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Movement in the early childhood curriculum is critical for a child's development. Movement in the classroom, "Allows children to connect concepts to action and learn through trial and error" (The Atlantic). Movement within a classroom helps students remember material. Periodic movement breaks allows for students to reset after sitting in class. An example of creative movement that can be utilized in a classroom is jumping. Movement can be incorporated into the curriculum by having hand motions and gestures during a song/lesson.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/05/why-young-kids-learn-through-movement/483408/

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Children acquire knowledge by acting and then reflecting on their experiences, but such opportunities are increasingly rare in school.

One of my children is spinning in a circle, creating a narrative about a princess as she twirls. The other is building a rocket ship out of a discarded box, attaching propellers made of cardboard and jumping in and out of her makeshift launcher. It is a snow day, and I've decided to let them design their own activities as I clean up and prepare a meal. My toddler becomes the spinning princess, imagining her character's feelings and reactions. What seems like a simple story involves sequencing, character development, and empathy for the brave princess stuck in her tower. The rocket ship my first grader is working on needs a pilot and someone to devise the dimensions and scale of its frame; it also needs a story to go with it. She switches between roles and perspectives, between modes of thinking and tinkering.

This kind of experiential learning, in which children acquire knowledge by doing and via reflection on their experiences, is full of movement, imagination, and self-directed play. Yet such learning is increasingly rare in early-childhood classrooms in the U.S, where many young children spend their days sitting at tables and completing worksheets. Kindergarten and preschool in the U.S. have become more and more academic, rigorously structuring kids' time, emphasizing assessment, drawing a firm line between "work" and "play"-and restricting kids' physical movement. A study from the University of Virginia released earlier this year found that, compared to 1998, children today are spending far less time on self-directed learning-moving freely and doing activities that they themselves chose-and measurably more time in a passive learning environment.

With so few years under their belts, my 3- and 6-year-old daughters are still learning to inhabit their bodies. They are learning how to maneuver themselves physically, how to orient themselves in space. As Vanessa Durand, a pediatrician at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, says, freedom of movement is necessary for children to meet their developmental milestones: "Children learn by experiencing their world using all of their senses. The restriction of movement, especially at a young age, impedes the experiential learning process."

Movement allows children to connect concepts to action and to learn through trial and error. "If you walk into a good kindergarten class, everyone is moving. The teacher is moving. There are structured activities, but generally it is about purposeful movement,"comments Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of early-childhood education at Lesley University and the author of Taking Back Childhood, describing the ideal classroom setup. In the classroom culture she advocates for, "[Kids] are getting materials for an activity, they are going back and deciding what else they need for what they want to create, seeing how the shape of a block in relation to another block works, whether they need more, does it balance, does it need to be higher, is it symmetrical. All of these math concepts are unfolding while kids are actively building and moving."

Research has shown time and again that children need opportunities to move in class. Memory and movement are linked, and the body is a tool of learning, not a roadblock to or a detour away from it. Any parent who has brought home a kindergartener after school, bursting with untapped energy yet often carrying homework to complete after a seven-hour day, can reasonably deduce why children today have trouble keeping still in their seats. Many children are getting 20-minute breaks, or none at all. (In Florida, parents whose children have no recess have been campaigning to legislate recess into the curriculum.) Recess, now a more frequent topic of research studies, has been found to have "important educational and developmental implications." Schools that have sought to integrate more movement and free play, such as short 15-minute recess periods throughout the day, have seen gains in student attention span and instructional time. As Carlsson-Paige points out, "Recess is not a separate thing in early-childhood education."
"Children need opportunities to move in class."
Ben Mardell, a professor of early-childhood education at Lesley University and the project director of the Pedagogy of Play initiative at Harvard's Project Zero, observes that even when adults do incorporate play into learning, they often do so in a way that restricts free movement and agency. "The idea that there should be formal instruction makes it no longer play," says Mardell. "In play the player is choosing to participate, choosing a goal, and directing and formulating the rules. When there is an adult telling the kids, 'This is what we are supposed to do,' many of the important developmental benefits of play get lost."

The role of play has been established not just as a part of learning, but as a foundation for healthy social and emotional function. The National Association for the Education of Young Children has published widely circulated position papers on the need for developmentally appropriate teaching practices and for reversing the "unacceptable trends in kindergarten entry and placement" that have been prompted largely by policy makers' demand for more stringent educational standards and more testing. Some teachers are enacting changes, seeking ways to bring movement back into the classroom. Lani Rosen-Gallagher, a former first-grade teacher for New York City public schools and now a children's yoga instructor, explains the shift in thinking: "I would have [my students] get out of their seats every 15 minutes and take a Warrior Pose or Lion's Breath, and then I could get 15 more minutes of work out of them." This kind of movement, she said, also gives children space to develop self-awareness and self-regulation, to get to know themselves as thinking individuals by connecting with the body.

Play-based preschools and progressive schools (often with open room plans, mixed-age groups, and an emphasis on creativity and independence) are seeing increased popularity. Enrichment programs engaging children in movement with intention (yoga, meditation, martial arts) are also gaining traction.

These kinds of methods seek to give children back some of the agency their young minds and bodies crave, as less play and mobility lead to an uptick in anxiety in ever-younger students and even, according to Durand, a growing number of cases of children who need to see occupational therapists. Mindfulness practices such as guided breath and yoga can help mitigate the core symptoms of ADHD in children, ( an increasingly common diagnosis), while the arts encourage self-expression and motor-skill development.

Emily Cross, a professor in the School of Psychology at the United Kingdom's Bangor University, explains the impact of movement on memory and learning: New neuroscience research, she said in an email, shows that active learning-"where the learner is doing, moving, acting, and interacting"-can change the way the brain works and can accelerate kids' learning process. While passive learning may be easier to administer, she added, it doesn't favor brain activity. Cross, whose research focuses on pre-teens and young adults, said she's found "very clear evidence that when learners are actively engaged with moving their own bodies to music, in time with avatars on the screen, their performance is vastly superior to when they're asked to engage in passive learning ... [There are] striking changes in brain activity when we combine dance and music in the learning context." In other words, people absorb a newly acquired skill-set better while doing, engaging their bodies rather than simply observing.

These research findings echo the observations and methodologies of educators who promote active learning. As Sara Gannon, the director and teacher at Bethesda Nursery School, a highly regarded play-based preschool in New Haven, Connecticut, that favors experiential learning over direct instruction, in an email notes: "Unfortunately, there has been so much focus on forcing the academics, and young children are being asked to do what they are just not ready to do ... Of course, we do teach letters and sounds, numbers and quantities-but through experiences and within a context. That means, hands-on: counting the number of acorns a child found on the playground, building with unit blocks, sounding out a child's name as they learn to write it, looking at traffic signs on a walk." Yet while such developmentally oriented programs may benefit children, for now they're unlikely to become widespread given the current focus on assessment and school readiness, particularly in underserved communities.

As my girls continued creating their own activity stations and imaginary worlds, the contrast between how children operate versus what is often expected of them was apparent. It would be unwise and impractical to pretend that children do not need any structure, or that academic skills are unimportant in school. Yet it is necessary to recognize that the early-childhood classroom has been significantly altered by increasingly rigorous academic standards in ways that rarely align with how young children learn.

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Children acquire knowledge by acting and then reflecting on their experiences, but such opportunities are increasingly rare in school.

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According to the Victoria State Government, "Sociodramatic play is where children act out   imaginary situations and stories, become different characters, and pretend they are in different locations and times" (Victoria State Government). Sociodramatic play are important to children because it encourages student imagination, creativity, and language. During sociodramatic play, children develop roles, create storylines, interact, direct, take turns, and negotiate. The curriculum can incorporate sociodramatic play by including activities that encourage imagination. For example, puppets for puppet shows, plastic foods for a grocery store, and dress up accessories for a fashion show.

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/childhood/professionals/learning/ecliteracy/emergentliteracy/Pages/sociodramaticplay.aspx

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​Sociodramatic play is where children act out imaginary situations and stories, become different characters, and pretend they are in different locations and times.

When imaginative/dramatic play is shared with others, this becomes sociodramatic play. It can involve the use of props, costumes, and scenery, but this isn't a requirement. It is possible for sociodramatic play to make use of nothing but children's imagination.

In this section, however, we explore how materials can be provided and scenarios set up, so that children can engage in emergent literacy experiences within sociodramatic play.

Children's play is driven by their capacity to explore their interests by creating imaginary worlds. Photo: Pixabay

Sociodramatic play is the most advanced form of play, and constantly changes (fluid and dynamic) according to the interests and ideas of children.

In this section, we explore sociodramatic play as a teaching practice for emergent literacy.

For an exploration of the use of this practice for developing children's oral language, see Sociodramatic Play - Interacting with Others.

Sociodramatic play allows children to explore and create new worlds. The possibilities of children's sociodramatic play extend to exploring the power and utility of literacy for communicating meaning through multiple modes. Children take on roles/characters, act out various scenarios and stories, and solve problems using a variety of communication modes.

[Children's] communication and self-expression take many forms including sharing stories and symbols from their own culture, re-enacting well-known stories and using creative arts, such as drawing, painting and sculpture, drama, dance, movement and music to communicate with others. They create and explore imaginary worlds through dramatic play and through artworks. - VEYLDF (2016)

Williams and Rask (2003) argue that play is not only a context for learning, but an engaging means of creating purposeful literacy experiences:

In literacy it allows them to develop understanding of the purposes and power of the written word through discovery, hypothesis raising and experimentation. They are unlikely to achieve this without the interventions of supportive and questioning adults. - Williams and Rask (2003,p. 529)

Sociodramatic play usually involves children:

developing roles

creating their own storylines

making up their own spoken lines (dialogue)

interacting with each other

directing each other in play.

(Dinham and Chalk, 2018)

Children use play to practice important language and social skills, including:

joining in

sharing and taking turns

ways of interacting through different relationships (parent/child, brother/sister, doctor/patient)

negotiating with each other about how the play will go.

(Dinham and Chalk, 2018)

How involved educators are will depend on what the learning intention of the experience is, and how children are interacting. Educators can take on many different roles during sociodramatic play.

Adapted from Enz (1995). Educators can be more less or more involved in sociodramatic play, depending on the learning intentions. Also see Jones and Reynolds (2011).

This continuum links to the VEYLDF (2016) Practice Principle: Integrated Teaching and Learning Approaches, which draws distinctions between:

child-directed play and learning (similar to Onlooker above)

guided play and learning (similar to stage manager and co-player roles)

adult-led learning (similar to play leader).

Educators move between these three approaches in an interweaving way, in order to advance children's knowledge.

The educator's role in sociodramatic play is dynamic and shifting according to the needs of children.

As children are engrossed in play, guided by their imaginations, the involvement of educators may become minimal.

Note: The use of drama for interacting with others is explored further in Performing Arts - Interacting with Others.

Educators can create purposeful emergent reading and writing opportunities within any play area.

See Literacy-rich environment.

Dramatic play area[s] provide a good opportunity to include different texts for purposeful reading and writing by children... In this way children are able to reinforce their understanding of the communicative value of written texts and also to experiment with the writing of texts as part of their pretend play. - Fellowes and Oakley (2014, p. 387)

By providing access to a range of texts and materials, children can explore ways of using literacy in a functional and playful way. In this way, educators create opportunities for children to understand the multiple purposes of literacy, and children can play the role of reader and writer, by taking on roles in play (for example the waiter writing down orders) and engaging in reading and writing of texts for a particular purpose (Banerjee, Alsalman, & Alqafari, 2016; Saracho, 2001).

Examples of sociodramatic play area themes and potential literacy materials, include:

(Adapted from Fellowes and Oakley, 2014; Williams & Rask, 2003)

Campfire themed sociodramatic play area. Photo: L Stewart

Siraj-Blatchford (2009) describes a pedagogical sequence for developing children's language and emergent literacy: modelling, scaffolding, extension. Educators can use this sequence to develop emergent literacy during sociodramatic play:

modelling the use of written texts as part of the play situations (as a co-player)

scaffolding children's emergent reading or writing engagement by asking open-ended questions, providing feedback, and helping children to use materials within the context of play (as stage manager, co-player, or play leader)

extending children's emergent literacy by engaging in sustained shared thinking, asking analytical questions, providing additional materials or play ideas to build upon children's current literacy engagement.

General principles

When setting up play experiences, think of what emergent literacy concepts can be embedded

Demonstrate to children how props, costumes, spaces can be used in sociodramatic play

Encourage children to imagine what a particular prop or costume could symbolise (e.g. using a block as a phone)

Think about what role you will play in the experience, (onlooker, stage manager, co-player, or play leader).

When using play as a teaching practice for emergent literacy, there are a range of learning foci that educators can embed. See the experience plans for more information.

Some brief examples include:

Making meaning and expressing ideas

model and scaffold use of written texts for emergent reading (e.g. reading menus, responding to signs, following visual instructions)

model and scaffold use of written texts for emergent writing (e.g. making a shopping list, writing down orders, creating a map, sending a letter; note: writing will consist of a mix of marks, scribbles, drawings, and actual letter forms).

Exploring and creating texts

use the texts from reading and writing experiences as stimuli for sociodramatic play (including picture storybooks, non-fiction texts, functional texts like recipes and instructions)

consider ways of creating sociodramatic play areas that require:

personal (expressive) texts (e.g. drawing/writing letters, notes, recounts)

imaginative (narratives) texts (e.g. storybooks, drawing/writing stories)

informative (expository) texts (e.g. lists, recipes, maps, instructions)

provide children with prompts, props, costumes and pictures to help stimulate re-enacting of stories from books or storytelling experiences

children can create functional and meaningful texts using mainly drawings/images, but may include some elements of print (with educator support)

these could include any of the texts relevant to play themes explored above (e.g. Doctor's office, Café, Grocery Store, Aquarium).

Fine motor

consider the fine motor requirements of any writing implement or material you provide children

use writing and play experiences to model and scaffold children's use of implements to create more complex and varied marks, scribbles, drawings, and shape/letter forms, developing their fine motor skills

support children to use writing implements for all kinds of writing experiences from mark making through to using print in a functional way during play.

Concepts of print

talk about print concepts in the context of play (highlight the features and meanings of environmental print as part of play, e.g. the red stop sign means "stop", the recycling symbol signifies which kind of waste can go in that particular bin)

use the terminology to describe different kinds of texts/materials with children, e.g. letter, brochure, notepad, sticky note, menu, receipt, recipe etc.

Phonics

model phonics awareness during functional uses of print in children's writing experiences (e.g. adding labels, signs etc.)

model how simple sound-letter (phonics) patterns can be used to spell short words

model sounding out and writing a letter (or letter pattern) for each sound in the word.

When we understand literacy from a multimodal perspective, we recognise that meaning is communicated through combinations of two or more semiotic (meaning) modes (Kalantzis et al., 2016). Wohlwend (2015) builds upon these broader understandings of literacy to argue that play is a form of literacy in itself. The authors see sociodramatic play as a way of "creating and coordinating a live-action text among multiple players" (Wohlwend, 2015, p. 2).

This ties in with the view that literacy is not just an assemblage of skills to be learned, but a social practice that children learn within and through (see Barton and Hamilton, 2016).

Children's sociodramatic play experiences present unique opportunities for children to develop language and literacy skills, through the creation and exploration of imaginary worlds and the texts within them (Wohlwend, 2015; Smilansky, 1968).

From a Piagetian viewpoint, creating sociodramatic play opportunities allows children to independently consolidate cognitive skills like Concepts of Print, and explore the interactions between other individuals and the physical environment (Piaget, 1962; Yaden, Rowe and MacGillivray, 2000).

The importance of sociodramatic play for emergent literacy is also emphasised within a Vygotskian perspective, where literacy is viewed as a social, constructive process that begins in early life (Vygotsky, 1967). This view sees literacy as developing through everyday experiences with others, including pretend play (see Roskos and Christie, 2011; Teale & Sulzby, 1986).

In line with Vygotsky's (1967) socio-cultural learning theory, play allows children to be supported by a more capable "player". For sociodramatic play, this means that older peers and educators can model more advanced play using elements of drama teaching. This will then allow children to learn collaboratively, and eventually be able to engage in more advanced sociodramatic play by themselves.

An important point, regarding how these theories explain the relationships between play and literacy, is made by Pellegrini and Van Ryzin (2007), who argue that classic theorists do not directly explain the play-literacy interface. However, they do examine the ways that play activity influences literacy, including through pretend transformations, narrative thinking, and meta-play talk (i.e. talking about how to play).

Because play can take many forms as a teaching practice, it is difficult to measure its impact on literacy learning specifically. Some reviews of research indicate that play (in general) is associated with the development of language and literacy skills, but it is not always possible to say that play itself has caused these changes in development (Lillard et al., 2013).

In one study (Nicolopoulou, Cortina, Ilgaz, Cates, and de Sá, 2015), the researchers found that children who participated in a storytelling and sociodramatic play program had improved language, emergent literacy, play, and self-regulation abilities.

Also, in a review by Weisberg, Zosh and Hirsh-Pasek (2013) the following conclusions are made about the links between language and play:

play allows children to practice using symbols and understanding symbolic relationships (a key part of using language)

play encourages children to use more advanced language that is specific to certain scenarios or social roles

during play, there is a significant amount of language used by children, their peers, and adults, providing numerous opportunities to hear, practice, and learn language

play allows children to be in control and engaged in the interaction, and when adults follow this lead, children are likely to learn more language (compared to an adult-led experience).

Myck-Wayne's (2010) study of dramatic play areas provided evidence that setting up these areas allows children to practise functional uses of language and literacy in context.

Outcome 1: identity

Children feel safe, secure and supported.

confidently explore and engage with social and physical environments through relationships and play

initiate and join in play

explore aspects of identity through role-play.

Children develop knowledgeable and confident self-identities.

explore different identities and points of view in dramatic play

learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect

engage in and contribute to shared play experiences.

Outcome 2: community

Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active civic participation

cooperate with others and negotiate roles and relationships in play episodes and group experiences

build on their own social experiences to explore other ways of being

understand different ways of contributing through play and projects

are playful and respond positively to others, reaching out for company and friendship

Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment

use play to investigate, project and explore new ideas

Outcome 4: learning

Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity

use play to investigate, imagine and explore ideas

initiate and contribute to play experiences emerging from their own ideas

Children transfer and adapt what they have learnt from one context to another

use the processes of play, reflection and investigation to problem-solve

Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials

explore ideas and theories using imagination, creativity and play

Outcome 5: communication

Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes

use language and representations from play, music and art to share and project meaning

contribute their ideas and experiences in play and small and large group discussion

exchange ideas, feelings and understandings using language and representations in play

Children engage with a range of texts and get meaning from these texts

listen and respond to sounds and patterns in speech, stories and rhymes in context

view and listen to printed, visual and multimedia texts and respond with relevant gestures, actions, comments and/or questions

sing chant rhymes, jingles and songs

take on roles of literacy and numeracy users in their play

begin to understand key literacy and numeracy concepts and processes, such as the sounds of language, letter-sound relationships, concepts of print and the ways that texts are structured

explore texts from a range of different perspectives and begin to analyse the meanings

actively use, engage with and share the enjoyment of language and texts in a range of ways

recognise and engage with written and oral culturally constructed texts.

Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media

use language and engage in symbolic play to imagine and create roles, scripts and ideas

share the stories and symbols of their own cultures and re-enact well-known stories

use the creative arts, such as drawing, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, movement, music and story-telling, to express ideas and make meaning

experiment with ways of expressing ideas and meaning using a range of media

begin to use images and approximations of letters and words to convey meaning.

Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work

use symbols in play to represent and make meaning

begin to make connections between, and see patterns in, their feelings, ideas, words and actions, and those of others

develop an understanding that symbols are a powerful means of communication and that ideas, thoughts and concepts can be represented through them

begin to be aware of the relationships between oral, written and visual representations

begin to recognise patterns and relationships and the connections between them

Children use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking

identify the uses of technologies in everyday life and use real or imaginary technologies as props in their play

use information and communication technologies to access images and information, explore diverse perspectives and make sense of their world

use information and communications technologies as tools for designing, drawing, editing, reflecting and composing

engage with technology for fun and to make meaning

For age groups: early communicators (birth - 18 months) and early language users (12 - 36 months).

For age groups: language and emergent literacy learners (30 - 60 months).

Banerjee, R., Alsalman, A., and Alqafari, S. (2016). Supporting sociodramatic play in preschools to promote language and literacy skills of English language learners. Early Childhood Education Journal, 44(4), 299-305.

Barton, D., and Hamilton, M. (2010). Literacy as a social practice. Langage et Société, (3), 45-62.

Dinham, J., and Chalk, B. (2018). It's arts play: Young children belonging, being and becoming through the arts. Sydney, Australia: Oxford University Press.

Enz, B. J. (1995) Adult roles in supporting children's literacy. Linking literacy and play, In C. A. Kempers and A. L. Trefsger Miles(Eds), Newark, DE: International Reading Association,pp. 18-22.

Fellowes, J., and Oakley, G. (2014). Language, literacy and early childhood education, 2 nd Edition. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.

Jones, E., and Reynolds, G. (2011). The play's the thing: Teachers' roles in children's play (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., Chan, E., and Dalley-Trim, L. (2016). Literacies. Port Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Cambridge University Press.

Lillard, A. S., Lerner, M. D., Hopkins, E. J., Dore, R. A., Smith, E. D., and Palmquist, C. M. (2013). The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 1-34.

Myck-Wayne, J. (2010). In defence of play: Beginning the dialogue about the power of play. Young Exceptional Children, 13(4), 14-23.

Nicolopoulou, A., Cortina, K. S., Ilgaz, H., Cates, C. B., and de Sá, A. B. (2015). Using a narrative- and play-based activity to promote low-income preschoolers' oral language, emergent literacy, and social competence. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 31, 147-162.

Pellegrini A. D., Van Ryzin M. (2007) 'Commentary: cognition, play and early literacy'. In K. Roskos, J. Christie (Eds). Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives. 2nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers (pp. 65-80).

Piaget, J. (1962) Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. Gattegno C, Hodgson FN, (trans). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Roskos, K., & Christie, J. (2011). The play-literacy nexus and the importance of evidence-based techniques in the classroom. American Journal of Play, 4(2), 204-224.

Saracho, O. N. (2001). Exploring young children's literacy development through play. Early Child Development and Care, 167(1), 103-114.

Siraj Blatchford,I. (2009). Conceptualising progression in the pedagogy of play and sustained shared thinking in early childhood education: A Vygotskian perspective. Education and Child Psychology, 26(2), 77-89.

Smilansky, S. (1968). The effects of sociodramatic play on disadvantaged preschool children. New York, NY, US: John Wiley and Sons.

Teale, W., Sulzby, E. (1986) Emergent literacy: Writing and reading. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Victorian State Government Department of Education and Training (2016) Victorian early years learning and development framework (VEYLDF). Retrieved 3 March 2018.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2016) Illustrative Maps from the VEYLDF to the Victorian Curriculum F-10. Retrieved 3 March 2018.

Vygotsky, Lev S. (1967). Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Soviet Psychology, 5(3): 6-18.

Weisberg, D. S., Zosh, J. M., and Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2013). Talking it up: Play, language development, and the role of adult support. American Journal of Play, 6(1), 39-54.

Williams, M., and Rask, H. (2003). Literacy through play: How families with able children support their literacy development. Early Child Development and Care, 173(5), 527-533.

Wohlwend, K. E. (2015). Playing their way into literacies: Reading, writing, and belonging in the early childhood classroom. Teachers College Press.

Yaden D, Rowe, D, MacGillivray, L. (2000) 'Emergent literacy: a matter (polyphony) of perspectives'. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal P. D. Pearson, and R. Barr (Eds.). Handbook of Reading Research Volume 3. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. pp. 425-454.

Cremin, T., Flewitt, R., Mardell, B., and Swann, J. (2016) Storytelling in early childhood: enriching language, literacy and classroom culture. London and New York: Routledge.

Storytelling in Early Childhood is a captivating book which explores the multiple dimensions of storytelling and story acting and shows how they enrich language and literacy learning in
the early years.

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​Sociodramatic play is where children act out imaginary situations and stories, become different characters, and pretend they are in different locations and times. When imaginative/dramatic play is shared with others, this becomes sociodramatic play. It can involve the use of props, costumes, and scenery, but this isn't a requirement.