Nursery World - Let's pretend (2)

While on a training course at a well-established day nursery, I noticed it did not have a dramatic play corner for its two-year-olds. I asked a nursery nurse who worked with this age group why. She told me her supervisor thought that children learned very little from dramatic play and needed to learn to read and write. I could not believe this. How can a supervisor of an early childhood programme come to this conclusion? Dramatic play, also known as pretend play and symbolic play, is one of the ways young children come to understand the world around them. True pretend play emerges between age one and two, while its foundation is established during infancy. Infants become aware of the world around them, they begin to imitate what they see, they actively explore objects to find out what they can do, and they interact with significant people in their lives. They build the understanding they will need to engage in pretend play.

I could not believe this. How can a supervisor of an early childhood programme come to this conclusion? Dramatic play, also known as pretend play and symbolic play, is one of the ways young children come to understand the world around them. True pretend play emerges between age one and two, while its foundation is established during infancy. Infants become aware of the world around them, they begin to imitate what they see, they actively explore objects to find out what they can do, and they interact with significant people in their lives. They build the understanding they will need to engage in pretend play.

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