ABSTRACT
Over the past decade or so researchers have renewed their interest in the role of dramatic play in the lives of children, particularly as it relates to children’s performance in school. Dramatic play is defined as fantasy, or pretense, play where children enact, either socially or alone, some make-believe theme. The commonality among these different labels is that children suspend reality in their interactions with peers, adults, and props. While recognized as a hallmark of the preschool period, dramatic play can be observed from the toddler period, throughout childhood, and into adulthood (see Fagen, 1996). Researchers, however, have been most interested in the ways in which aspects of young children’s dramatic play, such as the oral language that accompanies dramatic play, relate to various educational and developmental outcomes, such as literacy. To this end, a number of integrative reviews have been written on the role of dramatic play in children’s social and cognitive development (e.g., Christie & Johnsen, 1983; Rubin, Fein, & Vandenberg, 1983; Smith, 1982) and in oral language and literacy development (Fein, 1980; Garvey, 1984; Pellegrini, 1985a ; Pellegrini & Galda, 1993; Wagner, 1992). The reader interested in general reviews of the role of dramatic play on aspects of children’s development is referred to these excellent pieces.
