Welcome. One of our fundamental beliefs is that “Parental involvement is key to a child’s literacy success and future academic achievements!”

As you go through our website and blog, you will find information on where to look for literacy in every day life, literacy that you can share with your child and build their “funds of knowledge” (all the information they know). Your child will start to bring this knowledge to their dramatic play once they are familiar with the subject, terminology and expectations.

Further to that, there will be information on how and what to include in dramatic play themes to help develop their literacy skills. We have selected five popular play themes that you can explore. So, what is literacy-enriched dramatic play? Let’s take a look at some of the things we’ve put together.

What is literacy-enriched dramatic play?
It is simply where literacy resources are added into the dramatic play situation, allowing for opportunities to play with, and interact with, appropriate literacy activities. This allows children to play and use literacy in a meaningful way; literacy becomes part of the play, rather than a separate task.

How does literacy-enriched dramatic play help development and learning?
Literacy-enriched dramatic play greatly enhances learning process. In such dramatic play children explore various prints, images, colors, shapes, words and objects symbolization relation which help them to identify different literacy patterns and make them able to practice verbal or nonverbal language to communicate, negotiate and solve problems.

How can you introduce literacy-enriched play into the home?
Simply by adding literature to the play. Example ~ Shop Play: rather than throwing away, wash up and add the food packaging containers to the play box (the packaging contains symbols, visual images, logos, text); make or buy some pretend money to add to the cash register; create some receipts or use the ones from your latest shopping trip; make a shopping list and leave paper for your child to make a shopping list. Remember to check out our play pages for more examples and information on including literacy in dramatic play.

How can I encourage Literacy-Enriched Dramatic Play?
The answer is simple – get involved! Help your child to learn the roles and language of your dramatic play situation by taking on a character or role, and demonstrating to them the appropriate behaviours. Example-Shop play: pretend to be the cashier and ask ‘where can I find the flour?’, then switch roles.

How does being aware of literature help my child with literacy?
By exposing children to literature within its natural context, they can begin to make meaning out of it and understand the use and advantages to literacy learning. Repeated experiences inside and outside of the home with literacy and its environment will start to pay off as children incorporate those experiences into their dramatic play, using the opportunity to play and investigate the use of literature.

Play is NOT just for fun
Play might be fun and enjoyable for the kids, and whether they realise it or not, they are learning. We, as educators and parents, sometimes forget the value of such activities. So, courtesy of my current placement, this poem is a gentle reminder to us all of just what happens during play:

Our Mission Statement
At Global Wednesdays Childcare Centre we believe in the academic value of literacy-enriched dramatic play. We strive to integrate literacy into all areas of the centre including the dramatic play area, making it inclusive, age appropriate and avoiding gender bias. We consider every aspect of a child’s life to ensure that their world is represented in our dramatic play area at school to the best of our ability. We endeavour to represent different cultures, languages and lifestyles and welcome parental input in our program. As early childhood educators we understand the importance of early literacy and it’s affect on children later in life so we provide as many of these learning opportunities as we can in every part of our centre.