At RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Nicholas, coming back and going into the new year, the toddlers have opened up to a new play skill that allows for peer to engagement Last year, for the month of December Santa was able to drop by and deliver wonderful gifts to the toddlers. The children came across a coffee maker, toaster and a mini shopping cart. They were thrilled and delighted, they immediately got busy and couldn’t stop.
In the first week of January, the children were engaged in the kitchen/dramatic play area. A small group would set up cups and plates along with food on the plate. They would set up chairs and allow their peers to engage with them, Hudson and Liam came across our toaster; they would look for waffles and plain bread within our play materials. Liam would ask his peers, “Toast?” And tried to push down the bread pretending he was toasting it. Hudson then made his way over to the table and asked Liam. “You want coffee, Liam?” Hudson grabbed the coffee maker along with the coffee pod and his cup, pushing down on the coffee pods, he heard the coffee maker making a noise. He said to Liam, “Liam it’s making coffee.” He then found a cup and poured his “hot coffee” and served it to Liam. Liam giggled and said, “I want hot chocolate now.” Hudson pretended to sprinkle something into his drink and said, “Okay, hot chocolate now”.
Another day, another small group found plates and cups in the classroom. They were able to set up the table and find different types of food. Summer, Anvi and Harlow found baby dolls. Anvi went around the table trying to set up her dolls, and once complete, she then sat down and engaged in pretend play, while Summer was pretending to be in the kitchen cooking the babies their favourite food. We observed Harlow was using her imagination skills as used the back of the classroom to pretend she was “flipping pancakes” by doing the flipping motion with a kitchen utensil. The girls then sat down with their dolls and started to pretend to eat their food and feed their babies. Harlow and Summer began having a discussion with each other regarding the babies. Summer said to Harlow, “Harlow, my baby is eating peas and a burger.” Harlow responded, “I have carrots do you want it?” Summer then grabbed a spoon and tried feeding her baby, she would say out loud, “Yummy, right baby?”
Looking at their domains and their development, this age is an important and unique opportunity for young learners, as it allows them to explore and use their creativity, role play what they have observed from their parents, family members or educators. In regards to social development, it’s a social interest as they engage in short groups with their peers. Emotional development; we see expression of feelings in language and in pretend play. With communication, language and literacy, they practice receptive language as many children are able to understand and comprehend longer sentences, use expressive language such as combining words and creating sentences, asking questions and creating conversations with people around them. Lastly, cognitive development is supported through symbolic thinking, as children use imagination and pretend play to act out real-life experiences such as cooking, baking, and caring for babies.
Many of our young toddlers have been seeking pretend play. We will provide our toddlers with more activities that allow them to engage in different types of dramatic play, and observe how they are challenged in the toddler room.
