Dramatic Play Fuels Learning & Connection

Just as we gain new meaning through the same stories in the Torah year after year, children find comfort, form new connections, and deepen their understandings as they revisit stories through their play again and again.

Since the beginning of the school year, the children in our Etzim (Trees) class have been especially interested in firefighter play. Child-initiated dramatic play such as this provides endless opportunity for learning, growth, and connection. Racing from emergency to emergency and manipulating their firefighting tools strengthens their physical development, while diving into stories and sharing knowledge with one another about fire trucks builds vocabulary and critical early literacy skills. As they share their ideas with one another and collaborate to reach a common goal, they are building communication skills, problem solving, critical thinking and empathy.

As the children’s interest in firefighting continued the class eagerly consumed reading as many fire-safety stories as they can get their hands on! While reading a story called Amanda’s Fire Drill, the children became especially intrigued by the map in the story which showed the building’s fire exits. They were excited to learn that we also have maps throughout the school showing our fire exits and began noticing them in each room. The children had many questions about the various fire safety devices that they observed throughout the school, so we made a plan to visit Mohan Mistry, our WHC Director of Engineering, who the children know is our resource for all questions about the building!

Preparing for a visit to Mohan’s office was an opportunity to build on the children’s early literacy skills as they worked together on writing/drawing a letter for Mohan with their inquiries. When we went to Mohan’s office, he graciously answered the children’s questions and took the class on a mini-building tour to look for two types of fire safety devices that the children had been noticing – they learned that these are called strobes with sound and pull stations. As the children continue their dramatic play firefighting and have discussions about fire safety, it is exciting to see them incorporate their growing knowledge into their play and conversations!

Children are often drawn to powerful roles in their dramatic play with a strong sense of purpose such as superheroes, doctors, and firefighters. This type of play gives children the opportunity to explore strength, power, and bravery in healthy ways as they experiment with how it feels to take on these roles. They help children process their understandings of the world and feel empowered to make an impact in it.

I am especially intrigued by what this type of play tells us about our innate nature as humans to seek out purpose and make a positive impact on our world. I wonder what we can learn through the children’s play about what it means to be active, empowered members of our community? May our children inspire us to reflect on the roles that we are modeling for them through our actions, and whether they align with our values and our own sense of purpose.

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