Dramatic Play: It's Brain Smart!

Dramatic Play is not only a source of wonder and magic -- it is good for cognitive development!  Pretend play requires the ability to transform objects and actions symbolically; for example, pretending to be mommy or a doctor; pretending a bowl of nuts and leaves is oatmeal for Goldilocks. 

There is research that has shown that pretend play coupled with literacy props increases a child's understanding and awareness of environment print and the use of signs.

In Dramatic play children:

• develop their receptive and expressive language skills (listening and speaking)
• expand capacity for imagining
• imitate life around them (being a mommy, fix a meal, etc)
• build their attention and engagement capacity
• learn how to negotiate other children and their thoughts, ideas and strategies
• develop important abstract thinking skills
• put math understandings to use in meaningful/playful context (counting, sorting, etc)
• practice problem solving skills with their peers
• build their working vocabulary
• and more!

 Here are some elements of a high quality pretend play in the Dramatic Play/Housekeeping Center:

•  The use of real objects such as placemats, cups, forks, wooden plates, tins, wooden spoons, etc.   These can be more engaging and meaningful to role playing when chosen carefully. 

•  The home in miniature.  Dollhouses are excellent places to "pretend" the daily round of life and all the rich relationships held in this primal place.

• Using nature items such log discs for plates.  

• . . . using pinecones as food.  The use of non-representational (open-ended) items is very important.  It exercises the imagination (frontal lobes).

•  The use of warm and comforting colors (versus loud and primary colors).  This provides a visual canvas for the child's imagination.

•  Chest of drawers filled hats, scarves, and other role playing props. 

•  Shoes for different occasions.  These can encourage seasonal pretend play as well as a variety of coats and outwear. (Builds a relationship and care for the impact of weather.)

•  Baby dolls and beds.  These can encourage the nurturing actions of pretend play. (Builds empathy and compassion skills)

•  A sense of beauty and order to the pretend rich spaces.   It is important to restore the order after the play is over.  Have the children help in putting things back in their places.  (Sorting and classifying skills)

•  A variety of textures - plastic, metal, cloth, wood, woven. 

A BIG THANK YOU to the teachers of Rosa Parks Early Childhood Center for the generosity of sharing their rooms.  All the photos in this post are from Rosa Parks.  What an inspiration!!

Reggio: Ramps & Texture

Guest Teacher:  Kati Nash
Reggio Blog Series


For months friends had been exploring ramps and their relationship to the objects that travel down them. After exploring with different objects in our classroom from wooden spools to water, friends began making objects with clay to roll on the ramps. Friends started by making balls and logs to roll down the ramp.

As friends explored the ramps and clay they soon  decided they should use clay to decorate the ramps. Friends worked tirelessly adding collage materials to clay and placing the clay with the utmost care onto the ramp in precise spots.

Friends brought their decorated clay to morning meeting with pride.

As friends began discussing it they soon realized that nothing was rolling down the decorated ramp and that it must be broken. Friends initiated brainstorming how to “fix” the broken ramp.

Three theories were put before the group: A.) Clay must be added to the back of the ramp. B.) The clay at the top of the ramp must be made taller. C.) All the clay must be removed. A small group of friends then went back to the atelier to test the different theories.

Through trial and error friends discovered that out of the three proposed solutions only removing the clay was a viable possibility for causing movement down the ramp. Friends plan to bring the bare ramp to morning meeting and discuss their findings.

Teachers wondered if this would lead into further investigating the texture and incline of ramps. This experience provided children with rich scientific inquiry and problem solving possibilities, along with opportunities for showing flexibility and inventiveness in thinking.

After children began exploring the texture of the decorations they made for their ramp the teachers realized the children’s ideas of texture were expanding and developing, but their ability to express their ideas of texture verbally were still limited to an unimaginative vocabulary.

Teachers decided to set up different provocations to promote further development of texture concepts. Children really became intrigued with creating their own textures using paint and a variety of small materials including rice, sprinkles, baking soda, birdseed, noodles and other items.

As children created textures they began bringing them to morning meeting to share and discuss with their friends.

Children brainstormed names for each texture and then worked tirelessly in the writing center to put pen to paper and get the names of their textures written down.

These experiences provided children with the opportunity for comparison and classification development, along with furthering their knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials. Children also expanded their expressive vocabulary and inventiveness in thinking.

Reggio: Ramp Investigation

Guest Teacher: Kati Nash
Reggio Blog Series 

Hi! My  name is Kati and I am a teacher in a Reggio-inspired preschool that serves the most at-risk children in our school district. Our school is unique in that we have private, philanthropic funding but remain a public school. Our school works with many local foundations and groups including the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. I am so excited that I can share a glimpse of my children’s inspiring investigation from this year with the world.

We first began noticing  children’s intrigue with ramps, bridges, and 

tunnels emerge in the block area.

 Children were building multi-level structures and using objects to manipulate cause and effect relationships with their structures.

 We wondered what would develop if the children’s ideas of ramps were brought

 into another area of the classroom.

 Teachers set up a series of provocations involving ramps and a variety of materials. These started with simple ramps and obvious balls.

 As teachers watched the children’s interactions with the ramps evolve 

they would add or take away materials. 

   During ongoing exploration children began to agree that “a ramp goes down.” And thus the children formed their definition of a ramp.

Kati will be a guest presenter this summer with Fairy Dust Teaching's e-institute! 

Reggio: Scissor Storage!

 I love this simple but highly effective why to store and display scissors - in a brick!  Who knew!

This photo was taken in one of my colleague's classroom.  So cool.

 It looks so natural and provides a clear place for children to reach for a pair of scissors!

Alphabet Play

This is a lovely idea I saw in my colleague Kati's classroom.  I had to make one for my class and share it with you.

 It is easy to set up.  Put the printed pages into page protectors and slip into a binder.  (I have included a cover for the binder.)

You will need the JUMBO glass gems for the activity.  This activity requires adult supervision with those discs.  This is not recommended for very young children.  Be wise.  You can also use large flat river rocks.

 The children put the gems on the letter.  

So much fun!

Click here or on the image below for your FREE copy of this game.

Creating Our First Reggio Chandelier

I love, love, love the look of the "Reggio" chandeliers.  

It was one of the must-do projects with my new class.

I wanted to start with a "natural" base.  Well . . . it just so happened that my son had a big pile of dead bushes in his backyard.  Viola!  A chandelier base!

Materials Used:

• assorted beads
• jewelry wire
• a bush branch

 A couple children in my class helped to select our bead palette - silver, clear, and white.

 I found the best times to work on the chandelier with the children was during arrival and after nap.  It is a perfect activity for soft and gentle moments.  Stringing beads is a lovely way to sit and talk.  

I put down black construction paper "work" mats to help the children "see" their beads and constructions. I prepared the wire strands by putting a bead at the end and wrapping it. I would lay these on the black mats - ready for little hands!

 I let the children build and create their own strings of beads.

 They loved deciding where to put their strand.  

After we completed the chandelier, I let the children decide where it would be hung.  They voted to have it above the block center.   Beautiful!

Glue Multi-Media Paintings

This is a very fun way to produce a process based painting.

I love the texture and dimension it produces!

 I begin with a canvas that the children have previously painted.  These canvases were painted with red, yellow, and orange paints.

What you need:

• glue
• liquid watercolors or food coloring (these will keep the glue transparent as it dries)
• plastic "stir pots"
• popsicle stick to stir the mixture
• assorted materials to stir into the pot (beads, yarn, little tiles, buttons, pieces of paper, etc.)
• plastic table cloth to protect your table (I buy them on sale)

The best part of this project is that the children mix up a brew of paint, glue and stuff.  I let the children squeeze their glue into the pot, I let them squeeze the paint, and add whatever they want from the buffet of materials.  Ooo so fun!! 

 The children LOVE making their own concoctions.  Pure bliss.

When the pot is ready - it is dumped onto the canvas.

 The mixtures are drizzled, dumped, swirled and applied in all sorts of ways.  It was so interesting to see one of my students discover how she could create swirls of orange on top of the yellow.  Another student added a bit of water to his mixture to see how it changed his mixture.

Let the painting dry flat.  It will take up to three days.

 Display!

It adds a lovely bit of color to the corner.