The Benefits of Dramatic Play for Children
Why do early child centers have dramatic play areas?
Dramatic play can expand your child’s imagination and allows him/her to create his/her own world and safely act out life experiences, role play emotions and concerns. In this area children act out what is important to them, what they have experienced and what they are comfortable with all within the confines of what they can control. During dramatic play cooperation and negotiation skills can be practiced. This supports the young child’s social/emotional development.
Pretend play provides opportunity for language development as different props are introduced. When introducing woodworking tools imagine the vocabulary and learning that will take place. Dramatic play allows for expansion of language capabilities. When adding pencil and paper, writing can be added as a skill developed in the dramatic play area. Research shows that children who have opportunities for dramatic play are better readers and writers with a more comprehensive vocabulary.
Math in the dramatic play area can be setting a table using one to one correspondence by placing one plate, one cup, one fork, knife and spoon at each place, sorting doll clothes for “washing” or dividing play foods evenly among plates. Children can match pairs as well.
Learning about diversity and other cultures is an area often reinforced in the dramatic play area for the young child. These social studies as well as learning about oneself and others are met by introducing various traditions by adding special clothing, tools or objects to the area. Children have an opportunity to explore various customs and celebrations. I have added for example, a menorah, wedding veil, chop sticks and birthday hats to the center at various times.
The small motor skills of dressing dolls, zipping, snapping, buttoning and tying dress up clothes/costumes can easily be integrated into dramatic play. Young children can practice simple home chores such as sweeping, folding and serving.
Science can be integrated into dramatic play as you set up a “forest”, a cave, a fishing pond or a tent. We add different supplies that correspond to our curriculum.
At home: Set up a space for dramatic play with props such as: dress up clothes/costumes, dolls, kitchen props and a telephone. Remember you can use old mail, calculators, paper, pencils and a briefcase so your child can play “office”. Stuffed animals, small blankets and a doctor kit can be a pet shop or vet. Emptied and clean food containers and flyers can make a grocery store. Extend all of these areas with paper and a pencil for writing lists, prescriptions, bills or notes. Use your imagination and allow your child to use his/hers. Have fun!
See you next week!
Cinnamon Dough Ornaments- Pre-School Cooking Project
Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
I want to share with you a fun, aromatic, yearly tradition of making cinnamon dough ornaments. On the day we make these decorations the entire child care center smells absolutely wonderful and we love that! We get the same reaction from families when we make popcorn. It is important to our senses to surround ourselves with “good” smells.
To begin gather a large bowl, mixing spoon, cookie cutters, ribbon and the 2 ingredients required for this recipe, cinnamon and applesauce. The amounts are listed below. Since there are only two ingredients in this recipe, cinnamon and applesauce, it is fairly easy to do with young children in a group childcare setting.
Making Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
Recipe
Cinnamon Dough
½ cup cinnamon
½ cup applesauce
Pour cinnamon and applesauce into a bowl. Mix until the mixture turns into dough.
It is so much fun to hear the children try to say “cinnamon” as we discuss and measure the ingredients for the project. Mix the ingredients together remembering to use rich vocabulary as you mix the dough. Give each child a small ball to play with, this activity helps children to strengthen the small muscles in the hand which are used in writing! The dough also keeps the children busy and allows the parent/educator time to work individually with each child to roll out the dough for cutting with a cookie cutter.
Roll out your dough to your desired thickness. We have been rolling out 1/4” slabs. This thickness works well with special holiday shaped cookie cutters and it stays solid for putting a hole in for hanging. We like to make snowflakes, Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen and stars. After you shape the dough poke a large hole with a straw in the top of the ornament This is for stringing after the ornaments dry.
The dough stores nicely in the refrigerator for several days if you want to return to the project.
It takes about four days for these ornaments to dry, please keep this in mind as you plan your holiday activities. Turn the ornaments daily for best results. We tie ours when dry with a pretty ribbon. Once they are dry they last for years and will retain their cinnamon scent for many, many seasons to come.
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Benefits to Sharing time in the Kitchen with Children
A quick word about cooking with your nursery school aged child!
Young children love to prepare and cook foods. This week we will look at some of the benefits of cooking with your child and I will share with you a recipe for a snack we like to make at Thanksgiving time.
But, first the benefits of sharing time in the kitchen.
Physical Development: Small motor skills such as slicing, chopping, dicing and whisking help to develop pincher control which is needed for writing. Large motor muscles are developed in rolling, mixing and pouring. Another added benefit is developing good eye hand coordination.
Early mathematical skills: You will be counting and measuring. Volume, fractions, numbers, size, and shape are all skills that can be developed while cooking with your nursery school aged child. Practicing mathematical vocabulary and concepts such as less than, equal to, and as much as are easily accomplished while in the kitchen. Children learn sequencing and time in making a dish.
Science Skills: While you are cooking you will explore the concepts of temperature (hot-cold), liquid to solid and solid to liquid, cause and effect, and making predictions. You will be using your senses of touch, taste, smell and sight.
Social Development: In this area your child will learn working together cooperatively and sharing space. He/she will be gaining self confidence while using kitchen tools appropriately. Your child will learn and then practice kitchen rules for safety. Self control and patience are additional areas of learning in the kitchen.
Language development: Your young child will be developing important pre-literacy skills. Building vocabulary is natural. Don’t you just love it when a young child whips out a “big” word? Don’t be afraid to use words like sauté and julienne. You will be modeling functional reading when pointing out that words make up the ingredient list, and instructions that make up a recipe. Your child will be listening to follow directions, and recognize sequential events.
Social Science: There are many children’s books that depict other cultures and their foods! Learn how to make something from a culture other than your own. Ethnic foods are just one area where you can practice diversity and acceptance.
Have fun in the kitchen!
Thanksgiving turkey chocolate dipped pretzel
Sugar Cookie Recipe
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Add and beat in the egg baking powder, salt and vanilla until evenly mixed. Stir in flour until well blended and smooth.
Or buy a mix and follow the instructions
Confectioners Frosting Recipe
4 cups confectioner’s sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4tablespoons milk or light cream
Assorted food colors (if desired)
Or buy a can and open
Other ingredients
Pretzel rods
8 oz bag of chocolate chips or microwavable dipping chocolate
White frosting
Food coloring
Supplies
Mixing bowls and mixing spoons
Measuring cups and measuring spoons
Double boiler
Baking sheet
Skewers
First make your sugar cookie
Divide the dough into smaller balls for coloring. I used 4 colors so I made 4 small balls.
Add food coloring and mix each ball separately.
Blend all your smaller colored balls gently. Be careful not to over mix.
Flour a flat surface. Gently roll out your dough, again be careful not to over mix. Use a leaf shaped cookie cutter to cut the cookies. A circle would work as well.
Use a double boiler to melt you chocolate chips. Add a little tablespoon of butter, margarine or oil if the chocolate seems too thick for dipping.
Set up for the next step. Lie your cookies out on a cookie sheet. I used bamboo shish k bob skewers to make the pretzel level with the cookie for a solid chocolate bond. You don’t want your cookie to fall off!
Now dip the pretzel rod into the melted chocolate, stick it to the cookie and let harden.
Mix up white frosting. With food color make one third
of the frosting yellow and one third of it red.
Leave the remaining one third white.
Now you are ready to pipe on two eyes, a beak and a wattle. If you do not have a pastry bag, snip a hole in the corner of a plastic sandwich bag. Let dry and enjoy!
Pre-School Graduation Project, Falmouth, MA
A Fun Pre-School Graduation Project
It’s graduation time! From pre-school and middle school to high school and college there are many graduation celebrations. This is a quick, easy and fun snack that a colleague first made for our Falmouth, MA pre -school children years ago. I have made these sweet treats for many graduation parties. They are always well received and the platter is empty at the end of the event!
Today I made graduation caps with a small group of my Falmouth MA pre-school aged children for their teacher who is about to graduate from college.
We started by washing our hands and gathering our ingredients:
Chocolate covered graham crackers (square) OR square of chocolate (in this post we used chocolate covered graham crackers)
Fruit roll ups (pick a flavor /color to coordinate with school colors)
Mini Reese’s peanut butter cups
Small bag of M&M’s
SassieSap, icing OR melted chocolate (in this post we used SassieSap)
Unwrap a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Squeeze a small dab of SassieSap, to the bottom of the Reese’s peanut butter cup. (See photo with cute little Falmouth MA pre-schooler’s hand!)
Place a square chocolate graham cracker on top of your SassieSap dab.
To make the tassel, unroll the Fruit Roll Up, keep it cool so it is more manageable. Cut off a strip using scissors. It will need to be long enough to hang over the side the cracker. Use a pair of scissors to fringe the bottom with a few cuts. You should not worry if it looks like a scarf you will arrange it so it doesn’t in the next step!
Add a dab of SassieSap to the center of the top of the graham cracker. Position your fruit roll up tassel. Using another dab of SassieSap, place an M&M in the center of the graham cracker right over the end of the fruit roll up tassel. Remember to use coordinating school colors if so desired! Let dry.
Place on a platter and enjoy!! Congratulations graduates from pre-school on up!
Glitter Play Dough Winter Activity
Glitter Play Dough Got the mid-winter blues? Play dough, parents dislike, our Falmouth MA preschool teachers love. Along with strengthening the muscles of the arm and hand, a prerequisite for writing, play dough has a wonderfully calming affect. February is a perfect time to make play dough when mid-winter restlessness is apparent in the preschoolers’ antsy bodies. To add interest to the play dough center at our Falmouth MA preschool, we jazz it up by adding glitter to our standard play dough recipe! The children are always amazed and amused. Add a few holiday/seasonal paper plates, some cookie cutters, rolling pins and plastic knives and let the creativity fly. Try this with your preschool aged children, it’s easy and fun!
Basic play dough recipe: In a large pot mix; 1 cup flour ½ cup salt 1 cup water 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 2 teaspoon cream of tartar food coloring Heat on low mixing until a ball forms and add ¼ cup glitter of choice, knead and play!