Dramatic play

Children explore story-telling in all forms. They acquire skills necessary to navigate the social world by assuming pretend roles and acting out stories. Teachers provide thoughtfully chosen, open ended materials to help stimulate childrens’ imaginations. Children use these materials in novel ways as props to support their roles and stories. They develop social skills such as leadership by assuming new and different roles. They develop interactive skills by negotiating roles with peers. They develop academic skills by working with teachers to “write” and create the signs they need to set the stage for their pretend play. They are inspired to expand on what they already know about the roles they are pretending. On occasion, they dictate scripts for individual children’s roles in a reenactment.