Dramatic Play Center: In this space, children can process their experiences, and express a range of emotions from joy, enjoyment, and satisfaction to anger, sadness, fear, jealousy, and guilt. In this space, children are invited to practice social skills and express emotions such as flexibility, compassion, setting boundaries, and showing kindness towards their peers. Furthermore, children must pay attention to their physical surroundings and their intricacies, fostering the development of spatial awareness and both gross and fine motor skills.
Block Center: This space allows children to practice their gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination while exploring geometric shapes. Play in the block center is process-oriented, and requires advanced planning, execution, and teamwork. In the block center, children develop their creativity and spatial awareness.
The institute noted a significant gender divide between the dramatic play and block centers – boys hardly played in the dramatic play center, while girls almost fully avoided the block center. Boys often took objects from the dramatic play center and played with them in the block center, leading to a state of disorganization. On the occasions on which girls played with blocks, they took up less space within the block center and their play was competitive, lacking in cooperation, fast, and quickly abandoned.
The kindergarten team decided to change the layout and character of the dramatic play and block centers. These changes involved combining the two spaces, moving the kitchen further away, and adding drawers containing kitchen items like plates and pots, as well as sensory objects including fabrics, soft dolls, small dolls, velcro strips, and brushes. The block center was moved, and different types of blocks were added.
In the new kindergarten layout, boys started engaging in sociodramatic play, including washing dishes, feeding, and dressing. Girls started to play more in the block center, and their games lasted longer and involved advanced planning. The boys and girls started to play together more, and their games involved more dialogue thereby enriching the children’s language. The social dynamics of the kindergarten changed: the atmosphere became calmer, and the children were fulfilled and challenged by activities, dialogue, and collaborative play.
