Problem-solving
Toddlers engage in pretend play in the dramatic play center, with opportunities to talk with a caregiver about their play.
Be Prepared: Add food-related items that are not usually available in your dramatic play area, such as toy pizza and small pizza boxes, that you anticipate will be of interest to toddlers who participate in the gathering. Include a good supply of novel items to help prevent disputes about who gets to play with the new things. Limit participation to the number of toddlers your dramatic play area can easily accommodate. The quality of pretend play can be negatively affected if the area is crowded.
Invite several toddlers to play in the dramatic play area. Draw attention to novel materials as well as items typically available in the center. Remain in the area as an attentive observer as toddlers settle into play with the items. As play gets underway, offer brief comments that describe each toddler’s activities or material(s) they are using and invite a toddler to talk about what he/she is doing. Remember that your facial expression is an important way to communicate your interest in connecting with a toddler. Example: “Roland, I see you are cooking.” Roland may respond by saying, “I am a daddy cooking.” Respond by repeating the toddler’s comment and inviting another comment. Example: “You are a daddy cooking. What are you cooking?”
Emphasize a toddler’s role in the play, such as a dad engaged in cooking, and imaginary uses of materials. Ask questions that may extend a toddler’s play without directing the play. Example: “What will you do with the hot dogs after they are done cooking?” It is not necessary to coax a toddler to talk about his/her imaginary play. If a toddler does not react to your comment, stay close and continue to observe. The toddler may tell you about his/her play several minutes later.
Allow toddlers to determine their role and choose play materials. Sometimes toddlers assign themselves identical roles. This may be of concern to a toddler who thinks only one person can be in a role. Gently remind toddlers it is okay for several children to be and do the same thing. Example: “Dads like to cook. It is okay if we have many dads cooking today.”
Provide materials that may be of interest as a toddler’s play evolves. Facilitate sharing an item as appropriate.
Assuming a pretend role and using objects to represent real items is important cognitive work for toddlers. The mental representation of an item may be a toy version of the item in your center, or the item may represent something else. Example: A toy washing machine may be a grill for preparing hamburgers or a cooler for soft drinks at a picnic. Although the suggested materials promote play related to food, it is possible that one or more toddlers will embark on play related to a different topic.
The pretend play of two-year-olds is likely to occur side by side with little or no association with one another and no common theme. The unrelated roles may involve toddlers engaged in pretending to cook or pack up for a trip or care for a baby or be a pet. Avoid imposing a theme and roles, and take each toddler’s play on his/her terms. But look for ways to support cooperative play if you see two or more toddlers interested in each other’s related play.
How is this activity different than pretend play that occurs during regular play periods in your room? Answer: your responsive connection to the play. The activity description emphasizes paying close attention so you can offer supportive questions and comments that encourage a toddler to think and talk about his/her role and use of materials. This contribution is difficult to assume on an ongoing basis.
The activity description’s examples of interactions with a toddler reflect the serve-and-return approach to communication described in the ELM Curriculum User Guide: Birth–36 Months. In addition to promoting back-and-forth exchanges, look for opportunities to nonverbally acknowledge a toddler who makes eye contact with you. The toddler may be “checking in” with you, making sure you continue to be engaged. Your attentive presence can provide security for toddlers who are exploring materials and roles.
Toddlers may differ in their interest in the novel materials. A toddler who is familiar with the item(s) may readily incorporate the material into their play. Others may have a current play approach that leaves no room for something new or different.
If a toddler’s imaginary role is not conducive to positive interactions, insert yourself into the play and redirect him/her. Example: If a toddler claims he/she is a “bad guy,” redirect the child by engaging with the character. You might say “Our restaurant serves your favorite foods. Come and eat some delicious food.” Encourage the pretend “bad guy” to consider a positive way to play. Example: “The restaurant needs strong helpers for making food.” If redirecting a toddler’s role does not work, remind the toddler about your room’s rules about being safe and friendly. Tell the toddler that he/she will need to pretend to be someone else. Provide suggestions the child may accept, such as a pet helper, firefighter, or pilot. Emphasize that strong people often help others.
Extra support
Enrichment
Problem-solving
Toddlers engage in pretend play in the blocks/building center, with opportunities to use materials typically found in another area(s) in the room.
Be Prepared: Gather materials from other play areas in your room that are generally not found in the blocks/building area. Select items that you anticipate will be of interest to toddlers and that potentially could be used with blocks. Examples: dishes, dolls, texture bears, scarves.
[Invite several toddlers to join you in playing in the blocks/building area. Sit on the floor facing the toddlers.]
I moved some things to our building area that are usually in other centers in our room. Maybe there are ways to play with these things in the building area.
[Point to and name the items.]
[Use strategies suggested in Option 1 for observing toddlers’ play and encouraging each toddler to talk with you about his/her play. The strategies include offering an item to a toddler once the focus of the play is clear to you. Examples: Offer a “daddy” a toy bottle or a book to read to his baby. Crinkle a sheet of yellow paper for a “camper” to use as fire.
Draw attention to toddlers’ play by briefly describing what peers are doing. Do this after you have talked with each toddler about his/her role and materials. Examples: “Mica is a camper. Diego is a daddy.” “Mica is using a pan and blocks to make a campfire. Diego has baby food in his pan for the baby.”
Consider supporting toddlers’ play by briefly taking on a role in the play. Example: Become a customer at a pizza restaurant. “I would like to buy a cheese pizza, please.”
If toddlers are interacting and/or noticing one another, draw attention to similar interests of activities. Examples: “Ruby is washing dishes and Aaron is making pizza. He is putting plates inside pizza boxes.”]
[Describe the role each child assumed and different ways the toddlers used materials, including materials you introduced from other areas.]
Toddlers frequently assume the same role and actions in pretend play for periods of time, such as a week or more. Example: A toddler may place dishes and pretend food on a table with the same scenario in mind for two weeks. This approach is to be respected; repetition is valuable. At the same time, providing items typically found in another play area in your room may prompt a toddler to slightly revise his/her usual approach to include the “new” item. Alternatively, a toddler may not be ready to alter his/her play approach and will ignore the availability of different materials.
In general, expect toddlers to use the blocks to structure their play and to represent other objects. Some toddlers have limited experience with blocks, however; their play time is spent in other areas. A toddler who infrequently plays with blocks may join the gathering due to interest in an item you added from another area. If the toddler seems uncertain about how to use the blocks to accommodate the desired item, you may wish to suggest an idea. This is an opportunity to broaden the toddler’s play experiences. The toddler may leave the area, taking the desired item with him/her, if the blocks area seems too foreign.
Some older toddlers may be approaching the ability to engage in the beginnings of cooperative play. Help toddlers increase awareness of other toddlers by describing their play. Let a toddler know that joining another toddler in play is a possibility. Example: A toddler who watches you play the role of customer at a pizza restaurant may want to be the next customer. Fully accept a toddler’s wish to remain focused on individual pretend play.
Extra support
Enrichment
Problem-solving
Toddlers engage in pretend play with an ice cream focus, with opportunities for cooperative play.
Be Prepared: This activity is for toddlers who seem ready to interact with a peer(s) in a shared play arrangement. Secure toys that support ice cream play, including cones, scoops, and material that can be pretend ice cream. One possibility is Melissa and Doug® Scoop and Stack Ice Cream Cone Playset. Ice cream bar and multi-part popsicle toys also are available commercially. Another option is to create materials. Roll stiff brown paper into cones and fasten with tape. Fashion ice cream balls from craft materials, or provide small balls to fit onto the cones or into small bowls. Scoops are typically a popular part of ice cream play. Provide materials for four toddlers to be engaged in preparing and serving ice cream at the same time. Organize the items in an appealing arrangement that leaves open pretend setting possibilities (store, party) for toddlers to create.
Invite 3–4 toddlers to play with ice cream toys. Introduce an ice cream focus for the play but avoid determining a specific activity and assigning roles. Suggest possibilities, such as serving and eating ice cream at a birthday party or an ice cream shop, if toddlers seem unclear about how to proceed. Describe items and show how to use a scoop (some toddlers may be familiar with soft ice cream from a machine only).
Serve as an attentive observer who describes how specific toddlers are using the materials and offers suggestions, not directives, if toddlers seem to need guidance. It may be helpful to describe how an ice cream shop works or how ice cream cones get prepared and served at a party. If appropriate, briefly enter the play by serving as a pretend consumer or server of the ice cream. This offers an example of a role and helps a toddler(s) carry out a counterpart role. Example: A toddler’s pretend customer role at an ice cream shop is clarified when you pretend to be a server who asks about flavors, numbers of scoops, and whether a customer wants the ice cream in a cone or bowl. Also serve as a props manager who provides additional materials as needed and facilitates turn taking with items and tasks.
Support opportunities for toddlers to engage in cooperative play, even if it is a brief exchange. Examples: If you pretend to be an ice cream server, ask who wants to be the next server and physically hand off some of the materials. Draw attention to a toddler who needs a counterpart role, such as “Maria is looking for ice cream customers. Would someone like to get some pretend ice cream from Maria?”
Conclude the activity by inviting toddlers to put away the ice cream toys and also talk about what they did during the play.
The use of materials related to ice cream provides a common focus that may facilitate cooperative play. Play with others can be more difficult for a toddler to consider and initiate when peers are engaged in parallel play focused on a range of interests and materials. Cooperative play does not automatically happen, however, especially at this age. Look for opportunities to help two or more toddlers connect in complementary roles and communicate, as suggested in the activity description. Also look for a chance to help a toddler experience a cooperative play exchange by entering into a one-to-one interaction with a toddler in a role he/she chooses. Example: Ask a toddler if he/she would like to be a pretend server or a customer at an ice cream shop. Role play the counterpart role for a minute or two.
Taking on a pretend role is a cognitive task that a toddler may not be able or interested in sustaining for more than a few minutes. Anticipate that some toddlers will change their roles frequently. Be attentive to how you might help facilitate the transitions. Also, notice the possibility that a toddler may not be interested in a role. Some toddlers may be mostly interested in the materials, especially if they are new, and want to spend time playing with them in a mostly solitary or parallel arrangement, maybe without assigning a role to themselves.
Staying fully focused on the toddlers’ play can provide security for toddlers. Generally, toddlers manage activities with peers better when a caregiver is actively observing.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: baskets of related books such as, A Little Bit of Soul Food by Amy Wilson Sanger, Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert, ¡Hola! Jalapeño by Amy Wilson Sanger, My Very First Book of Food by Eric Carle, Tacos! by Lotta Nieminen, toy phone, toy camera, people and animal figures, manipulative builders, such as Duplo® blocks
Extend Options 2 and 3 activities. Add additional novel materials, such as a toy phone and camera, to the building center to foster pretend play. Arrange people and animal figures with manipulative builders, such as Duplo® blocks. Make the Option 3 materials available for open-ended play. Toddlers will normally repeat their play with the ice cream shop props and begin to extend and enhance their pretend roles and interactions. Allow ample time for the pretend play to develop and deepen. If after a few weeks toddlers are no longer interested in the materials, put them away and present them again in 8–10 weeks.
Materials Needed: Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats, dolls or animal figures
In addition to offering each of the activity options to older toddlers, provide opportunities for children of other ages in your setting to engage in pretend play. Mobile infants often begin to pretend by feeding dolls or animal figures. Younger toddlers (12–24 months) sometimes talk to animal figures or pretend they are talking or making sounds. You may see early signs of mental representation if a toddler pushes a block on the floor while making a car sound. Using the block to represent a car is a mental representation that later in life involves using marks on paper to represent words and ideas. Introduce pretend play with mobile infants and toddlers in a one-to-one interaction.
Preschool-age children will enjoy hearing the story of Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats. When Peter puts his father’s hat on and pretends to be Father, his mother plays along.
If a child arrives, already pretending to be a pirate, superhero, or other character, consider encouraging him/her to place pretend props in a cubby area. Let the child and parent know you are asking the pretend character to remain in the cubby. Assure the child he/she may resume the role at the end of the day.
© 2024 The Trustees of Purdue University | All Rights Reserved