Dramatic Play in Early Childhood.

Early Childhood

Dramatic Play

   Parents I am sure you have all at one time or another have seen your children either playing, and you have noticed them making up their own games or playing make believe.  Well according to the Association of Childhood Education International, dramatic play is imperative to a child’s growth and cannot be replaced by adult instruction. Dramatic play can benefit many of the child developments.

   Within the area of language, dramatic play encourages a child to communicate his thoughts through the eyes of any individual he chooses to.  The child is mimicking what they see the adults in their lives doing.  For example my little brother when he was younger he liked to play make believe that he was mowing the yard, so every day in the summer he would tell us he was going outside to mow the yard and he would get into his gator jeep and away he would go.  However, he got this from my dad because, he would hear my dad say he was going out to mow the yard and then dad would get the lawn mower out and start mowing the yard.

       Another benefit of dramatic play is emotional, dramatic play allows children to sort through emotions and situations that they may not understand. An example would be when a child pretends that someone he knows has died, this usually occurs shortly after someone else actually has.  This would be a child’s way of internalizing and sorting through emotions and situations that are difficult.

     The final child development that can benefit from the dramatic play is cognitive. Once a child engages in dramatic play, it can help develop cognitive function, the brain or academic portion of development. Free play develops self-regulation, this function allows a child to pay attention when need be and control their emotions.  Dramatic play also benefits the cognitive area of development in math, reading, writing, and more.

Amber Reinecke