Teaching Drama in Kindergarten

Drama in Kindergarten (Ages 4-5)

What does drama look like in kindergarten? Rather than performing in a school play or learning acting techniques, drama in early childhood focuses on the child’s imagination and how they express their feelings and views. Children can explore stories about fictitious characters and real-life people through dramatic play. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority display several content descriptors specifically for drama in kindergarten. The ability for the children to comprehend and achieve these descriptors once completing kindergarten is the key objective for teachers, staff and families. Examples of these descriptors include ‘Explore how characters express ideas in dramatic play (VCADRE013)’ and ‘Present drama that communicates major elements of stories and/or experiences (VCADRP015)’.

Drama is also taught in kindergarten as it contributes to achieving some of the learning outcomes found in the Early Years Learning Framework. These are mainly learning outcome four, ‘Children are confident and involved learners’ and learning outcome five ‘Children are effective communicators’. These learning outcomes were designed with the intent of assisting early childhood educators in providing the best opportunities and education for children.

Creative Learning Environment

In order to promote dramatic play within the classroom, educators should consider the learning environment. The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority have formed seven standards that educators should follow in order to deliver the best possible education for children in early childhood. The third quality standard refers to the physical environment, ensuring that it is a safe space that provides children with numerous resources to encourage their learning and development. Therefore, the creative learning environment is a crucial part of the children’s learning that should not be overlooked. A creative process strategy should be implemented by organising the environment in a way that provokes learning. In doing so, educators can allow the children to have access to a wide variety of tools and materials within the learning environment.

Setting up dramatic play areas to promote social-role playing is commonly used in kindergartens. This can be achieved by dedicating a spacious area of the classroom to arrange materials such as clothing and furniture that are suitable for children. These can be items such as tables, chairs, prams, aprons, hats etc. For instance, a paper written by Hope-Southcott revealed how she created a bakery center play area at a kindergarten which consisted of materials and tools such as paper bags, play-dough and a storefront window. She found that she was able to obtain the children’s attention and engagement through the combination of teacher guidance, having all the children participate in the learning experience and adding new tools and materials. This concept of social role-playing and dress-ups allows the children to use their imagination and express their thoughts and views on social concepts.

Another form of drama that can be completed in kindergartens, being puppetry. Puppets can easily be made or purchased and be a valuable tool for children to utilise. Educators can encourage children to communicate their innermost thoughts and feelings by taking on a character when playing with the puppets directly. The child’s feelings can be expressed by the emotions depicted by the puppet, and the topic being raised by the child through the puppet can give an insight into the thoughts and concerns the child could be having.

Benefits of Teaching Drama

Teaching drama in kindergarten has many benefits to the children’s learning and development. It can support the development of several learning domains. Firstly, the use of language when engaging in dramatic role-play can assist in the development of communication and listening skills. Drama taught in early childhood can help children improve their oral language fluency, understanding of context in language, and their overall language development including sentence structures and phonological awareness.

A recent study conducted by Cavanaugh, Clemence, Teale, Rule and Montgomery (2017) supports this idea as they found that kindergarten children who practiced literacy skills through guided play displayed significantly greater scores in a basic early literacy skills test compared to those who practiced the same literacy skills through engagement of activities designed by the teacher. It was also discovered that the role of play can benefit children in the development of the correct use of new vocabulary, and storytelling skills.

A link between children’s engagement in dramatic play and an improvement in their writing skills has also been established. A study completed with kindergarten children showed a correlation between participating in dramatic play and both improvements in writing skills as well as displaying greater positive feelings towards the process of writing.

Furthermore, teaching drama in kindergarten allows the children another outlet in communicating and expressing their thoughts and feelings. A pedagogical approach in education known as the Reggio Emilia approach acknowledges children as being great and competent learners. It also recognises that children express themselves in many different ways. As mentioned earlier, the educator’s role in organising the creative environment plays a vital part in allowing the children access to tools and materials to control how they express themselves.

Teaching Strategies to Engage Children’s Learning

Several teaching strategies can be implemented by educators within the kindergarten classroom. These are activities that aim to promote the children’s imagination and maintain their engagement. One of the activities is called ‘Hot Seating’ where one of the children is seated in a chair among the rest of the children. They must then take on the role of a character that they can be given or can make up for themselves (e.g. a circus performer). The other children then ask that child different questions regarding their character (e.g. can you juggle?). The child in the seat then answers these questions from the perspective of their character.

Another activity that can be seen as a valuable teaching strategy is known as ‘mind mapping’. This involves the group of children acting out an improvised scene until the educator interjects by tapping one of the children on the shoulder. The educator then asks that child a question about what their character is currently thinking of feeling during the current time of the improvised scene. 

Teaching Practices for Diverse Backgrounds

Teaching drama to children with diverse backgrounds is actually rather beneficial to their learning and development. This is the case, as drama is an inclusive form of art that also heavily involves the use of non-verbal communication. Due to its multidimensional nature, children of diverse backgrounds can engage in dramatic play to the level that they feel most comfortable with. Several studies have shown that children with culturally diverse backgrounds who engage in drama have shown an improvement in their social skills and academic performance. Therefore, educators should adopt a calm and approachable nature to encourage children with diverse backgrounds to participate in dramatic play. If they are not comfortable with participating, educators should not pressure or force them to engage.

Assessment Strategy

A potential assessment strategy that can be implemented when teaching drama is the use of anecdotal records. The assessment of children’s learning and development is part of the learning advancement cycle, which early childhood educators should implement. Observing the child during dramatic play is directly linked to assessment, and is the first phase in the learning advancement cycle. While observing the child, the educator should take a mental note on the learning behaviours taking place. At a later time of the day, the educator can then record a description on the observed behaviours that displayed learning development and accomplishments. A combination of several anecdotal records throughout a significant time-frame is more beneficial as it can more accurately depict the child’s gradual learning and development. In order to interpret these anecdotal records which is the second phase of the learning advancement cycle, the educator should refer to the content descriptors found in the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, and the learning outcomes in the Early Years Learning Framework. The aim of the educator is to link the children’s behaviours observed in the anecdotal records to these curriculum documents. This assessment can then assist educators in planning future learning programs and activities which is the third and final phase of the learning advancement cycle.

References

Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (2018). National quality standard. Retrieved from https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-07/RevisedNQSHandoutA4.pdf

Australian Government Department of Education and Training. (2009). Belonging, being & becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia. Retrieved from https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia_0.pdf

Cavanaugh, D. M., Clemence, K. J., Teale, M. M., Rule, A. C., & Montgomery, S. E. (2017). Kindergarten scores, storytelling, executive function, and motivation improved through literacy-rich guided play. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(6), 831-843. doi: 10.1007/s10643-016-0832-8

Dinham, J., & Chalk, B. (2018). It’s arts play: Young children belonging, being and becoming through the arts. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.

Farmer, D. (2019). Hot seat activity [image]. Retrieved from https://dramaresource.com/hot-seating/

Fellowes, J., & Oakley, G. (2014). Language, literacy and early childhood education. South Melbourne, VIC.: Oxford University Press.

Griffiths, F., & Kirkbride, T. (2009). Enriched environments: A dialogue with people, places and materials. In Griffiths, F. (Ed.), Supporting children’s creativity through music, dance, drama and art: Creative conversations in the Early Years (pp. 27-41). Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com-ezproxy2-acu-edu-au.ezproxy1.acu.edu.au/lib/acu/reader.action?docID=1020279

Growing Years Learning Center. (2018). Children playing with puppets [photograph]. Retrieved from http://growingyears.net/mission-statement/puppetshow/

Hope-Southcott, L. (2013). The use of play and inquiry in a kindergarten drama centre: A teacher’s critical reflection. Canadian Children, 38(1), 39-46. Retrieved from https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=8f1d92b3-5100-401b-9e34-12c317428536%40sessionmgr4008

Ihmeideh, F. (2015). The impact of dramatic play centre on promoting the development of children’s early writing skills. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 23(2), 250-263. Retrieved from https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=fd65cf9b-fa23-4236-9f92-e29359367d04%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=102274213&db=eue

Jackson, J. T., & Bynum, N. (1997). Drama: A teaching tool for culturally diverse children with behavioural disorders. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 24(3), 158-167. Retrieved from https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0ef06eed-5045-4a8f-a144-7a48b8ba298a%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=1997-30017-002&db=psyh

McDevitt, T. M., Ormrod, J. E., Cupit, G., Chandler, M., & Aloa, V. (2013). Child Development and Education. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

Nutbrown, C. (2011). Key concepts in early childhood education and care. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy1.acu.edu.au/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=689542

Scrafton, E., & Whitington, V. (2015). The accessibility of socio-dramatic play to culturally and linguistically diverse Australian pre-schoolers. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 23(2), 213-228. doi: 10.1080/1350293X.2015.1016806

Storytime Preschool. (2014). Children playing dress-ups [photograph]. Retrieved from https://storytime-preschool.org/category/uncategorized/page/3/

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2019). Level D (towards foundation): Drama. Retrieved from https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/leveld(towardsfoundation)?layout=1&d=dr