Where else can you find chefs, nurses, police officers, office
workers, super heroes, teachers, karate instructors, and bus drivers all
happily working side-by-side?
The truth is, in the midst of creating a restaurant
together, clomping around in grown-up shoes, or twirling around with friends in
a fairytale land, children are learning to solve problems, coordinate,
cooperate, and think flexibly.
Pretending is important in child development.
Through drama children
get to learn about the world and ultimately, themselves. They experiment with
role playing and work to make sense out of what they've observed. Just watch
children playing with dolls to see examples of this. Dolls often become
versions of the child herself and are a safe way for children to express new
ideas and feelings.
Have you ever witnessed children pretending to visit the
doctor? One child dutifully holds the mock stethoscope as the others line up
for a check-up. More often than not someone gets ‘the dreaded injection’. This
is a child’s way of exploring an experience that is common and sometimes
confusing or scary.
This is where we come in, at Helen O'Grady, we have the ability to harness the inherent skills in your child and positively direct them to a healthy outlet for expression.
Children develop important complex social and higher order
thinking skills when playing pretend.
Drama is much more than simple play activities; it requires
advanced thinking strategies, communication, and social skills. Through Drama,
children learn to do things like negotiate, consider others perspectives,
transfer knowledge from one situation to another, delay gratification, balance
their own ideas with others, develop a plan and act on it, explore symbolism,
express and listen to thoughts and ideas, assign tasks and roles, and
synthesize different information and ideas. In this creative play description,
we could just as easily be describing the skills needed to successfully manage
a work project for an adult.
If your children are not yet registered…well…what are you
waiting for?
Contact a Helen O’Grady official today at the SPAN office,
13 Davis street, Marina, Lagos or call our numbers: 08091900700 or 08091900600
for more information
Someone will always be happy to attend to you.
