The influence of the physical design of the dramatic play center on children's play

Abstract

The center theme (extended house, train station) and design of the equipment (solitary versus group design) of the dramatic play center were manipulated to observe the effects on children's social and cognitive play behaviors. Thirty-one 4- and 5-years-olds were observed in the traditional housekeeping center, 1 week before, 1 week after, and during the implementation of the four intervention dramatic play centers (i.e., extended house-solitary, extended house-group, train station-solitary, train stationgroup). Results revealed that (a) the solitary-designed centers facilitated more solitary play interactions and group-designed centers facilitated more group play interactions; (b) overall, a significantly higher frequency of dramatic play was observed in the intervention and follow-up housekeeping centers than in the baseline housekeeping centers; (c) children engaged in a wider range of roles (e.g., garage mechanic, taxi driver, mother, father) in the extended house center compared with other centers; (d) thematic centers may have limited the children's role enactment to the theme of the center. Theoretical implications of the influence of the physical ecology of the dramatic play center on children's play were discussed.