Viewed through the lens of Brofenbrenner’s research

Ruby

Quinn

Daisy

According to Smilansky and Shefatya (1990) sociodramatic play is characterized by the following components

1. Children have time, space and evocative objects2. It is a cooperative enterprise3. It is characterized by personal freedom4. It develops according to a predetermined theme5. It is an expressive world of make believe yet it is reality bound6. Players must be understood by other players in order to achieve continuity

Lillemyr talks about ‘good’ players. These players show more empathy, can take the perspective of others, are better socially and emotionally adjusted, have a longer attention span and greater concentration (Lillemyr 2001)

So what makes a good player?

Are they born or made?

The play epsiode is an example of sociodramatic play.

Sociodramatic play consists of a combination of the following

Scenarios: an imaginary situation children create

Roles: for people and objects

Rules: about what players can and can’t do

Research shows the benefits of supporting socio-dramatic play

Memory (Newman, 1990 cited in Bowman, Donovan & Burns, 2001))

Self Regulation (Krafft and Berk, 1998)

Oral Language (Griffin et al 2004))

Symbolic Generalization (Smilansky and Shefatya, 1990)

Social Competence (Swick & Williams, 2006)

Divergent thinking (Johnson, 1976)

Creativity (Mellou, E)

Literacy (Pelligrini & Galda, 2000)

In general children who are good at sociodramatic play tend to be successful in other areas of their life

Haight and Miller(1993) found that mothers teach their toddlers to pretend.

During the first half of the second year mothers initiate almost all make believe episodes.

They also demonstrate many pretend actions toward objects and show children how to use one object to represent another.

Around 2 mothers begin to talk about non-existent fantasy objects

Adult participation in make believe that acknowledges and builds on toddlers’ play behaviours through demonstrations, suggestions, turn taking and joint involvement is particularly effective in fostering mature make believe. In contrast directions and intrusions (initiating a new activity unrelated to the child’s current play) are associated with immature play behaviour (Fiese, 1990, cited in Singer et al, 2006)

Longitudinal study by Stilson and Hardy (1997, cited in Singer et al, 2006)

Quinn

Leader

Eldest

Daisy

Follower

Youngest

Ruby

Left Out

Only Child

The Roles within the Play Episode and the links with

Birth Order within the Family!The Eldest- tends to be conservative, power-orientated and predispoded towards leadership.( Hjelle & Zielgar 1992)

The Youngest- tends to be the mediator and are choosy in who they confide with. ( Leman, 2000)

The Only Child- may find it hard to relate to other children. ( Laybourne, A.1994)

The leader of the group, who determined the roles and rules of the play.

Provided some input into the game, however was happy to go along withwhat Quinn said.

Tried to suggest some ideas into the game, however understood that herideas were not heard, in which case she went along with what the other two girls wanted.

Blue- ResearchRed- Assumptions made from observation

The Influences on the roles in Play!

We found in the research that peers play differently in different contexts.( Nielsen Hewitt cited in Chen & French, 2008.)

Further research and interviews with the parents and teachers , evidence has proved

this notion to be true.

Different Areas and Influences that Impact the Roles within the Play:

The environment & the Players who are involved in the play! For Example: Playing at different houses changes the play.

Playing with children at different ages.

How the mothers do/do not scaffold the play situation and cater for play!

The outside influences of the play. (For example on Steve Irwin day the girls played with the boys-use this in my notes not on the PowerPoint)

Environment and Wildlife Chosen as Main Theme of Play

Exosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1992)

Media:Steve and Bindi Irwin- Australia Zoo

David Attenborough on television during prime time on channel 10 rather than ABC.

Celebrities supporting causes; “Celebrity interest forces green issues into the mainstream. When some bearded boffin bangs on about global warming, it’s boring. When Leonardo DiCaprio does the same, it’s sexy.” (Brown, J. 2007)

“An Inconvenient Truth”- movie

News

Environment and Wildlife Chosen as Main Theme of Play

Mesosystem(Bronfenbrenner, 1992)

School:

Is taught more in school and embedded within the curriculum.

Access to the internet- information more readily available.

The physical environment can influence and modify the nature of dramatic play. (Darvill, 1982)

Under the fort- climbing.

Near the tree- in the jungle.

“Used whole bodies and imagination, usage of whole body, interaction with nature, engaged in physical activities, ideas are connected to nature.” (Hyvonnen & Kansas, 2007)

Daisy; “I want to know what it feels like to be an animal because animals are different to people.”

Two of the children are from Anglo-saxion background, whilst the third child, ruby is part Sri

Lankan; her mother was born in Sri- Lanka.

Ruby comes from a house where ghosts, spirits, magic and past lives are part of everyday life.

In contrast we discovered that magic is banned at Quinn's house .

(this may/may not affect the theme of the play)

Do these different cultural values affect/influence the play?

The children in our group were all females.Research has found that girls structure ordered stories around social relationships frequently family ones depicting routines of family life.

“can I be your sister?”

Even animals inhabit a stable world marked by order and family.

“time for bed”

Research suggests that parents encouraged daughters to participate in sex- typed activities including doll playing& engaging in housekeeping activities for girls,(Eccles,Jacobs & Harold 1990).

We saw this in our observation as the group had a mother and a sister as important roles.

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