This literature review highlights the utility of identifying early childhood adversities through dramatic play and theater arts. Understanding the impact of early childhood education, our focus included beneficial, qualitative observations of the positive therapeutic outcomes when participating in theater arts activities. We chose to search these…

Children have a natural inclination to play and imagine themselves as characters. Research has supported theories that connect this pretend play and related theatrical play to the development of children's social and emotional skills, but the author contends we need further, more rigorous research on whether such play directly relates to such…

This paper proposes that the future is uncertain for many children. Both natural and human-made disasters are adversely affecting the lives of millions of children and their families. An example of an environment-related disaster is cited from Sichuan Province, China, where a massive earthquake killed some 70,000 people in 2008. How the teachers…

Social skills are critical to later success in school and adult life. Typically, children build these through interaction with caregivers and peers. However, some students, especially those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), demonstrate delays in this domain and require additional interventions. While there are a number of…

Theatre for Development (TfD) is a special kind of Theatre practice that creates a platform for members of a specific community to respond to, and actively participate in issues relating to their social development through an engaging process of play and acting. The sole essence of this form of theatre is to sensitize, radicalize and conscientize…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a buddy skills package on the social and play interactions between three preschoolers with developmental delays and their peers. Each child participated in sociodramatic play activities with two peers who exhibited age-appropriate social and play skills. Following baseline, the children…

The Early Learning Guidelines: Nebraska's Birth to Five Learning and Development Standards (hereafter referred to as the Guidelines) is a resource to provide information about young children's learning and development. The Guidelines are intended to assist adults in planning and providing meaningful learning experiences and environments for…

This article presents and summarizes recent resources related to pretend play in the early childhood classroom. These include "Contemporary Perspectives on Play in Early Childhood Education" by Olivia N. Sarachoe and Bernard Spodek; "Dramatic Play: Bring It Back" by Tammy Benson; and "The Importance of Being Playful" by Elena Bodrova and Deborah…

The traditional kindergarten program often reflected a rich but generic approach with creative contexts for typical kindergartners organized around materials (manipulatives or dramatic play) or a developmental area (fine motor or language). The purpose of kindergarten reflected beliefs about how children learn, specialized training for…

Play, particularly children's sociodramatic play, is the cornerstone of early childhood classrooms in the United States. Early childhood educators learn and expound mantras of "the value of play," "play-based programs," "children learning through play," and "play as child's work." They strive to promote the importance of making a place for play in…

This study examined the planning that occurred when children participated in classroom playcrafting with either adult or child leadership. In a first-/second-grade classroom in an innovative public school, we videotaped 11 sessions in which children volunteered to develop a play with small groups of classmates and seven sessions in which adult…

Describes children's participating in dramatic play activities that are teacher or peer governed. Illustrates children's use of cultural symbols as material for story construction and social affiliation. Argues for a literacy curriculum in which cultural symbols are open to critical examination. (Author/SK)

Ways that molecular and molar semiotic analysis of children's sociodramatic play can lead to new insight into children's interpersonal relations and social development is demonstrated. The method is illustrated through analysis of play transcripts of 2 girls aged 4.5 and 5.5 years. (Author/LB)

The interactional competence of 12 kindergarten children was studied through naturalistic research of their sociodramatic play in a classroom context. Data were collected by both videotape and trained observers. Contextual and interactional information was analyzed according to an Interactional Competency Checklist (ICC) designed by the author.…

Disadvantaged preschool children directed in the role-enactment of imaginary stories were found to be superior to control children (who did not engage in role playing) on several measures of social and cognitive development. Fantasy play training resulted in a higher incidence of spontaneous sociodramatic play, higher scores on an interpersonal…