Enhance your role play for the New Year
By: Emma Jayne Morgan
Don’t have a role play area? Have one but haven’t changed it for some time?
Why is role play so important?
It is such a familiar sight to find children in the early years pretending to be someone or
something else, in fact it is so common that we often don’t stop think about the reasons
why. Of course, role play is lots of fun, but it can also be important for a child’s healthy
development.
There is much research to confirm that this type of pretend play supports creativity and
social and emotional development. There are many benefits to children from taking part
in pretend play, and being reminded of these is a great incentive to create or upgrade
your role play areas.
Social
By role playing children are encouraged to think of things from another perspective as
they pretend to be someone or something else. This may be the easiest way for a child to
put themselves in another’s shoes, as empathy is still developing. A child who pretends to
be an animal can explore what it is like to depend on others or to try and communicate
without words. A child with an imaginary friend can explore friendship without being
pressed by the behaviour of another person. This type of play also allows children to take
control of their play in a way they may not have an opportunity to do in their everyday
lives.
Most role play will involve interacting with their peers and allow children time to practice
negotiation and using their social skills. If they want the play to continue they need to
react positively to their peers and, rather than in real life, this takes more concentration as
they balance these skills with continuing to play a part.
Emotional
Role play can be a medium for children to explore their life experiences and the emotions
which they associate with them, be it joyful or sad. Role play can often reflect the
thoughts, concerns and ideas that a child has going on inside, which they may not feel
comfortable expressing in any other way.
Creativity
Children are free to explore their imaginations during pretend play, it allows them to
develop a fantasy world of their own creation where children can imagine scenarios and
fictional as well as real life characters.
Language & Literacy
During pretend play, children initially talk about what they are doing using few words
and usually to themselves and, as they develop, move on to conversations and more
complex language. Role play also encourages them to take turns in their speech and
listening to others. It is also a great opportunity to provide a context for real life mark
making opportunities such as writing a shopping list or a restaurant order - they make
far more sense and are more fun than obscure worksheets.
Problem Solving
During role play children often have opportunities to problem solve and reason by
exploring size, placement and quantities in a hands-on way such as how many cars will
fit in the car wash, what do we do first when we go shopping or how many cats can the
super hero rescue?
Be inspired and re-vamp your role play areas to keep children engaged!