I wrote a grant to purchase dress up costumes and props for my preschool class. I have special needs and typical children in my room. I sat there trying to figure out how to justify playing dress up as being educational. I did find information on the internet explaining how pretend play benefits typical peers. I was looking for that connecting on how playing dress up would help my students with autism. Several of my special needs students lack certain skills such as initiating and sustaining conversations, interacting with their peers and using their imagination.
Once I started writing my grant, I looked through the state’s preschool standards trying to find more ways that pretend play is educational. I was amazed how many standards I found that could be covered while playing dress up. There were at least 18 ranging from creative arts, language & literacy, math, science, social/emotional self-help and motor skills.
The first one was under “creative arts” – participating in pretend play. That sounded simple enough. As I got to writing, I found that a lot actually goes into pretend play. Students would need to know how to put on and take off the costumes (self-help skill) and how to manage the fasteners (fine motor skill). Now they would be ready to explore and investigate what their character would do (science skills). They would have to initiate and sustain conversations with their peers in order to keep the playing going (language and social skills). Sharing and taking turns with the costumes and props would be important and learning not to snatch something from a peer just because they wanted it (social skills). If they wanted a certain toy or costume, they would need to be able to express their wants and needs (language skills).
Let’s play! In the post office, we could learn how to sort the mail. The envelopes may just have a single letter or a number on them to match up with the boxes (literacy & math skills). Pretending to be a chef or going to the grocery store deals with food. Name the food items (language), count the food, match food of the same color, sort by fruits, vegetables, something you would eat or drink, big and little items (math skills). Use name brand boxes and they can learn to read the environmental print or at least point to identify or name letters in the print – cereal boxes, soy milk cartons, other food boxes, bottles and plastic jars (literacy). Talk about the shapes of the containers – find circles, squares, rectangles, etc. (math skill). Talk about positional words – are items “on” the shelf or “in” a basket, are they on “top” or on the “bottom” shelf. If there are several children playing, someone will have to wait their turn to check out at the register (social skill). If a child is having troubles waiting their turn, that gives the perfect opportunity to discuss sharing, taking turns, impulses and feelings (social skill).
Some children have fears. Role playing and using social stories using the props are a great way to try to overcome these fears. Pretend to go to the doctor. Talk about what goes on in the office. Have a doll be the patient that is scared but realizes that having their eyes and ears checked is not painful. When playing shopping, have a lot of loud background noise going on like you would hear while at the store. If they are scared of loud sirens, while pretending to be a fireman or a policeman, use a loud siren sound clip from the computer.
Having a chance to play dress up and role playing what adults do will give unlimited conversations and endless learning. There is so much more to play than just the toys in front of them. Math, reading, science, language and social skills can be taught. The whole time the children are playing, language is being used. They may be asking a friend a question or answering the questions themselves.
“Do you want an apple or a banana?”
“I want an apple.”
“How many do you want?’
“I want three.”
“Do you want red or yellow apples?”
“I want red.”
Never underestimate the power of play.
