# data[].attributes.body
Creative movement is the inner nature of children. Creative movement helps children with music. The helps develop children's physical skills, expand their creativity, and help them recognize some of their senses which involve touch, sight, and hearing. This article gives 10 creative ways for children to increase their creative movement in early childhood. Teachers can have dance parties with their students at least once a week for about 3 minutes and that would help students with their creative play. It is also important to teach children to respect other people's differences. Whenever students are sharing their writing in a language arts class or sharing their strategies during math class with their peers, teachers are encouraged to tell students to be mindful that others may have different ideas/strategies than they do. Creative play increases children's self-esteem and helps them become a leader which will help them during their adolescent years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dance as an art form is beautiful and breathtaking. There's nothing quite like watching a skilled dancer turn and leap across the stage in time to the music, telling a story with their body.

But dance provides benefits far beyond that available to those trained in the discipline.

For young children, dance and creative movement can help improve their cognitive development, building skills necessary for success later in life.

Here are 10 ways creative movement can benefit children during the early childhood years:

Sensory Awareness

Young children are highly sensory beings. They flock to things that stimulate their senses of touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing.

Dance and creative movement provide stimulation for three of those five senses at once: touch, sight, and hearing.

By listening to the music and learning how to move in time with the beat, children begin to more finely hone their senses and learn how their bodies can work in harmony with the stimuli around them.

Additionally, these sensory experiences help children connect with themselves, with one another, and with the world around them, leading them to begin appreciating the beauty of their environment.

Development

Dance provides opportunities to hone both gross and fine motor skills.

From turning and jumping to carefully controlling the movement of hands and fingers, dance engages all aspects of a child's physical development.

Dancing also awakens the inner creativity in all children, allowing them to hear a piece of music and decide how their body can best respond to it.

In early childhood creative movement, it's important to have a mixture of structured directions for moving as well as plenty of time for individual exploring. This balance gets children used to bringing to life someone else's creative vision while giving time for their own exploration.

Social Skills

To have a healthy social life, children must understand and embrace their own uniqueness.

Through creative movement, they learn that not everyone interprets music the same way they do, and not everyone moves the same. This helps children see that everyone is different but no one is wrong in their individuality.

Being able to understand these differences - and similarities - helps children develop richer social skills and a better acceptance of others.

Health & Fitness

Simply put, dancing is great exercise.

Teaching children at a young age that frequent exercise is fun and beneficial helps build lifelong lovers of sports and movement. This leads to improved health and wellness even as adults.

Coordinated movement is essential to proper brain development, which is necessary to developing language skills.

The right side of the brain, the sensing and feeling side, functions best through creative activities. The left side is the logical thinking and planning side of the brain.

Dance allows both sides of the brain to engage, as children must follow steps and directions while also utilizing their creativity and interpreting the music.

Body Awareness

Young children often cannot tell the full limits of their own bodies.

Through dance, however, they learn in a controlled environment the things their bodies can and cannot do, and what actions they need to take to perform a desired movement.

Dance helps build coordination and spatial awareness, which improves children's gross motor skills.

Concentration

Remembering the next steps in a dance sequence requires a great deal of concentration. So does sitting down to do school work.

By using and honing concentration skills in early childhood, children are better prepared for the expectations of the classroom.

They learn when it's OK to move and when they need to sit still, what types of movement are acceptable, and how to stay within their own physical boundaries.

Through dance, children learn that it's not possible to move in someone else's space. If you do, you crash and no one gets to dance.

Learning this skill helps children understand that everyone has their own body boundaries, and they should respect the limits of those boundaries at all times.

Additionally, children learn that everyone's different and to honor and accept those differences.

Self Esteem

As children learn and develop new skills, their self esteem increases.

Just like in school, play, and the rest of their lives, dancing and creative movement gives young children new skills to learn and master. This progress keeps them motivated and interested, leading to better tenacity later in life.

Special Needs

The great thing about creative movement is it can be adapted to meet any special needs.

Creative movement gives each child the opportunity to get out on the dance floor at their own level and express themselves. Few other art forms or skills allow that amount of adaptability.

Dance Lessons for All Ages in Frederick, MD

From the tiniest dancer to committed teens, Dance Unlimited has classes for all ages and skill levels. We pride ourselves on creating a welcoming environment that fosters a love for dance no matter the individual dancer's goals. From competition teams to recreational class, we have something for everyone. Take a tour today!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Creative Movement Is Important in Early Childhood | Dance Unlimited

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dance as an art form is beautiful and breathtaking. There's nothing quite like watching a skilled dancer turn and leap across the stage in time to the music, telling a story with their body. But dance provides benefits far beyond that available to those trained in the discipline.

# data[].attributes.body
In the article they state that it is best for the children when sociodramatic play is built into the children's everyday activities. The article gives a few examples in how to incorporate sociodramatic play into the children's everyday activities it explains the different stages depending on their ages that the children might experience certain certain skills for sociodramatic play.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One type of play that is very beneficial for young children in Socio-dramatic play. Socio-dramatic play involves the acting out of scripts, scenes, and roles that offer children a plethora of learning opportunities (Bodrova, 2008; Singer, Golinkoff, and Hirsh-Pasek, 2006) (p. 39).

How should you implement it?

The teacher acts as a secondary source and brings in the materials for the students to play with. The students become the teachers and take on the role of what adults would normally do. Teachers may need to scaffold students in order to build upon play skills and develop more complex ideas, roles and scenarios. Teachers can also support a variety of development skills including social/emotional, cognitive, physical and language skills by engaging in play with students and modeling specific skills.

Breaking the parallel play barrier!

Earlier stage:

Imitate and pretend with students

Use objects that stand for something else

Engage in parallel play with students

Middle Stage:

Engaging in pretend play!

Interact in character with children

Use figures similarly to children

Acknowledge students playing together

Later Stage:

Assigning role during play.

Extend time so that children can develop detailed pretend play

Provide materials for props

Allow children to assign roles to play

Sociodramatic play is the most effective when it is built into everyday activities. Children should have chances every day to engage in sociodramatic play. It is the teacher's job to model sociodramatic play and allow for as many opportunities for this type of play as possible. Sociodramatic play can be independent, with peers, or as a class. Sociodramatic play is versatile and can be used to develop many skills and academic areas. The sociodramatic play represents students' ideas of the real world, and their schema can be shaped and developed through sociodramatic play.

Establish a space in the room dedicated to sociodramatic play. Allow students to use this space when given free playtime.

Provide props, sets, and costumes to allow students to pretend and use their imagination.

Build sociodramatic play into the curriculum while possible. For example-during, a science experiment, bring lab coats and goggles for students to pretend to be real scientists!

Model different ways of how to pretend and use sociodramatic play to your students.

Build background knowledge to support sociodramatic play. Ex: What do you know about restaurants? Have students brainstorm their experiences in restaurants in order for them to transfer their knowledge in their play and build their schema through play.

Give students choice and allow them to explore this type of play if that is their interest whenever possible.

Standards:
The organization NAEYC discusses what is considered Developmentally Appropriate Practice for kindergarten aged children (3-6 years old). They describe that this is an age where children should be learning through play, community, and social interaction with peers. Sociodramatic play culminates these qualities in that many materials should reflect the community and that sociodramatic play calls for social interaction between children. Opportunities for social interaction is imperative for children this age because they are learning to regulate and communicate their wants, needs, and emotions.

The New York State standards for grades 1-8 have recently added standards to address play explicitly and allow aspects of literacy that could be intertwined with sociodramatic play. In the elementary age group, students are developing their ability to recognize and follow plot, characters, settings, and other important aspects of a story. Students can use this information to engage in sociodramatic play in a more sophisticated way. Students can practice developing key components of stories that they find in the books that they read as they engage in sociodramatic play. Starting around third grade, students begin learning about dramas, poems, and influences of speech. These components of literacy continue to be developed through middle school. Students even begin to explore scripts, and the setup of dialogue in plays. All of the information that students learn about dramatics can be used in sociodramatic play, and can also help them build upon their knowledge in the literary arts through play.
Resources:
https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-activities/encouraging-your-childs-socio-dramatic-play/#.XSPMgy2ZOqA - This website encourages parents/guardians, and teachers to engage their child/student in sociodramatic play. It was created by the Child Development Institute. They allow a section for questions to ask and signing up for a newsletter. This specific section of the website focuses on sociodramatic play. The other sections to click on include: the institute's history, what they are about, working with a child with ADD/ADHD, parenting tips, expert articles, blog, The Well Balanced family, and contact information. In addition to these add ons they have room to click on more articles they have reviewed talking about sociodramatic play.

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=751 - This website is a resource for both teachers and parents as it provides hot topics of discussion, classroom ideas, teacher resources as well as professional resources. Specifically, the article chosen on the website talks about the importance of dramatic play and how it enhances learning experiences for children. It provides steps in how to create a dramatic play area, the skill sets that students will develop through dramatic play, and the four major areas including social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language that is developed through dramatic play.

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/search-results/?search=1&filters=&text=dramatic%20play - Scholastic is a great resource for teachers and parents to use to learn more about dramatic play. It provides activities/games, blogs, articles, lessons, and unit plans. Some focal points of the articles and blogs are about developing emergent literacy skills through dramatic play and developing skills such as motor skills.

https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/importance-of-pretend-play-in-child-development - Bright Horizons is a leader in family and education solutions. The organization aims to support families in early education. They invest in your child's future education. The specific article that was looked at through Bright Horizons aimed to inform parents and or educators about the importance of pretend play in child development. Likewise, it provided several ideas/activities that can be used to support pretend play. Bright Horizons offers a variety of educational services for children and families.
Links:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXqyum4YeEc

This video is about the value of sociodramatic play. Even more specifically, it is stated that "Children develop physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially through sociodramatic play." This video discusses each way that children develop, and it gives an example for each one. This video specifically shows preschool children playing in a pretend bakery in the classroom. This play center allows students to take on roles in a bakery by learning more about how it works, and how it is set up. Different props were brought in including cookie sheets, baker hats, cooking flour, and cookie jars and different cookie shape cutouts. Students were able to become familiar with each item while playing with their peers.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_OszGAXI9o

This video is a group of 5th graders who are acting in a play reading in Hebrew. Students are acting out the play High School Musical and playing specific roles in the play. They were also able to create their own props to emphasize their roles. I like seeing older students engage in sociodramatic play and be able to work together to put on a play for an audience. One of the most interesting parts of the video is that they were performing their roles in another language as they took on roles and engaged in play.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdOwvZwiYwk

The three girls in this video are engaging in sociodramatic play. The video begins with one girl assigning roles to the others. Although they do not use props, they use their imaginations to create their play space. Student collaboration is happening throughout and each child is engaged throughout the play session.

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzsXSSL5OEg

In this video, the teacher discusses the process of learning through the sociodramatic play center. You can see how math is integrated with students assigning prices to services. In this video, the children also incorporate their personal experiences. This form of dramatic play has the teacher in more of a leadership/partnership role than a facilitator role.

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciP8WBzJVmA

This video is about an ice cream dramatic play set up. This specific video is about how to create a dramatic play center with the theme of ice cream. Playdough is used for ice cream, and props are made using cardstock paper (cones), cardboard boxes (cone holder), an actual ice cream scoop, bowls, and glitter for 'sprinkles'. This video is a great example of how easily dramatic play can be incorporated into the classroom, and at little to no cost at all.

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXqyum4YeEc&t=4s

This video shows how teachers can support students in play. The teacher provides background information and gets students thinking about the pretend play that they are doing. The teacher asks the students "what do you know about baking?" Then students think of their experiences, and then get to play bakery. This video is a great example of how teachers can be involved in play, and allow students to be thinking about their own experiences and building new information when they play.

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssgbfVcaQFw

This is a short video that shows a great example of sociodramatic play. The classroom was set up to look like a restaurant. It had clothed tables, plates, and a kitchen area. There were even costumes and props to support the play; one girl wears a mustache to take on a new character. This is such a fun and effective way to incorporate sociodramatic play in the classroom that allows students to build off of their own experiences.

Search criteria: social; dramatic; play;

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One type of play that is very beneficial for young children in Socio-dramatic play. Socio-dramatic play involves the acting out of scripts, scenes, and roles that offer children a plethora of learning opportunities (Bodrova, 2008; Singer, Golinkoff, and Hirsh-Pasek, 2006) (p. 39). How should you implement it?

# data[].attributes.body
Sociodramatic play is helping children explore and create different ways of communication. During sociodramatic play children act out scenarios, develop and act out new characters that they have seen in tv shows/movies, and help increase their imagination. This article goes into detail about different ways a child shows dramatic. How the educators role in sociodramatic play is shifting according to the childs needs. This article talks about different outcomes that children will feel during sociodramatic play that parents and teachers can read about and get ideas in how to incorporate sociodramatic play into the classroom or at home.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
​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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
​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.