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