Benefit of dramatic play

What It Is and Why It’s Important

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November 5, 2021

Have you ever watched kids play dress-up to prepare for an audience with the Queen, or pretend that they’re astronauts headed into space, or leap around the living room without touching the floor because it’s lava? If so, you’ve witnessed dramatic play in action.

What is dramatic play? It’s the kind of play where kids take on roles and act them out as a way of exploring themselves and their surroundings. By pretending to be someone—or something—else, children can learn new ways to express themselves, share thoughts and ideas, and even get in touch with their feelings. Dramatic play is a very important part of childhood development.

There are three main stages of childhood development. There’s early childhood, which spans birth to eight years old. Next up is middle childhood from 8to 12 years of age, followed by adolescence, which covers ages 12 to 18. Dramatic play is important during the early childhood stage of development, as kids start to grow into themselves more and start to have a greater understanding of their individuality.

There are two types of dramatic play. They are:

Structured Play: This is the kind of play where there’s a game plan for the kind of play that kids are engaging in. This could mean a teacher or parent has created a scenario that has a definitive end point. For example, maybe they’re shopping at a grocery store, shipping a package at the post office, or buying a bouquet at the flower shop. In these scenarios, there are defined roles that are dictated by the situation, and the play leads to a specific conclusion (for example, completing their purchase at the grocery store).
Unstructured Play: This form of dramatic play is more freeform and left up to the kids to choose how they want to play, and how—or even if—it ends. This is where the classic “floor is lava” scenario comes into play, but other examples might be pretend play like being a dinosaur stomping around the living room or using a spoon as a “magnifying glass” while hunting for butterflies in the basement.

Examples of Dramatic Play

Young children may engage in dramatic play in a variety of ways, including:
Role-playing, such as being the parent to a doll or pretending to be a doctor seeing patients
Dressing up, whether putting on their parents’ clothes and shoes, or putting on a costume that was made specifically for them
Fixing things like the TV, the kitchen faucet, or the car, offering their diagnoses of the problem and how they can solve it
Exploring and adventuring, whether in their own room or the backyard, discovering new creatures and unseen worlds

Dramatic play benefits are numerous. In addition to supporting creativity and self-expression, dramatic play can help children learn real life skills and social skills that can serve them throughout their lives, from engaging in dramatic play for toddlers, to playtime in their preschool classroom, and beyond. Technology can also play a part in dramatic play, giving kids an entirely different arena in which to explore themselves and the world around them.

The benefits of dramatic play include:

Learning conflict resolution, helping children to learn creative problem-solving skills alongside their peers
Exploring self-empowerment, allowing kids the opportunity to make choices, act out their feelings, and find a new connection to themselves
Learning math and literacy, particularly in play that includes playing with numbers (like the grocery store game)
Blowing off steam, so overly energetic children have another outlet to decompress and have fun
Engaging in language development, encouraging kids to express themselves in different ways, whether playing a role or playing as themselves
Embracing self-regulation, especially in role-playing where children are expected to fulfill a particular part in the play scenario

There are many ways that educators and parents like you can encourage dramatic play, both in a school setting and at home. For example, you can:

Buy some fun clothes from a thrift store and suggest playing dress up at home, encouraging your child to embrace role playing and drive the play narrative
Make time for dramatic play in the classroom, using a theme as a guide and giving kids an outline to follow within that theme
Engage in your own form of dramatic play at home and encourage your kids to join in, whether it’s opening a pretend restaurant where you make pizza or going hunting for monsters in the house
Give students a toy that they must create a narrative around, and break the class up into groups to explore that narrative

It’s important for parents and teachers to collaborate on dramatic play efforts so that each side of the child’s developmental support system is aware of the progress happening both at home and at school. Although many teachers learn about dramatic play while they’re pursuing their degrees, parents might not be as aware of it—and how important it is for early childhood development. By partnering with a teacher who has in-depth knowledge of dramatic play, everyone can collaborate on the themes and approaches that best suit their child.

Although dramatic play can differ from child to child and classroom to home, its results are the same: vibrant, playful children who find strength and comfort in their own self-expression.

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The Incredible Benefits of Dramatic Play in Early Childhood Education

Does your playroom often get transformed into a pirate ship, a train station, or a campsite? Do you find yourself stocking up on Halloween costumes when they go on clearance after the holiday? Does your little one ask to be called “Officer” or “Doctor” rather than their first name?

You must have a kiddo who loves dramatic play!

And that’s a really, really good thing because there are so many benefits to dramatic play in early childhood.

The Incredible Benefits and Importance of Dramatic Play

Dramatic play is beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers.

What is Dramatic Play?

Dramatic play is s a type of play where children assign and accept roles and act them out.

It’s pretending to be someone or something else. Sometimes children take on real-world roles, other times they take on fantasy roles. A child might pretend to be someone new like a supervillain, or someone well known and familiar like mom.

The term dramatic play is sometimes interchanged with pretend play or imaginative play, but the distinction between the two is that dramatic play requires the child to assume a role whereas pretend play doesn’t necessarily require that.

Either way, it is play that involves breaking down the barriers of reality and results in serious and natural learning.

Examples of Dramatic Play

a child who pretends to feed and rocka doll to sleep
a child who pretends to fix a leaky faucet in the play kitchen
a child who pretends to be Spot the dog and plays fetch
a child who stirs counting bears in a bowl to make bear soup

Pretend play can take on multiple forms, and while pretending may just look like “playing”, it is integral to the developmental learning process and a critical piece in early child development. It should be encouraged, and children need lots of opportunities to engage.

Types of Dramatic Play

There are two types of pretend play, which are structured and unstructured dramatic play:

Structured play
- has a pre-determined set and desired outcome.
- A parent or teacher sets up a scenario for the children to play into, such as setting up an “airport”, and the children then choose and assign roles from what it available and then work through problems that arise within the set.
Unstructured play
- is where children have the freedom to choose their own plan scenarios and often create their own sets based on what is available to them.
- The living room couch might turn into a pirate ship or a shoelace might become a stethoscope in a veterinarian office.

Both have their challenges and advantages, and both should be included in early childhood.

Children can play dress up and gain the benefits of dramatic play.

The Benefits of Dramatic Play

Experts agree that dramatic play is an integral part of a well rounded preschool program as it is healthy for early childhood development. Here are just a few of the many incredible benefits of dramatic play.

Dramatic play teaches self-regulation.

Preschoolers are known for acting with impulse, so dramatic play is a great stepping stone for learning to self-regulate their emotions and actions.

Interestingly, when children assign and accept roles in dramatic play they are motivated to stick to them, thinking of them as rules to follow, even if they are made up by themselves. This helps children develop the ability to coordinate and plan with others as well as control their impulses.

Dramatic play encourages language development.

A question that is commonly asked is, “How does dramatic play promote language development?”

Dramatic play teaches and encourages expressive language and the use of new vocabulary. Children are motivated to communicate their wishes to their peers and therefore must learn to speak from the perspective of their pretend roles.

Additionally, dramatic play is often a very comfortable place for children who are shy or withdrawn to participate in a group. It serves as a safe place for children to learn and practice social skills.

Dramatic play teaches conflict resolution.

Both unstructured and structured dramatic play offer teachable moments about conflict resolution and problem solving.

Inevitably, disagreements will naturally arise during dramatic play, which offers children a chance to work through their differences and arrange a compromise. It also encourages children to consider alternate perspectives as they recognize various roles of people in their lives and communities.

When children engage in dramatic play, they have more opportunities to safely navigate social experiences.

Dramatic play supports math and literacy.

Dramatic play provides the perfect play setting for children to interact with functional math and print. Consider the child who is playing server at a restaurant. He will interact with both print and numbers as he takes orders, fills them and then rings up the total owed for the meal.

Dramatic play is also known for increasing comprehension as children love to act out their favorite storybooks.

Dramatic play relieves emotional tension.

Dramatic play offers a safe place for children to act out real life situations. Adults tend to cope with traumatic events by retelling stories again and again. Children cope with these events by acting them out.

Dramatic play is empowering to children.

This is not only because children can assign and accept their own roles in the play setting, but also because dramatic play offers a safe play for children to act out traumatic experiences mentioned above.

Typically when children act out dramatic or frightening experiences they place themselves in a powerful role. They choose to play mommy or daddy, two important figures in their lives, or a superhero with great powers. A child who has lived through real trauma, like a car accident, for example, might choose to be a paramedic or work at a doctor’s office.

Even toddlers benefit from dramatic play.

How to Encourage Dramatic Play

With so many benefits to including dramatic play, it’s important that it’s not overlooked when writing lesson plans for preschool. It’s all the more important to be deliberate and intentional about.

However, not all children naturally know how to play in a dramatic play setting. The learning experiences we create with our dramatic play ideas matter in the classroom. Here are some ways to encourage dramatic play.

Let kids play by themselves and with others.
- When kids play alone, they create their own games and their ideas have no limits. When playing with adults or peers, children are more likely to play along with social norms, which can help further develop their social-emotional skills.
Allow children to take the lead.
- As adults, it is tempting to guide children engaged in dramatic play. If they ask for help in navigating their storyline, you can suggest ideas. Otherwise, allow children to make the decisions and assign roles.
Encourage your preschoolers when they make creative use of toys and play items.
- The most valuable dramatic and pretend play doesn’t follow an instruction manual. Rather, encourage your children to turn a box into a tank or pirate ship, or use the play silks as superhero capes.
Play dress-up.
- This is the quintessential dramatic play act. Stock up on fun costumes and provide a variety of props that can be used in different scenarios. Turn the kitchen area into a grocery store or vet clinic, for example.
Build forts.
- Nothing encourages the imagination like a fort. With a few sheets draped over a couple of chairs, children can pretend they’re guarding a castle against invaders, hiding out from enemy spies, or camping out in the wilderness.
Host a tea party.
- This idea is another classic. When having a tea party in pretend play, children pick up on social interactions with people around them as they observe relationships. Tea parties are a great way to encourage empathy and kindness, too.

Just a few simple props can create many opportunities for solid play.

How to Set Up the Dramatic Play Area

Even if you are in a home setting, dramatic play benefits are abundant, if planned for. Here are 70+ easy ideas for the dramatic play center.

Role of play-dramatization in the development of preschool children | Article (middle group):

The role of dramatization in the development of speech in preschool children

According to many domestic researchers (L.S. Vygodsky, A.N. Leontiev, S.A. Rubinshtein, D.P. Elkonin) the game is "the leading activity of preschool children in which the most important changes occur in the child's psyche, within which mental processes develop that prepare the child's transition to a new higher stage of his development." The game is used by teachers for the purpose of teaching and educating children. It is the development of the child's personality, speech, mental processes, moral qualities.

A special place in the development of speech in preschool children is played by dramatization, which is a unique tool, since in the process of such a game the sound culture of speech and its intonational structure develop.

In the works of domestic psychologists and teachers, dramatization or theatrical play is considered as an activity that plays an important role in the development of preschoolers and is a kind of creative play.

Dramatization game is a kind of theatrical game and is widely used in the process of education and comprehensive development of children, is the process of formation and development of the personal qualities of each child, his intellect, emotions, creative abilities.

L.S. Vygotsky considers dramatization as the most common type of children's creativity, since the dramatic form of reflecting life impressions is inherent in the nature of children. Theatrical play in psychological, pedagogical and cultural studies is understood, on the one hand, as a type of activity, and on the other, as a means of development. Researchers M.A. Vasilyeva, S.A. Kozlova, D.B. Elkonin believe that theatrical games are close to art, so they are called "creative games".

In pedagogical literature, special attention is paid to the game-dramatization, as a means of developing children, through which the creative abilities of the child are revealed, there is a positive effect on the sound culture of speech and its intonational structure.

In the process of dramatization, speech develops, which is a necessary condition for the child's adaptation in society. In games of a dramatic type, children develop arbitrariness, special sensitivity and attention to the actions of people in life, the ability to see and understand the meaning of the simplest actions of a person, his feelings, relationships with people, nature.

Many scientists (S.I. Merzlyakova, L.G. Milanovich, N.F. Sorokina) believe that the game-dramatization is universal in nature, since it contributes to the development of motor, cognitive and emotional spheres, as well as the socialization of children.

In his study of theatrical play, L.V. Artemov, refers to the opinion of L.S. Vygotsky, who says that a theatrical game is an unusually emotionally rich activity in which children allow adult guidance without noticing it, since the desire to play a fairy tale is enormous, a fairy tale brings joy and surprise. "theater" - these words indicate the relationship of theatrical games with the theater. Theater is a comprehensive activity that combines the word, image, music, dance. It has a special cognitive moment, characteristic only for it, its own reflection of the world, unlike other types of art. (K.S. Stanislavsky)

In a number of studies, the content component of theatrical games is considered as the possibility of creating different scenarios: improvisation, short scenes, dramatizations of a literary text. (O.A. Akulova, E.E. Kravtsova)

Participating in the game-dramatization, children get acquainted with the world around them through images, colors, sounds, through the questions posed, they learn to think, analyze, draw conclusions and generalizations. The development of speech is closely related to mental development. In the course of work on the expressiveness of the characters' replicas, their own statements, the child's vocabulary is enriched, the sound culture of speech and its intonational structure are improved. The spoken remarks and the role played put the child in front of the need to express himself clearly and clearly.

Dramatization is based on the actions of the performer, who can use finger puppets and bibabo puppets, which is consistent with the definition: “to dramatize means to act out any literary work in persons, maintaining the sequence of the episodes told in it and conveying the characters' characters”. The child uses all means of expression: facial expressions, intonation, pantomime. It is important that in the game the kid transforms into a character, controls his actions. During such games, intensive development of speech occurs, imagination develops, vocabulary is enriched, and the creative abilities of the child are revealed. All this is reflected in the further development of the child, and in the future on his educational activities. Therefore, dramatization games are necessary and useful for the child at all stages of his development.

Such games are loved by children, because by participating in them, children get acquainted with the world around them through images, sounds, colors. The great and versatile influence of play-dramatization on the personality of the child makes it possible to use them as a strong and at the same time unobtrusive pedagogical tool.

The purpose of dramatization game is to emancipate each child involved in it, and the main task is to develop intonation and mimic expressiveness in children. Dramatization can manifest itself in a variety of forms: as improvisation and composing scenes based on the content of a fairy tale, its staging and theatrical production of a fairy tale.

References

Artemova L.V. Theatrical games for preschoolers [Text]. - M .: "Enlightenment", 1991. - 127p.
Alibaeva F.I., Baryaeva L.B. Theatrical games in correctional and developmental work with preschoolers: Methodological guide [Text] / Ed. L.B. Baryaeva - St. Petersburg, 2007. - 256 p.
Vechkanova I.G. Theatrical games in the habilitation of preschoolers [Text] - St. Petersburg, 2006.
Vvedenskaya L.A., Culture of speech. – Rostov n / a: Phoenix, 2001 -448s.

Theater studio for adults: real benefit or acting

Correct behavior, correct speech and the ability to show one's strengths are necessary not only in theatrical life, but also in ordinary human life. Now the modern theater studio for adults is becoming very popular, because it is here that they teach the skills of presenting oneself to oneself in any life situations.

Why is the theater studio for adults so popular today, Moscow, the city of great opportunities, the city of great goals and stellar plans, and it offers a considerable selection of such establishments. This means that there is a need for them, there is a need. Why? Everything is simple. The capital beckons with its lights, and the misconception that has developed about the acting environment as a world of celebration and parties attracts many young people.

Boys and girls go to Moscow in search of fame and recognition. In order for participation in beauty contests and castings for a role in a movie to bring the expected results, it is not enough only appearance and not enough talent that you also need the ability to behave, knowledge of self-presentation and self-expression skills. This is exactly what a modern theater studio for adults can teach you.

Why a modern theater studio for adults

The thing is that adults are much worse than children are amenable to learning, because here a lot of things are decided by the already fully formed personality and, of course, attitude towards oneself. Remember the main thing, if parents bring a small child to a theater studio, then adults come here themselves. And believe me, there are individuals who consider themselves ideal, at least. And as practice shows, it is much more difficult to work with such people than with the smartest kids. So, let's see what an adult theater studio can give you:

1) Ability to control oneself. First of all, such courses teach that they are not afraid of increased attention, just what cannot be avoided in a modeling or stage career. We should not forget that not everyone and not always will be your fans, many people do not know how to cope with the emotions of envy, and will be skeptical of you, the ability to control yourself will teach you to get out of any life situations as simply as possible.

2) The ability to control one's body. The ability to control your body will greatly help to make the presentation itself as profitable as possible. Beautiful movements and the maximum ability to present yourself in a favorable light will help you stand out from the crowd and attract the attention of the people you need for your career.

3) Correct speech. Verbal communication plays an equally important role in your self-development as appearance and talent. Correct diction, the most delivered speech, the ability to control your voice, conveying your emotions is one of the most important skills in development.

4) Work on overcoming complexes and fears. Many talented people do not know how to fully open up, and the point here is not at all a lack of talent, but excessive modesty. If a person does not know how to cope with the emotion of fear, he will never be able to show himself as profitably as possible. Work on overcoming complexes and fears can be said to be the most important work on oneself in order to self-realize oneself and one's talent. Now our modern theater art studio, whose official website is not difficult to find on the Internet, offers the most correct development of talent.

Modern theater studio for adults - Moscow and the Moscow region

There are many acting courses and schools in the capital.