Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Classroom Centres - Dramatic Area

Here is my post about one of my most favourite parts of the classroom: the dramatic centre! 

Source: http://seesawcenter.org/graphics/dramaticPlay_web.jpg

Dramatic play helps children interact with others or with themselves to create their own stories and plays. Sometimes children reenact events they have had in their lives or stories they have already heard. Watching them reenact these situations/stories gives the teachers an understanding of how much a child is able to: show the sequence of events, be creative, interact with others, problem solve, and see what their actions and words mean to them. 

Source: http://www.pre-kpages.com/images/drama_play1.jpg

Most dramatic centres have common props most of the time during the year. The home centre is a big one. In it, you can find dolls, babies, tables, chairs, play kitchens, play laundry and dryer machines, puppets, costumes/dress-up clothes, and toy kitchen supplies (plates, glasses, cutlery, fruits/vegetables). 

Source: http://www.thekcrew.net/storytellingchickachicka.JPG

The block centre and dramatic centre go hand-in-hand. Both centres require pretend play, and props helps to achieve this. Some other things that go in the dramatic/block centre are props that go along with a story that you have read. For example, if you read "The Three Little Pigs", you may want to add straw, sticks, and bricks to the block centre. This can incorporate lots of math concerning mass, weight, balance, construction, estimation, measuring, adding/subtracting, texture, capacity, sorting, etc. 

The picture above (with the story "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom") is another great book for props. You can put that in the dramatic centre or block centre which couples with literacy and math. For example, use the letters to count how many can the tree hold. Use other objects than the tree to see what will hold more or less. This even falls with science (is that tree magnetic for the letters to stick on? can we use materials?). The questions and ideas are too many to be written in one post. Experiment other things yourself and share what you have incorporated in your centres. 

Source: http://www.miltoncommunitynurseryschool.ca/images/DramaticCentreasCastle_lrg.jpg

The dramatic centre can be transformed into any kind of area you like. I have had the doctor's office, post office, camping, gardening, hair salon and the pet shop (to name in my dramatic centre. There are so many other ideas that I have done but I will instead post a list I found from a website (http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/drama8.html). Here are some ideas I really found interesting:





A

Airplane
Airport
Animal shelter
Aquarium
Art gallery
Artist's studio
Astronaut
Author's office

B

Baby's bath
Bakery
Barnyard
Beach
Beauty shop
Bedroom
Birthday party
Block center: props
Book Store
Boxes
Buried treasure/pirate
Bus or train

C

Camping
Candy shop
Car wash
Castle
Chinese restaurant
Christmas
Circus
Clown show
Construction
Covered wagon
Cowboys

D

Daddy shaving
Dancer
Dishwashing
Dress-up
Drive in

E

Easter bunny egg painting studio
Exercise club

F

Fairy tale land
Farm
Fast food
Film maker
Fire station
Fishing
Fix-it shop
Flower store

G

Garage
Gardening
Gas station
Getting ready in the morning
Gift wrapping
Grandma and grandpa
Grocery store

H

Hair salon
Halloween/costume shop
Haunted House
Hospital
Hot air balloon
House painters
Housecleaning

I

Ice cream truck
Ice-cream shop
Igloo

J

Jewelry making

K

Kitchen

L

Landscaper/yard work
Laundry
Library
Log cabin
Long house

M

Magic
Magic carpet
Make-up
Mall
Mermaid land
Movie Set
Movie theater
Museum

N

Newspaper office
Night and day
Nursery
Nursery rhymes play

O

Ocean
Office
Outer space

P

Palentologist
Parade
Park
Pet store
Photographer
Picnic
Pirates/buried treasure
Pizza parlor
Planetarium/observatory
Playing house
Police station
Post office
Puppet maker
Puppet show

R

Rainforest/jungle
Ranch
Ranger station
Recording studio
Research lab
Restaurant
Rock museum
Rocket
Radio station

S

Safari
Sailing/boats
Santa's workshop
School
School bus
Shadow puppets
Shoe repair
Show store
Sidewalk art sale
Sleigh
Soda fountain
Space station
Storyteller
Submarine

T

Talent show
Tea party
Theater
Time machine
Toy store
Travel agency
Treasure island
T.V. station

U

Under the sea

V

Voting
Vetrinarian's office

W

Wash day
Weather station/weather forecast
Western day
Winter wonderland

Z

Zoo



I know space is always an issue in the classroom when it comes to dramatic centres but if you ever have enough space, try to get your centre to look like this (not to mention getting a boat like that too!!): 




Source: http://www.appletreebytes.com/gonefishing.jpg



1 comment:

  1. I've never encountered a dramatic area that was anything but puppets. The list is so smart. Teachers could change the dramatic center to keep up interest. I love the Chinese food restaurant idea! And the fishing one would be great too. And I guess you could get into historical ones for later years.

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