Good Afternoon!
**Just a reminder: Wee Friends is closed Thursday, November 22nd and Friday, November 23rd for Thanksgiving break. Thank you!
“Something as simple as an hour of pretend playtime may not seem important, but dramatic play offers proven benefits in children’s cognitive learning, according to the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).”
There are two types of dramatic play: structured and unstructured. Unstructured dramatic play allows children the freedom to explore different play scenarios while structured dramatic play has specific guidelines. Both of these play structures are important to children’s development.
How? Here are just a few specific ways that dramatic play affects children’s development:
1. Dramatic play teachers self-regulation.
2. Dramatic play gives children an emotional outlet.
3. Dramatic play teachers conflict resolution.
4. Dramatic play supports literacy.
5. Dramatic play allows you to support your kids and encourage their ideas.
Dramatic play doesn’t just happen in our housekeeping area. Dramatic play occurs when children are building with trio blocks (blocks become lasers or homes or robots). Dramatic play also follows us outside when we turn buckets of sand into our very own walk-up restaurant. There are no limits for our imagination!
I’ve attached two short articles that explain why dramatic play is so vital to the development of young children.
https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/why-dramatic-play-matters/
The rest of our morning was full of creating a chain out of paper, pretending to be a dinosaur, finding worms, and reading story after story.
Breakfast– Whole wheat cinnamon raisin bagel with butter and PPC pears.
Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with chicken and butter, fresh strawberries, and PPC green beans/fresh carrots.
PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with banana.
Wee Sprout– PPC green beans/fresh carrots.
Have a great night!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 11/5