Role play in the Early Years

Imaginative or life play areas are very important places for children as they develop through the foundation stages of learning (3-5-year-olds). The imagination is a powerful tool for life, which appears innate in the very being of some children and needs fostering in others. Providing children with the spaces, scenarios, props and support they need is a pleasure when you see and hear the amazing things that occur in high-quality home corners. Pretend or imaginative play not only enhances intellectual development but also improves children’s social skills, their emotional strength, creativity, and discipline. 

Role play and everyday scenarios start at the beginning

The home is a very important place in a child’s life, and so using the home as a setting for role play works well with children. The furniture units need to be safe, well-maintained, and arranged with care to allow for role play to take place. Basic units such as sinks, ovens, and washing-up areas are vital for domestic play. Table and chairs are needed to allow socialisation to take place and to act as a surface for props and scenarios.

Setting up the imaginative corner as a house sounds simple, but often details are overlooked. If children are going to “role play”, they need all the tools for the process to take place.  Should you want children to appreciate the necessity for hygiene in a kitchen, you need to consider the following props in that area: a cloth, washing-up bottle (empty but real), antibacterial cleaner (empty), tea towel, hand towel, and small waste bin. This enables them to simulate washing up, cleaning surfaces, and getting rid of food waste. Or, if you want children to think about safety, include oven gloves, tea towels, metal baking trays, and timers. Health and safety are important life skills for children to understand.

Taking what seem simple scenarios and allowing children to lose themselves in their tasks engages children in purposeful play that produces such outcomes as sharing, turn taking, cooperation, conversation, improving hand-eye skills, and extending and developing children’s vocabulary. Time to play is important.

Tidying up – setting standards of presentation

This area requires daily monitoring. Often the chore of tidying up has to be made into a game with young children, and pictures or silhouettes can help. Hooks and shelves allow for items to have a place. Photographs assist in demonstrating what to do and how things should look.

Imitative play

Children need to repeat or practice experiences to assimilate them, for example, going to the hairdresser’s or doctor’s. Changing the imaginative area into a different place, placing the furniture in  different ways, and introducing new props sets up a new and exciting experience that initially may need to be introduced and supported by adults. Adults have to take on roles too when they enter the area, in order for children to see this is a place where everyone plays. Other places you could consider representing are the laundrette, the farm shop, the gym, restaurants; the key to this rests back in the lifestyle of the family and the community the children come from, and this will need to be researched to ensure that what is provided is close to reality.

Creative play

Equally supportive is the provision of items that do not represent real-life items, such as cloths, pegs, or boxes--items that allow children to create their own play. These may need introducing, for example, making the home corner into a den or cave to create a sense of place; but the activities in that place can be as wide as the children take it. Or, introduce magic carpet or green bean netting and natural materials: these items prove flexible enough for children to initiate the play from their imagination.

Ideas from literature

Stories are an amazing source of inspiration. The place and/or the characters in a story can really engage children. The very active nature of the 3-5s age range demands actions and movement. Role play gives permission for children to actively engage their bodies and their minds in a holistic way. Setting up a giant’s breakfast with an oversized plate, bowl, spoons, and large cornflake box transfers the 2-dimensional image on the page into a 3-dimensional image with which they can fully engage. From this too come the beginnings of experiencing the mathematical concept of size.

Links with early writing

Print in the environment is an ideal opportunity to reinforce early reading skills. This has to be done with care and will need to relate to what the area is representing, so it will need changing as the area changes. For example, a shop may have an “open” and “closed” sign and a name; a house may just have a number and a name. Adding in props which support early writing allows children the opportunities to make early attempts at writing through their play. Address books, calendars, shopping lists, pads, envelopes, and so on support good role play and should be made available as required.

Equality of opportunity

Role play areas provide a seamless opportunity for children to learn about other cultures and beliefs through play. Providing artefacts that are real encourages children to explore and investigate. Inclusion is also important. A group of four-year-olds were observing a child in a wheelchair who was desperate to engage in some cooking play. They watched his face as I raised the cooker (safety) onto a box so that he could reach it and be part of the play. This made me appreciate that simple adaptations, and additions related to furniture position, are very important to allow access. This area deserves space as it pays back in outcomes again and again.

Getting organised

The investment in setting up different scenarios takes time. Collecting props, finding stories, and making labels all go to make this area a success. Gathering these and putting them into  storage boxes, then labelling and listing the contents, ensures that next time you want such items you know exactly where they are, in one place – this is known as a prop box. These boxes then can be shared within a site or across a group or an area and added to as required. Making new boxes becomes a challenge and a part of a development programme. The boxes can be centred on books, rhymes, real life experiences, fantasy – it is as endless as your imagination!

Imaginative play includes the following links with The Foundation Stage:

Communication, Language and Literacy

• Interacting with others, negotiating plans, and taking turns in conversation. Listening and responding to stories and songs
• Extending vocabulary
• Using language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences, and to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings, and events

Creative Development

• Using imagination in imaginative role play and stories

Links with National Day Care Standards

Standard 3: Care, Learning and Play