Police Station Dramatic Play

Transforming Role Play area into a Police Station

Practitioner Sophie and Jess, Head of Pre School have transformed the role play area in Pre School into a Police Station. They have introduced a range of props that will support the children's imaginative play.  Play phones, walkie-talkies and clipboards with incident forms were laid out on a table creating a incident station for the children to use during their play.

The children were very eager to play in the Police Station. They decided amongst them who was the policeman and who was the robber. They put on their police jackets and police hats and set off to investigate the crimes. Whilst holding the walkie talkie one boy said "I'm policeman Sebastian" and I'm going to catch the robber. The children demonstrated some dramatic police play, the language observed was very detailed and showed the great breadth of their vocabulary. Extending the children's vocabulary and language awareness is not only important for the children's communication and language development but also in giving them the skills they need for school readiness.

[ngg src="galleries" ids="317" display="basic_slideshow"]

The children loved re-enacting answering the phone and during one session they used this to inform their police colleagues there was a robbery "There's been a robbery we need to go catch them" The children used the whole room during their play as they hopped on their police bikes and rode off to catch the robber. The children decided the play nest which was currently the book area was the jail. Once the individual had been caught they were handcuffed and taken straight to jail. Jess, Head of Pre School was also escorted to Jail as apparently, she had not been a good girl. They informed Jess she was to say in jail for 10 years.

Meanwhile, over in the police station, a child sat at the computer, she informed practitioners she was writing the robbers name. This has been valuable in increasing the children's letter and sound awareness. The incident station was also a busy area with children making marks on the forms. This has been a great way for children to practice their early writing skills and supporting them in meeting next steps and new milestones.

The children thoroughly embraced this type of dramatic play and have benefited greatly from it. tTo continue the enjoyment further, a police station was created outdoors for the children to play in. This has provided them with some more physical freedom to explore this type of play further, giving them more space to run, jump, chase and shout.