Discusses criteria of young children's dramatic play and various definitions of pretend play characteristics. Delineates differences and similarities between dramatic play and drama. Concludes that the term "dramatic play" can cover all kinds of pretend play, including symbolic, representational, imaginative, fantasy, thematic,…

Explains a classroom experiment to create a folk story about the trickster, a folklore metaphor, through dramatic role playing, improvisation, and imaginative play. Describes the activities used, including details of the students' dramatic role playing and the use of "gibberish" as language. Discusses the methods used for creation of a…

This study documented the ways in which the spontaneous narratives of a focus group of young children reflected the ways in which these children constructed meaning about their world and their place in it. Participants were six kindergartners who engaged in extended episodes of imaginary, dramatic play and produced complex descriptive narratives…

This article provides an overview of 3 approaches to peer-mediated intervention that have been effective in improving the social and communicative interactions among young children with autism and other developmental disabilities and their classmates without disabilities. These empirically supported peer-mediated interventions involve teaching…

A discussion of how to captivate an instructional television audience through dramatization and role-playing. (Author)

Offers suggestions as to how teachers of nursery through second grade children might develop a creative dramatics program from elements that are already in the curriculum and in the children themselves. (Author/SDH)

This paper examines aspects of the use of puppets with young children and provides guidelines on proper times for puppet use, basic movements, and patterns. The use of puppetry in dramatic play provides young children with opportunities for refining communication skills and defining self. Puppetry provides a means for children to explore their…

The process by which preschoolers construct cohesive oral text was studied in dramatic and constructive play settings. Four preschoolers, two boys and two girls ranging in age from 51 to 60 months, were videotaped for 30 minutes in their preschool classrooms. It was found that players in both contexts of play repeated introductory utterances to…

Defines perceptual criticism as an act of verbalizing sight and sound perceptions and contends that this creative synthesizing gives a play its meaning. Speech and Drama, 205 Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. Subscription Rate: $6.00 per year. (MH)

Role-playing activities were employed by an elementary school counselor to influence moral development. Support was not found for moral reasoning and social perspective-taking levels being influenced by role-playing. Evidence in support of the age-related nature of these constructs and their parallel pattern of development was found. (Author)

Children aged 2 1/2, 3, and 3 1/2 years who had demonstrated appropriate uses for a set of objects, were asked to perform these same actions with objects which varied in similarity in the reference object, or with no object present. (JMB)

Discusses seven books and a film that can help teachers capitalize on the benefits of drama in the classroom. (ARH)

A kindergarten teacher narrates her classroom experiences with terror-stricken Spanish-American children after a devastating tornado. (AJ)