Dramatic Play Learning CenterBy Ciera Williams and De Anna Dukes

To start, a dramatic play center should have ample space and be available to children for one third of the preschool’s operating hours. 

This center must have barriers separating it from other centers. These barriers can be made using shelves or other furniture.

(1) In addition, in order to have a good dramatic play learning center, you must have these four things:

Dress-up items, with two to three being gender specific Props for at least two themes Props for outdoor dramatic play Pictures, stories, and trips to enhance dramatic play

Dress-up Items• Children need 3-5 dress up options (ex: hats, shoes)• At least two to three options need to be gender

specific (ex: ties, Skirts, flowery hats)

Props must be provided daily for at least two of the following themes:

• Housekeeping (dolls, doll furniture, child-sized furniture, kitchen utensils, play food)

• Different Kinds of Work (hard hat, tools, shopping cart and register, play food, office supplies, desk, tickets, rows of chairs

for bus or plane seating)

• Fantasy (simple masks or face paint, wands, fairy wings, crowns)

• Leisure (picnic basket, play food, blanket, animals)

Outdoor Dramatic Play If outdoor space is not available, a large indoor space like a gymnasium

can be used. Dress-up clothes are not required for outdoor dramatic play because

they can be dangerous. Props must be able to permit meaningful play (ex: playhouses

must have furniture, riding toys resembling cars or trucks must have a gas station, doll strollers must have dolls or animals to transport, and toy trucks and cars must have people or things to transport.

Pictures, Stories, and Trips to Enhance Dramatic Play This provides children with the information and/or experience they

need to roleplay certain themes. Pictures can be used by displaying photos of a certain theme

or having children's parent's tell the group about their jobs and showing them pictures.

Stories can be books read to or available for children about themes. Videos may also be used.

Trips can be a trip to the zoo to learn about animals or a trip to the director's office to learn new ways to play office.

Infants and ToddlersInfants need three to five of each of these items:

• Dolls• Soft animals

• Plastic pots and pans• Toy telephones

Toddlers need two or more of each of these things:• Dress-up clothes• Child-sized furniture• Plastic pots and pans• Play food• Dolls• Doll furniture• Soft animals• Small play buildings• Toy telephones

Adults are encouraged to play with children in this center

(2) DiversityTo represent different cultures and abilities in their play, children should have the following: Dress up clothes representing people and careers from different

cultures Dolls of different race, age, ethnicities, and abilities Equipment and play foods from different cultures

(3) By having access to a dramatic play center, children practice these things: Language skills (All About the ECERS-R, pg. 237) Cooperate with one another (All About the ECERS-R, pg. 237) Practice language in different context (Activities PowerPoint 2, slide

24) Resolve emotional issues (All About the ECERS-R, pg. 237)

(5) Two different developmental domains that are supported by the materials and interactions: Fine Arts Approaches to Learning

Fine ArtsTheatre Arts

• Children ages birth to 18 months are learning to imitate sounds, facial expressions, and gestures of another person.

• Children ages 18 months to 36 months are learning to engage in pretend play.

• Children ages 36 months to 48 months are learning to understand that objects, pictures, or illustrations can stand for real things.

• Children ages 48 months and older are learning to tell about and/or role-play characters from familiar stories or known people and own imagination

Fine ArtsTheatre Arts

Strategies for teachers to use to support learning and development in fine arts/theatre arts are:• Playing with children in creative ways.• Allowing children time to observe real experiences for them to

imitate.• Providing less realistic materials that challenge children to use

their imagination and reenact a scene.• Engage in pretend play to extend a favorite story or field trip.

These strategies can be found in the Milestones of Development document on page 38.

Approaches to LearningCreativity and Inventiveness

• Children ages 18 months to 36 months are learning to pretend and use imagination during play.

• Children ages 36 months to 48 months are learning to imitate action observed in another situation.

• Children ages 48 months and older are learning to make changes to a familiar story.

• Children ages 48 months and older are learning to represent reality in a variety of ways.

Approaches to LearningCreativity and Inventiveness

Strategies for teachers to use to support learning and development in approaches to learning/creativity and inventiveness are:• Providing dress-up and dramatic play materials from children’s

daily life and cultural background.• Providing props for them to play pretend roles.• Change the plot of a familiar story. • Play-act the role of an adult (parents, teachers, etc.)

These strategies can be found in the Milestones of Development document on page 10.