The Role Play Area As a Home Corner

The Role Play Area

“Through role play, children act out imaginary roles, imitate real life scenes and encounter new, previously unvisited situations.”

(Neil Griffiths, A Corner to Learn, Nelson Thornes, 2002)

The younger the child, the more important it is to have home corner play. They need the security of playing out domestic situations and acting out familiar roles. A child of three years will have limited experience of the outside world and may not find play in the estate agents, for example, a rewarding experience. Remember, however, that the home corner could be another room in the house such as the bathroom or bedroom.

Whatever room you decide to set up, the children will be more involved if you invite them to plan the area with you. They will often come up with ideas that compliment your own preconceived notions. Children will also appreciate both the purpose of writing and of forward planning if you write together lists of items to be collected and made. Don’t forget that parents will contribute items if you write to them too.

Your role-play corner will need to be resourced sensitively and evaluated regularly. New equipment will need to be added to create further stimuli for play and to structure learning experiences. Use the role-play check list on this site to help audit your provision regularly.

As children develop and their life experiences increase, it is appropriate for practitioners to be inventive with the role -play opportunities they provide. Whether your role -play area has taken you and the children to the moon or to the three bears’ cottage via the garden centre, there are an infinite number of possibilities for role- play! Sharing successful ideas with early year’s colleagues on courses and at networks is the best way of building up a resource bank for role-play planning.

The role play area demands careful planning:

“In a well-planned environment, children can learn through play to explore their ideas and experiences in new and imaginative ways.” (Planning for Learning in the Foundation Stage, QCA, 2001)

You will need to refer to the stepping stones and early learning goals. We have included a format on this website, which we hope you will find useful. The blank format is for your use and our example (the ‘vets’ ) shows how this can be filled in. The early learning goals around the activities would be highlighted to show coverage. We are of course unable to show this!

Make your planning more effective by displaying it prominently by the area for parents, helpers and visitors to see.