# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
VEYLDF illustrative maps - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When planning, documentation is essential and all the elements of the Early Years Learning Framework’s ongoing planning cycle need to be considered. In this blog we unpack the planning cycle’s five separate sections: observe, assess, plan, implement and evaluate. Under each section we will share insights on how rich pedagogical documentation can serve as evidence of planning and support […]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mood Walk - Learn Emotions | Activities For Kids | Dance Along | GoNoodle

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anna Llenas The Colour Monster Collection 4 Books Set (The Colour Monster, A Colour Activity Book, Goes to School, The Colour Monster Pop-Up)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One day, Colour Monster wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad and scared all at once! To help him, a little girl shows him what each feeling means through colour. A gentle exploration of feelings for young and old alike.…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Color Monster - Read Aloud by Mr. Joshua Brooks

# data[].attributes.body
This song assists children with identifying their emotions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kids Feelings and Emotions SONG Animation with A Little SPOT

# data[].attributes.body
This song is used to go through different voices. Eg.

"This is my baby voice" (children talk in a high-pitched voice"

You can also find this on Spotify.

# data[].attributes.headline
Self Portrait Ideas for Children - Visual Arts

# data[].attributes.subject
Self Portrait Ideas for Children - Visual Arts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Preschool Self Portraits

What about self portraits for preschoolers? Here are some simple and creative ideas for younger kiddos. Remember to focus on the process rather than the end result. Displaying their self-portraits in the classroom can boost their self-esteem and create a positive and colorful environment.
Combine this with our All About Me activities for preschoolers!
1 Mirror Drawings: Provide each child with a mirror and let them observe their features. Encourage them to draw what they see on paper using crayons or markers.

2. Paper Plate Portraits: Have preschoolers use paper plates as the base for their self-portraits. They can add facial features using cut-out shapes, yarn for hair, and googly eyes.

3. Playdough Faces: Set out different colors of playdough and encourage children to sculpt their own faces. They can add details like eyes, nose, mouth, and even accessories like hats or glasses.

4. Collage Creations: Provide a variety of magazines, old photos, and colored paper. Preschoolers can cut out facial features and glue them onto a larger paper to create a collage self-portrait.

5. Dress-Up Portraits: Set up a dress-up station with hats, scarves, and other accessories. After dressing up, have the children draw or paint themselves wearing their chosen items.

6. Photo Frame Art: Provide blank paper frames and let preschoolers draw themselves within the frame. They can add details and decorations around their portraits.

7. Footprint Faces: Dip the sole of the child's foot in washable paint and make a print on paper. After it dries, encourage them to add facial features with markers or crayons.

8. Emotion Explorations: Talk about different emotions and ask each child to draw how they feel that day. This can lead to a discussion about emotions and self-expression.

9. Nature Portraits: Take the class outside and let children collect natural materials like leaves, twigs, and flowers. Back in the classroom, they can use these items to create self-portraits.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Self Portrait Ideas for Kids Art | Little Bins for Little Hands

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Easy self portrait ideas for kindergarten through elementary to middle school. Create a self portrait for a mixed media art project.

# data[].attributes.body
I've shared here a resource for the Areas of Regulation posters. These can be displayed throughout the room or at specific emotion table activities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you ever been told to calm down and control yourself? Probably not for a while, it’s the kind of thing people say to children, and it’s usually said by people who don’t understand what it’s like to be a child. Let’s be real: being a kid is hard work. Emotions are fairly new things, you don’t know necessarily why you feel them, and you don’t know what to do about them. That’s why it’s important to teach them about emotional regulation. Many children struggle with regulation. Younger children are still developing and learning about their bodies and feelings. Neurodiverse children are constantly navigating internal and external stimuli. These bright and engaging Areas of Regulation Posters show children some of the ways their body or minds might react. Knowing the physical sensation and having a visual support to reinforce this can help children make connections to the Areas of Regulation. This can then help them to identify what tools or interventions they need. This resource link with the Australian Curriculum Health and Physical Education Content Descriptors: AC9HPFP03 express and describe emotions they experience AC9HP2P03 identify how different situations influence emotional responses

# 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.

Overview

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.

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

The benefits of sociodramatic play

Sociodramatic play allows children to explore and create new worlds. The possibilities of children's sociodramatic play are endless. This teaching practice can be a powerful tool for learning language, as children take on roles/characters, act out various scenarios and stories, and solve problems using language and movement.

Features of sociodramatic play

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 & 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 & Chalk, 2018)

The educator's role in sociodramatic play

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

Continuum of adult involvement

Onlooker:

appreciates ongoing drama

nods, smiles, and so forth.

Store manager:

gathers materials

makes props

constructs costumes

organises set

makes script suggestions.

Co-player:

assumes role

mediates dialogue

guide split

defines roles and responsibilities of characters.

Play leader:

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

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

The VEYLDF emphasises that:

Integrated teaching and learning approaches involve adults drawing on and moving between the three approaches in an interweaving way.

Note: In the performing arts section, the use of drama for interacting with others is explored further.

Embedding language in sociodramatic play

General principles:

When setting up play experiences, think about what language concepts, words, sentences, stories, and discussions could be embedded.

Demonstrate to children how props, costumes, and 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 (e.g. the onlooker, stage manager, co-player, or play leader).

When using play as a teaching practice for interacting with others, there are a range of learning foci that educators can embed.

Some brief examples

Concept development and vocabulary

Conversation and social skills

Stories and narratives

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

Encourage children to create their own stories, including new characters and new actions/events.

Explanations and sharing information

Higher order language

Model and prompt children to come up with their own names for characters, places, and things during sociodramatic play. This shows children how they can use language creatively during their play.

For example: call the place you are visiting "wavy pavy land", make a new dish called "ice-cream bolognaise", meet a strange animal called a "squirrelly lizard", or create a flying boat called a "boat-a-fly".

Theory to practice

Sociodramatic play is a way for children to develop social and language skills, by creating imaginary worlds, characters, and scenarios, which relate to the real world (Smilansky, 1968).

Children use play to re-create [the] world and model the social behaviour they see in it. In this way they can experience the world without risking the consequences (Toye & Prendiville, 2013, p. 11).

Like oral language, sociodramatic play is learnt through social interaction and modelling of play in context (Toye & Prendiville, 2013).

In line with Vygotsky's (1967) socio-cultural learning, 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.

It is important for educators to model and extend upon children's play (Smilansky, 1968; Fleer, 2016), so that children are challenged to continue building upon their own independent play experiences.

Evidence base

Because play can take many forms as a teaching practice, it is difficult to measure its impact on language learning.

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, & 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.

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.

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 for children 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).

Outcome 1: identity

Children feel safe, secure and supported:

Children develop knowledgeable and confident self-identities:

explore different identities and points of view in dramatic play

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:

Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media:

Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work:

use symbols in play to represent and make meaning

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.

Experience plans and videos

Early communicators (birth - 18 months) and early language users (12 - 36 months

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sociodramatic play (interacting with others)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sociodramatic play can be a powerful tool for learning language, as children take on roles and characters, act out various scenarios and stories, and solve problems using language and movement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dance Fun For Kids is the sister channel to Dance Parent 101 where you can find all of our kids dance tutorials, dance craft time activities, and dance storytime videos. I created these tutorials originally in April 2020 for the Dance Parent 101 website and channel but subsequently moved them to their own channel in September 2020.

# data[].attributes.body
Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration

# data[].attributes.body
The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia V2.0, 2022

# data[].attributes.body
Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework - Birth to 8 Years

# data[].attributes.body
Learn how to identify dance elements, describe what you hear/see when watching a video, or smell and taste in live experiences

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Elements of Dance are the foundational concepts and vocabulary that help students develop movement skills and understand dance as an artistic practice. The acronym BASTE helps students remember…