Nursery Equipment: Role play - Act up!

Early years practitioners will be familiar with the term 'role play'. Most settings will have a designated area where children can recreate a whole range of experiences - from being a member of a family, tending to an injured animal or travelling into outer space.

This kind of play is integral to childhood and role play deserves to be given high status by adults, not least because it provides a meaningful context for a wide range of learning and teaching opportunities. If used to its full potential, a role-play area will offer children the chance to learn across the whole EYFS curriculum.

When planning, practitioners need to be aware of two distinct kinds of pretend play: sociodramatic play (in which children take on roles from their real lives, such as family and friends and familiar scenarios) and thematic fantasy play, where they create stories from their imagination. It is important they have opportunities for both, and that planning caters for these needs.

Those working with two-year-olds will be keenly aware of their need to imitate, and offering opportunities for domestic play with familiar props will ensure that children can explore episodes from their own lives, and make meaning of the world around them. If children are provided with resources that are as real as possible, then they are likely to treat them with greater respect.

Ensure too that your resources reflect the cultural background of the families in your setting. In this way all children feel included, and will be able to recreate cooking scenarios they have seen at home.

Plastic food is popular with practitioners because it is washable and durable. Be aware, however, that it neither looks nor behaves like real food. Those working with older children in the EYFS (ages three to five) might consider offering them the opportunity to create food from junk modelling materials, thereby increasing ownership of the resources. Where possible, play dough should be available for children in domestic role-play situations, and those that might involve food and cooking.

Taking this approach increases the potential for mathematical development. Stretchy dough (made by mixing warm water with self-raising flour until a dough-like consistency is reached) is ideal as children will be able to manipulate it and knead it for their own purposes.

Costumes

There can be no doubt that young children enjoy dressing up. Providing at least one full-length mirror is essential for admiring themselves and their friends. But themed role-play outfits can cause behaviour management problems - there never seem to be enough, they frequently don't fit and storage can also be difficult.

While such outfits may help some who want to take on a particular role, they can also be constraining. To use such costumes children need to understand how to 'be' when in role, and clearly first-hand experience feeds such play to great effect.

A selection of fabrics offers the opportunity for children to create their own costumes, and is invaluable when used with imaginatively themed role-play areas. They then have the opportunity to take on a wider variety of roles than those prescribed by ready-made outfits.

An imaginative play area offers a chance to tell stories of a different kind to those told at home. They should be planned and constructed with the children, to increase a sense of ownership and belonging. Discuss how they would like the role-play area to be, and what should be in it.

Make sure they understand they can make things to equip the role-play area and rearrange the furniture if necessary. It is inappropriate for adults to construct such an area without the children present, and then expect them to regard it with as much satisfaction as if they had built it themselves.

ADULT ROLE

The adults should give status to role play. Observe the children and make note of those who 'grow' through it. (Many children achieve beyond expectations - the world of 'let's pretend' is an empowering one.)

Children need permission to play effectively. It's fine to have more than four children in the role-play area at a time! Problems arise when numbers accessing the area are limited, play is restricted and the potential to encourage collaboration and co-operation becomes constrained. By allowing children to move freely, stories have the potential to grow and develop in a way that is impossible if they remain confined to a small space.

Give children's play meaning by assuming a role - in a shop as a customer, for example. Provide a role model for effective talk and discussion. Avoid appropriating the children's play to test them - asking questions such as 'What colour is this?' 'How many are there?' will only close down their play and will not enrich their experiences.

OUTDOORS

Many of us will have happy memories of the role play that we engaged in while we were outside. Building dens, creating tea parties for dolls and simply being 'explorers' were all the richer for being outside. So, it is essential that practitioners plan opportunities for children to engage in high-quality role-play experiences in the outdoor area. The outdoors offers greater freedom of movement, and encourages normally shy and reticent children to be vociferous and confident.

Providing prams, buggies, shopping baskets, vehicles and the like will ensure that sociodramatic play can take place effectively. Children are frequently discouraged from moving freely with such resources indoors because of the confines of space.

Themed areas should include activities they might have experienced outside, for example, a boot fair, a market or car wash. Incorporating vehicles can have a positive effect on children's use of them, giving them a sense of purpose.

Creating collections of resources that reflect the opportunities provided by changes in the weather can be extremely helpful - items for barbecue play would be ideal for fine days, for example.

Literacy can readily be embedded in such activities by providing items to reflect real-life activities such as notebooks, diaries, menus and price tags. Make sure that you maximise the chance to get children to engage with the written word even further by incorporating reading material into the play such as car manuals, highway codes, menus and magazines.

The outdoors lends itself equally well to imaginative role play - building a den, for example. Avoid buying expensive plastic houses or installing fixed equipment, usually representative of one kind of place (a pirate ship for example).

These may look attractive and inviting to adults, and may appeal to some of the children initially, but ultimately they can be limiting and prevent the development of creativity and imagination. You will get better value for money from more flexible resources (see below).

Ensure that children know that they can add other resources to the den, such as cooking equipment, magnifying glasses or binoculars. It is also vital that they incorporate natural materials in their play - make-believe food from pebbles and stones, leaves for plates.

It goes without saying that practitioners should be clear that appropriate health and safety procedures are in place.

CHECKLIST: CHOOSING RESOURCES

When planning to buy resources for role play, choose the most open-ended and flexible possible, ensuring that you promote children's creativity and develop their imagination. Have a collection of items from which children can build their own dens. This might include:

- A-frames
- broom handles
- bamboo canes
- masking tape
- clothes pegs
- range of fabrics and tarpaulins
- ropes
- large cardboard boxes
- balls of string

BOOKS

FOR CHILDREN

Children's books to stimulate role play, indoors and outside:

- Once Upon a Tide by Tony Mitton (Corgi Children's Books)

- If We Had a Sailboat by Jonathan Emmett and Adrian Reynolds (Oxford University Press)

- Jamela's Dress by Niki Daly (Frances Lincoln)

- Sally's Secret by Shirley Hughes (Red Fox)

- Silver Shoes by Caroline Binch (Frances Lincoln)

- Where's Julius? by John Burningham (Red Fox)

- The Magic Bed by John Burningham

- Not a Box by Antoinette Portis and Not a Stick, by the same author, is due out in paperback shortly (HarperCollins)

- Let's Play Fairies! by Sue Heap (Walker Books)

FOR PRACTITIONERS

- Supporting Drama and Imaginative Play in the Early Years by Lesley Hendy and L Toon (Open University Press)

- Drama and Traditional Story for The Early Years by N Toye and F Prendiville (Routledge)

- Boys and Girls: Superheroes in the Doll's Corner by Vivian Gussin Paley (University of Chicago Press)

USEFUL WEBSITES

- Mindstretchers offers a wide range of resources for den building and imaginative role-play outdoors (www.mindstretchers.co.uk)

- Eduzone sells an attractive range of multicultural cooking equipment suitable for use in domestic play (www.eduzone.co.uk)

- TTS Early Steps catalogue contains some useful items, including a stainless steel cookware set (www.tts-group.co.uk)