♪ Dr. Jeffrey Trawick-Smith: Play just does so many things for children.
When children are playing, they learn social skills,
they learn language, they exercise their large muscles,
they create and they imagine, they acquire abilities to kind of regulate their emotions.
When children pretend, they tend to play out things that they already know about.
And so one thing that is very helpful to children is to provide
prior experiences; to actually give children some background knowledge
that they can base their pretend play on.
Maureen Ostroff: We read a nonfiction book about baking. When I asked them what they knew about baking,
they kept on telling me, “You cook, you cook, you cook.”
Teacher: What are you making, Mia?
Child: Soup.
Teacher: Soup? In the Bakery?
Child: No. Teacher: No?
Teacher: I thought you were making cookies.
We talked about: cooking is sometimes done on top of the stove,
baking is usually done in the oven - that's the difference between the two.
So by the end of the week, they realized a baker bakes items
like breads and cookies, where a cook might make soup.
Our dramatic play was a bakery this time, and they needed a lot of guidance and focus.
And we tried it with just pictures on the wall to help them understand these concepts
of cooking and working together and whose job is what.
The teacher really needed to be there during this week to support their self-regulation,
because they were having a hard time taking turns,
seeing someone else’s perspective on something.
Teacher: Remember she shared with you, and now you’re sharing with Mia.
All right, Mia, put those in the oven. And then she’s going to share with you. [child screams]
Child: Tiffany go there.
Teacher: Well, say, "Tiffany, excuse me, please.”
Child: Tiffany excuse me, please.
Teacher: I have to put my cookies in the oven.
Child: I have to put my cookies in the oven.
Teacher: See? She moved for you; go ahead.
Dr. Trawick-Smith: One important role that teachers can play when they're interacting with children in play
is to help peers to interact with one another,
to help them to kind of have conversations,
to share their ideas, to collaborate on various play themes.
Some children need support in that area.
Maureen: They’re using this. When they’re done with this particular cookie cutter,
then they’re going to give it to you. Or we’ll use a timer. Here; let’s set it three minutes.
Maureen: Alright, I’m going to set the timer. It says how many minutes?
Child: Um...five.
Maureen: It says three.
Child: Three. Maureen: Alright?
Maureen: After the first day of the teacher in there, we were hoping that teacher could kind of
come out a little bit into the rest of the classroom, and they just weren’t able to. [laughs]
Teacher: Why don’t you ask her. Say, "Tiffany, can I please use the measuring spoons?”
Child: Can I please use those?
Teacher: No? Why not, Tiffany?
Child: Cause I’m using them. Teacher: You're using them?
Teacher: So why don’t you say, "Can I please use them when you’re finished?’”
Maureen: And I know this was an area that they all wanted to be at,
and I wanted it to be successful for them, cause there’s so much they can learn.
It really needed all week long a teacher to be there to facilitate that kind of play.
Teacher: Well, he can put it on the bottom shelf. Look, there’s two shelves.
See, put your cookies on the bottom shelf, Max.
Teacher: Oh, you had a hot mitt on. Alright, set your timer.
Maureen: Next week it'll be out again. We're hoping that it won't need so much teacher direction.
Child: Everybody you gotta come buy cookies…
Child: Look! Cookies! Ready right now!
Teacher: Oh! Child: Come buy cookies! Teacher: Okay; we'll come over.
Child: Ms. Maureen, there are cookies! Maureen: They're ready?
Child: Yes! They're gonna run out!
[unintelligible]
Everyone you gotta come play!
Maureen: They were using a lot of symbolic, imaginary play. They were asking for money.
Maureen: Best cookies ever. Child: I need three dollars.
Maureen: Three dollars? Child [customer]: Here's cookies.
Child [baker]: No dollars. Here, thank you.
Maureen: And they were pretending to go in their pocket and pull out the money.
I mean, even though everything else was very realistic,
those were one of the parts that was very symbolic that they can use their imagination,
which is so important for them to... to use their brain and that higher level thinking.
♪