ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some ways in which drama in the Early Years can be used as an effective learning medium, from adult intervention of play in the home/role play corner to actively making stories with children. It discusses the use of drama strategies as a way of providing time for reflection and widening experience within story-making. In doing so the author hopes to ease anxieties about drama and provide Early Years educators with a strong rationale for including drama as a teaching tool within the planning of the curriculum. However, pretend-play as a feature of child play needs careful examination. In the Early Years classroom the most obvious place for a teacher to introduce new ways of using the 'as if' is in the home/role play corner. By adulthood the wonderful spontaneity and creativity found in small children has been replaced by feelings of inadequacy and social foolishness.
