Trivia Question #4: What specific area inside early elementary classrooms nearly disappeared from 1998 to 2010?
Answer: dramatic play areas ā for imaginative play!
From 1998 to 2010, the percentage of classrooms with a dramatic play area dropped from 90% to 58% (Bassok, Latham, & Rorem, 2016). Educators saw the negative academic impact of eliminating imaginary play in early elementary classrooms, and dramatic play areas came back - yay!
Play is such an integral part of a childās development as it affects all areas of growth including, but not limited to, social skills, communication development, cognition, problem solving and reasoning skills, and imaginative thinking.
How Does Play Provides the Opportunity to Develop Executive Function?
Cognitive Flexibility = Problem Solving and Perspective Taking
- Thinking about something in multiple ways and perspective taking (e.g., considering someone elseās perspective on a situation or solving a problem in multiple ways).
Working Memory = Multi-Tasking
- Keeping information in mind and manipulating it in some way
Inhibitory Control = Social-Emotional and Impulse Control
- Deliberately suppressing attention (and subsequent response) to something such as ignoring a distraction, stopping an impulsive utterance or action, or overcoming a highly learned response.
Information adapted from āScreen Time, the Pandemic, and Developmentā by Angie Neal, M.S., CCC-SLP, SC State Dept. of Education
Here are a few tips for how to best encourage your childās speech and language growth through play:
- Show some emotion: Make sure your face, voice and entire body is showing the emotion you want to exude. So, when you look your child in the eye, smile wholeheartedly and say, āIām excited to be playing with you today!ā or āThis is really fun!ā Animate your reactions as you play and pretend, too!
- Play when you can: I know that it may seem overwhelming to think of playing for hours a day with your child. Instead of becoming overwhelmed, try to play for one or two 15-minute increments a day. For parents who work full-time and have several children, you may find this to be a more realistic expectation. Also seek to involve other children! Children are great models for each other, and we know that many times siblings are vying for your attention, too. Incorporating siblings in play, seems to help provide the much-needed parental attention while teaching the whole family how to interact with a child who is developing speech and language skills.
- Turn off the TV and turn on some music: To encourage imaginative play, consider eliminating visual distractions like television and if you must have some background noise, play some child-friendly music instead.
- Change out toys the child has available to them: When you periodically change out toys available, you may see very different types of play. This can keep a childās play dynamic and guard against stagnation.
- Mix and match toys: Mixing and matching toys that would not typically go together encourages growth in a childās imaginative play.
- Use nondescript toys/objects: Some of the best pretend play comes from using objects that donāt seem to look like anything in particular! Have you ever placed a few boxes and a bucket of blocks in the middle of a room and watched preschoolers play? Itās amazing to see their imaginations at work! The more nondescript the object, the more creativity goes into play.
This summer, donāt underestimate all the playtime and conversations you will have with your child ā you are helping to promote their speech and language growth! Have a wonderful summer! š
Information adapted from: Maria Del Duca, M.S. CCC-SLP, āKid Confidential: Teaching Parents the Power of Playā
