Set up areas for dramatic play. Organize a kitchen and dining area with plastic dishes and play food. Collect hats, play objects and costumes to make a dress-up area for characters such as princesses, astronauts, pirates, carpenters, ballerinas and/or cowboys. Provide dolls and a doll house (this can be a shoe box) to allow another kind of dramatic play.
Share stories to inspire dramatic play. Read stories to children to give them ideas for things to act out. Discuss what happened in the story and who the characters were, to make it easier for children to remember and then re-enact.
Model dramatic play. Show children how to play dramatically by showing them how to dress up in costume and decide on a story to act out. Act out different roles for them and show them how to play with the dolls appropriately.
Encourage creativity. Let children know that they don't need exact representations for dramatic play. Help them turn a large box into a space ship or car by using markers. Make food out of play dough. Pretend that a block is a telephone. Allow them to pretend they are flying.
Give them time. Foster dramatic ideas and cooperation by giving students blocks of uninterrupted play time. Developing stories and acting them out takes a lot of time for young children.