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Back to "The Arts"

• acting
• role-playing
• experimenting
• pretending
• practicing
• exploring
• testing

• social skill development
• artistic skill development
• motor skill development
• intellectual skill development
• problem-solving
• creativity
• self-awareness

It is developing an understanding of their world and their impact on it. 

How do we enhance Dramatic Play?

• provide books, pictures, music, etc. as inspiration and story-starters
• use storytelling and drama to demonstrate "how" and "why"
• provide basic props for use in dramas
• brainstorm specific props needed for the roles and assist children to create them, themselves
• allow the children to guide their own play as much as possible
• ask questions, when appropriate, to enhance the story and knowledge base
• observe the dramas to asses level of knowledge and understanding, to identify current skill levels, and add to these levels
• attend to the emotional responses included by the children: how does the topic affect them emotionally, what personal views are they interjecting? How can you assist them?
• participate when children wish to include you
• build upon the drama in other areas of the day / program
• put on a play about a nursery rhyme or fairy tale
• use songs, fingerplays, and action games as drama scripts to act out
• photograph the dramatic play and post the pictures as acknowledgement as as inspiration
• listen to "Mozart's Magnificent Voyage" (a Classical Kids story) and create their own voyage into their own past --what do they see? 
• create a challenge box with names of things to act out (ex. sad, green, morning, astronauts etc.)
• mirror each other's actions.. or stand outside and copy the actions by only looking at the other person's shadow

Check out these sites:
Edulinks: Drama
VidKids (videos)
Drama Guide