Learning Through Pretend Play

You have heard from me before about the very important role dramatic play has in a young child’s learning and education. To help us focus as a school on enriching our dramatic play, we have been having regular time set aside in our staff meetings for teachers to report on the dramatic play that is going on in their classrooms. At our last staff meeting one of our teachers shared a terrific example of how rich in educational content dramatic play can be.

A group of 3 year olds decided they wanted to pretend to go to a restaurant. As they played, children took on roles as customers, waiters, and chefs. Children articulated what they wanted to eat, waiters “wrote” down orders, handed them in to the “kitchen”, the food was prepared by the chefs and the waiters then served the customers. At the end of the meal the waiters told the customers how much they owed for their food, pretend money was exchanged, cash registers beeped, change was given, and customers were sent on their way.

Let’s list the skills involved in this really fun dramatic play episode . . . language and self-expression, planning and cooperation, different work roles, the operation of a business, writing, reading, food preparation, counting, and money exchange. That’s a lot for about 45 minutes of play! The children carried on with this restaurant theme throughout the day. It started very simply with a customer and a waiter and then blossomed to a full blown restaurant operation with many additional props. With skillful facilitation by teachers, the children learned a lot and had loads of fun.

We are making sure we are motivating and making room for lots of dramatic play at school. Value the time your children spend in pretend play at home. Make sure they have the time to do lots of it.