” and “bye”.
Additionally, as the children have taken on a caregiver role during these dramatic play experiences, they are also strengthening their social-emotional skills as a result. To continue to foster this interest, we have added plenty of new materials to the program, such as more purses, scarves, sunglasses, as well as high chairs and cribs for baby dolls. We wonder what other discoveries the children will explore as the dramatic play experiences continues...
Rachelle Minthorn RECE, Emily Merenda RECE, Swati Limbachia BA, BEd, MA
