The questions I posed in this research were, what are the effects of dramatic play in an early childhood classroom? And why does dramatic play matter? My research findings have taught me that dramatic play is a great stepping-stone to self-regulating children’s emotions and actions. Elementary students greatly benefit from dramatic play that is both teacher and student led. Student led play is beneficial because they are forced to come up with their own “rules” and enforce them with each other. Children learn to get along this way and when they are able to work together or work out their own problems, they begin to possess important problem-solving qualities. Teacher, or also known as adult guided play, is beneficial because it can be driven by a specific topic. Students will take on a specific role and then act them out, allowing them to break through the walls of reality and pretend to be something different from themselves. Dramatic play matters because without children learning to regulate their emotions and actions and being able to follow rules, they can begin to possess social and emotional problems.
Anticipated participants for this study would be early elementary students such as prekindergarten to first grade. Teachers may begin by creating a dedicated area in their classroom specifically for dramatic play. The dramatic play center will change when the learning unit changes. For my project, I came up with 9 weeks worth of lesson plans with units that range from farming to outer space to the Olympics and more, that could be used in any early elementary classroom that include dramatic play centers as well. I anticipate that any teacher could implement my lessons into their room with favorable results. Not only will students enjoy the dramatic play area, but they will enjoy learning. Play is a natural instinct for children, so including this in the classroom will greatly improve student learning. When we create dramatic play centers in our classrooms, our students get to experience what we’re teaching them through real life motions and acting it out, which in turn will stick with them and the more likely the information will be retained by them.
I would anticipate that when an early elementary teacher implements dramatic play into their classroom that didn’t use it before would begin to notice changes in their children’s behavior among many other things. Children who are able to exercise their problem-solving skills, imagination and play every day are more likely to succeed in the classroom as well as exhibit less behavioral problems. When children are allowed out of their seats in the classroom and can express their emotions through play, they are less likely to lash out or have behavioral issues, which is why dramatic play is so important. I also anticipate teachers will notice a rise in creativity in the classroom amongst their students as well since the brain is like a muscle, the more you exercise certain parts of it, the stronger it gets, hence why practicing dramatic play in the classroom would increase creativity. Another aspect of dramatic play that is important is motor skills development. When students are given the opportunity to play in real-life scenarios like a grocery store or a farm, they learn the necessary skills needed to carry out their everyday life.
Since I am a preschool teacher over the summer, I am excited to implement my master’s project in my own classroom. I already started a little bit with dramatic play last summer, which is what sparked my interest in this project. I plan to implement the lesson plans I used and share my findings with my coworkers as well. I plan to take some surveys with the children and see what they like most about dramatic play, what they’d change and what they’d keep the same in order to fine tune my plan. I also plan to teach some lessons using regular direct instruction and lessons using dramatic play and seeing which approach is more effective. I do plan to use dramatic play in my classrooms in the future knowing now what an impact it has on child development.
In a perfect world, our students would come to school everyday, eager to learn with smiles on their faces, but we often find that that isn’t the case these days. Wouldn’t it be an incredible feat to create something that allowed our students to be excited about school and learning? Dramatic play is one way to get our students to love learning again. Dramatic play may be one of the most beneficial concepts a teacher can provide in a classroom. Not only is dramatic play fun for students, but it has so many benefits for their social, emotional and physical development as well. Whether this is a new concept for teachers, or one that seems intimidating to implement, I highly encourage educators in early elementary classrooms to begin implementing it immediately for the sake of our students’ education. I believe that dramatic play can change the way we teach as well as the way our children learn, creating a solid basis for the rest of our students’ years learning in school.
Amelia Gillman 