Think back to your childhood: did you ever play house with your siblings or friends, pretending to be the mommy, the daddy, the baby, etc.? Did you ever put on a dress and pretend to be a princess, or use a stick as a sword and pretend to be a pirate? Did you ever put a Band-aid on a teddy bear when acting as a doctor or nurse? If you ever engaged in these activities, or similiar, then you were engaging in active dramatic play, an important learning experience for young children.
Playtime for kids is about more than running in circles or pretending a giant box is a spaceship. When children engage in play, they are also engaging in imagination and creativity. Play allows children to develop social skills like communication, problem solving, critical thinking skills, and more. Play also has direct links to literature as children who play often create their own stories through their imaginative actions.
Perhaps the most common connection between play and literacy is finger play, which allows children to learn spacial awareness, the simple concept of storytelling, and music. Finger play, think of games like 'I'm a little teapot' and 'Where is thump-kin', can use a variety of props and objects, but will most importantly use your hands and your body as its own prop. These games also improve vocabulary and are critical for developing oral language and even pronunciation.
Dramatic play when children 'pretend' scenarios, such as pretending to be doctors at a hospital, or teachers at a school. Dramatic play encourages children to recognize different roles in their lives and communities. With dramatic play, children can produce a wide variety of texts through the use of drawing, art, and storybooks. When engaging in dramatic play, children are acting out scenarios, in other words, they are telling a story without realizing it. These moments of storytelling allow children to explore the concepts of stories and their structures, which can later translate to a love of stories.
The concept of play has been studied and researched throughout history, but even more so after the 1940's, when child labor laws restricted the time children spent working, allowing them more time to enjoy their childhoods and develop their education. The following links provide research and development that closely explains the importance of dramatic play, and its ties to literacy.
Play and Literacy https://kaboom.org/resources/build-playground-toolkit/accessibility/play-and-development/play-and-literacy
Building Language and Literacy Through Play https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/building-language-literacy-through-play/
What is Dramatic Play? https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/what-dramatic-play-and-how-does-it-support-literacy-development-preschool/
The Power of Pretend Play in Language and Literacy Learning https://thegeniusofplay.org/genius/expert-advice/articles/the-power-of-pretend-play-in-language-and-literacy-learning.aspx#.YO7NLOhKhyw
How to Play with Kids https://www.todaysparent.com/family/family-life/how-to-play-with-your-kid/