Dramatic Play-Creative Arts: Ages 3-5

Widely Held Expectations

• Child participates in a variety of dramatic play activities
• Uses words, actions and materials to portray a role, situation or setting
• Engages in role play with two or more children
• Child imagines and clearly describes characters, their relationships and their environment in dramatic play situations
• Assumes the role of someone or something else, or talks language relevant to the assumed role

Learning in Action: Examples

The Child

• Expresses creativity using puppetry, storytelling, dance, plays, pantomime and theater
• Participates in discussions after attending a dramatic performance
• Acts out a story read aloud during circle time
• Talks to and plays with pretend friends, stuffed animals and other toys
• Engages in role play in various activities such as dress-up, dramatic
  play, in the block area, etc.

The Adult

• Provides opportunities for children to act out books, nursery rhymes and assume roles in other ways
• Encourages children to tell and act out stories, stressing beginnings and endings to introduce sequencing
• Participates with children in various forms of dramatic expression including those from other cultures

The Environment Includes

• Field trips (to art events, concerts, dance and theatrical performances, cultural fairs, etc.)
• A well equipped dramatic play center for active imaginative play with a variety of props (home-living, fire-restation, fast food restaurant, hospital, school, etc.)
• Materials representing various cultures (flags, pictures,foods, dolls, books, clothes, music, toys, etc.)