Enabling Environments: Collections - Super!

Superhero play is a form of dramatic play that children use to act out their fears and make sense of their lives. When they put on a cape or zap a monster with a magic wand, they feel powerful and in control. They are drawn to the special powers that superheroes possess and they enjoy re-enacting narratives involving heroes, villains, danger and bravery. Open-ended resources such as capes, lengths of fabric and junk materials that children can use to make their own weapons or magic wands will go a long way to help them create their fantasy scenarios.

Some children will use this form of play to explore good and evil, life and death and what it means to be powerful. Others will enjoy testing their physical abilities as they jump, spin and pounce. Children will also use different media to explore these concepts. Some will prefer dramatic role play while others will use small-world figures to act out their play scenarios.

CORE ROLE-PLAY COLLECTION

A collection of resources to support superhero play should be a feature of your continuous (everyday) provision. Superheroes range from the traditional caped crusaders, such as Spiderman, Superman and Batman, to modern-day action heroes such as cBeebies' Tree Fu Tom, Power Rangers and Ben 10. Other characters that are closely linked to this kind of play include monsters, aliens, knights, martial arts experts, army action figures, witches, princesses, stepmothers and fairies.

Practitioners should not be put off by the challenging nature of superhero play, which on the surface may look like loud, boisterous and physical play. Instead, they should look at the actual learning that's taking place - storytelling, negotiation and problem-solving.

Nikki Oldhams, head teacher at Chelwood Nursery School, south-east London, said that since the setting embraced superhero play, children have developed their play from familiar characters to inventing their own characters such as Sun Man, who can heat things until they melt, and Ice Cream Man, who wears a cape with the letter 'i' on the back.

She says, 'We support the stories the children are creating in their role play. We encourage them to explore the characters by providing and developing costumes, helping them make props, developing the stories, doing storyboards and filming their role play. It develops really strongly in terms of high-level thinking because they create the story and the whole characterisation.'

Here are some points to consider when building up a core collection of resources for role play:

• Provide a variety of fabric pieces of various lengths, textures and colours that children can use to make their own costumes. Such an approach enables children to learn about fastening and tying and allows those with envelopment schemas to wrap themselves up in the capes.

• Ensure that there is enough fabric or capes for a group of children to play collaboratively.

• Superheroes want to climb up a climbing frame, leap off and feel like they're flying through the air. When making your own capes, ensure that they are designed with this in mind: short-length capes with Velcro fastenings on the neck.

• Commercially-produced superhero costumes tend to limit children's play so, when buying role-play costumes, opt for accessories like capes or cuffs that provide starting points to stimulate the imagination. Try the Superhero Writable Cape, £7.95, with a write on/off patch; the set of four Glitzy Superhero Capes, £29.95, for girls (and boys), or the Super Hero Capes Set of four, £29.95, from Cosy Direct on 01332 370152. The Superhero Dress Up Set 2, £49.95, a set of three outfits which each includes a cape, mask and pair of gauntlets, is available from www.tts-group.co.uk.

• For children who enjoy covering their heads or faces, the Bat/Spider Reversible Hood, £8.99, from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk has been designed to pick up on the potential of the play experience without being too prescriptive. It comes with a Bat/Spider reversible cape, £20.99. Also in the collection is an Adventure Cape, £12.99 and a Dragon/Knight Reversible Cape, £22.49.

• Masks are useful accessories in superhero play. Help children make their own or buy a set of 24 Flocked Eye Masks, £8.64, from www.bakerross.co.uk, that children can decorate themselves. Alternatively, try the set of three Superhero Masks, £9.99, from Cosy Direct.

• For a full set of role-play superhero clothes, there's the fantasy play range from www.earlyexcellence.co.uk. Imaginative and complex stories will emerge as children dress up in the two red cloaks, £30; the set of five black eye masks,£5; the Superhero Belt, £12.50, which has pockets to hold light wands and lasers. And, all stories need a villain, or hero in disguise, so the Black Hooded Cape, £15, is a must.

• Help the children design and create their own superhero role-play area. This could be a den, office, rocket, sky scraper or vehicle. Ensure that you have plenty of open-ended resources to make this happen - pens, masking tape, cardboard boxes and string.

• Provide raw materials for junk modelling and making accessories. All superheroes need weapons, whether it's Spiderman's web, a magic wand or a light sabre. Try using empty cardboard rolls to create superhero cuffs that the children can decorate. Or, try the set of four Superheroes Cuffs, £17.95, from Cosy, which are designed for open-ended, non-gender application.

• Ensure that superhero play also takes place outdoors, where children have more space to spin around in their costumes, be chased and hide from baddies in dens. This form of play is a great opportunity to capture children's - especially boys' - writing and mark-making, so you could attach the Easiclip Trike Clipboard, £4.95, from Cosy, to a trike or bike. Also, use materials like the Camouflage Netting, £16.99, from www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk, to make dens.

SMALL WORLD RESOURCES

A large collection of miniature figures for use in small-world play is key if the children are to create their own rich fantasy worlds and storylines. However, good-quality commercially-produced superhero characters are costly and often considered too media driven.

Amy Britton, head of childcare at Kid Ease, a chain of six nurseries in the south-east of England, says that children are encouraged to use their imagination with the small-world figures in the existing collection. She says, 'We have little wooden characters and we cut out capes for them out of paper or fabrics. The children can decorate the capes and the characters can become what they want them to be.'

Early years consultant and author Helen Bromley has developed a resource pack to support practitioners in responding to children's interest in superhero play. Come Alive Superheroes includes a complete cross-curricular guide to superhero play; a set of wooden characters; printed plastic images of landscapes for background use in small-world and block play, and a resource disk with superhero music, sound effects, superhero clothes and templates for creating comic books.

Ms Bromley says, 'Children are fascinated by transformation and it is for this reason that these multi-cultural small-world figures have been designed to show the families' everyday identities as well as their "super selves". This allows for wider range of storytelling opportunities and gives children's creativity greater freedom.'

Christian Duckworth, primary school teacher and TEEM (Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia) reviewer, has used the CD-ROM, resource pack and wooden character set with children in Foundation and Key Stage 1 classes. She says, 'The programme comes with a variety of ideas for teaching. The supporting materials are excellent. For example, the small wooden superhero figures support the main programme but also enable children to explore scenarios and make up their own stories. The cross-curricular guide is full of excellent ideas for extending children's learning opportunities and outlines ways of using the materials in a variety of settings. I plan to use it in the coming autumn term as our focus topic is "people". The interactive screens are excellent and will stimulate a lot of discussion.'

The Come Alive Superheroes set is available through www.yellow-door.net, priced £90.

MORE INFORMATION

• All about...superhero play' by Nicole Weinstein is at www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/1093442

• Magic Capes, Amazing Powers: transforming superhero play in the classroom, Eric Hoffman, Redleaf Press (2004)

• Boys and Girls: superheroes in the doll corner, Vivien Gussey Paley, University of Chicago Press (1984)

BEST BUY

Watch children transform into a superhero or a fairy as they look in the mirror. Super W and Fairy, £66.60, are fun wall decorations from www.wesco-eshop.co.uk

BOOK CORNER

Traction Man Is Here by Mini Grey (Red Fox) - while exploring the 'foamy waters of the sink', superhero Traction Man narrowly escapes the evil intentions of the poisonous dishcloth and befriends trusty Scrubbing Brush.

Eliot Jones, Midnight Superhero by Anne Cottringer and Alex Smith (Scholastic) - when the clock strikes midnight, unassuming schoolboy Eliot turns superhero, returning escaped lions to the zoo and rescuing the world from a massive meteor.

Nat Fantastic by Giles Andreae and Katharine McEwen (Orchard Books) - one enormous sneeze transforms an ordinary schoolboy into a miniature superhero, ready to fight crocodiles and foil bank robbers.

For more books, see Zap! Pow!' by Helen Bromley at www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/975724