In the previous blog Ready steady drama play, we divulged the whats and hows of dramatic play and how you can foster it in your child. But we are sure, a few questions must have popped in your head-why should I encourage this type of a play in my child? What good is it going to do?
Well, fret not. In this blog, we’ve got you covered. Let’s quickly sum up the benefits of dramatic play in toddlers and preschoolers:
- Imagination and thinking skills development: During dramatic play, young children get a chance to relive scenes from their own life — things they’ve witnessed or participated in.
- You might see your toddler cleaning the room just like you do or imitate the actions of a cartoon he/she watched. It is a sign that your toddler is starting to be able to hold pictures in her head. It’s the first step towards a more complex play and symbolic thought, which you’ll notice in activities such as: a bowl becomes a hat or a TV remote is a phone.
- Like first the toddler copies exactly what you do but then learns to create more versions of it. Like first it cooks like mommy with the clay dough and then begins feeding the toys.
- Around the age of 3, children begin to move away from the parallel play and start interacting with other kids e.g. playing teacher, mummy-daddy, grocery shop vendor and so on.
What separates dramatic play from more passive games is that your child is involved in spontaneously creating something new. It’s a deceptively simple activity that requires young children to plan, organize, and problem solve. It helps children develop skills like higher level critical thinking, abstract thinking and social systems understanding.
- Language skills enhancement: Imagine a game in which your toddler is pretending to check a sick doll like a doctor. The kid asks the doll (in very simple language) if her stomach is hurting or does she need medicine. Basically, children copy and practice the words they have heard others saying. This ultimately helps develop vocabulary and language skills.
- Researchers call this “egocentric speech” because it’s all about your child — he doesn’t care what others have to say or need, he’s in his own world. This allows your child to hear his own vocalization of words and play with the sounds of words on his own. This can encourage a child to experiment with words (be they real or made up) and build confidence with his own speech.
- Also, this type of play practices both verbal and non-verbal communication skills. When children group together and practice imaginary play, they negotiate roles and mutually agree different terms.
- Studies show that dramatic play seems to help children be able to create common and unusual associations between playthings. E.g. while playing with her miniature dollhouse, she knows that a brush is used to comb the hair of her doll, so she uses the regular version of it to spend some time in front of the mirror and comb her own hair.
- Socio-emotional skills augmentation: Dramatic play is like “walking in someone else’s shoes,” which helps teach the important moral development skill like empathy and self-awareness.
- Through maturation and cooperative play, children begin to understand the feelings of others. Developing social skills is imperative in young children given success at future levels involves positive interaction with peers and adults. They learn how to control impulses and how to respect the decisions of others which is a central aspect of sound social skills.
- He also builds self-esteem when he discovers he can be anything just by pretending.
- Through ‘practicing’ what they are seeing, hearing and experiencing in their everyday life, children are able to make sense of their world.
- Pretend play can also help children work out scary or new experiences in their lives – a visit to the doctor, having mom or dad leave for an extended time, or even a death in the family. Children are able to use role playing to feel more comfortable about their personal experiences.
Tada! Now you know the gains of it, parents. Just press the play button to watch the drama begin!
Let the walls of reality break
Let your toddler pretend to be something/some one.
For this is a part of healthy growing
And also constitutes some good fun!