Don’t be surprised when visiting the school if you see a princess or two, maybe a fire fighter, a chef, a mom, and a cowboy in the drama center. The drama center is limited only by the imagination. The teachers routinely change the props and transform them from the familiar kitchen and baby room to a restaurant, veterinarian or doctor’s office, restaurant, space station, grocery store and more.
The children learn many essential developmental skills when participating in the play in the drama center. They learn about themselves as they assume different roles and try to make sense of what they have observed. They develop higher level thinking and emotional skills when they negotiate, transfer knowledge from one situation to another, and consider the perspectives of others. They practice math concepts when they sort, compare, and experiment with different sizes and weights.
A staff favorite is observing how the children “play school” during their free choice time in the afternoon during the first weeks of kindergarten. Some are the teachers calling on others and giving approval. They are making sense of what they experienced in their morning classes.
Let us remember the saying of one of humanity’s greatest scientists, Albert Einstein, “Imagination is more important that knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
