Role play exercises give students the opportunity to assume the role of a person or act out a given situation. These roles can be performed by individual students, in pairs, or in groups which can play out a more complex scenario. Role plays engage students in real-life situations or scenarios that can be “stressful, unfamiliar, complex, or controversial” which requires them to examine personal feelings toward others and their circumstances (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p.47).
Unlike simulations and games which often are planned, structured activities and can last over a long period of time, role play exercises “are usually short, spontaneous presentations” but also can be prearranged research assignments (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p.47).
The importance of role playing can be highlighted as an effective way for children to make sense of the world around them.
Key benefits role playing for children
- Develops communication and language skills
- Allows children to act out and make sense of real-life situations
- Allows children to explore, investigate and experiment
- Develops social skills as children collaborate with others
- Children learn to empathise with others; taking part in a role play activity would usually mean that you are taking on the role of character which will teach children about the empathy and understanding of different perspectives.
- Helps children learn about different cultures
- Encourages children to express their ideas and feelings in a relaxed environment
- Develops children’s awareness of themselves and others
- Gets children learning more as learning is disguised as play
- Sparks creativity and imagination
Role play is especially beneficially for developing language, both for children with English as an additional language and for native English speakers. As well as vocabulary and language, role play develops toddlers communication skills as they communicate with each other in a safe environment. Role play is the most effective way of acquiring language.
How to support your child’s learning:
- Ask focused, open ended, not closed questions.
- Take on a role/join in children’s role play and dressing up. This gives value to their play and reinforces the nature of role play.
These are the reasons we like to highlight the importance of role playing! Allow your child to lead their play!
Activities that develop and build on children’s self-esteem are important in helping children learn who they are. Role play, including acting out scenarios to problem solve, story making through dramatic play and practice in coping with real life situations will support children’s social-emotional growth and development. Role play will give children the skills to handle problematic social interactions, such as bullying, which may happen as they progress through life.
When children engage in role playing it helps to develop their way of thinking and helps them to develop feelings of empathy. When children are given the opportunity to role play skits/scenarios they will be able to experience the role of bully, victim, and bystander. They will also learn how to help others who are being bullied and how to avoid bullying.
A way for you to introduce the concept of role playing using the topic of bullying would be to develop several scenarios for the children to follow. Select situations that you have observed occurring. You can write the scenarios or use the social scripts available in the Bullying Workshop until the children develop a general comfort level and can write their own. Have the children develop scenarios from their own experiences. The children can write a skit or scenario about a distressing situation having to do with bullying whether the focus is on the bullies, victims or bystanders. Every one of the skits/scenarios should be recorded and presented in a way where the individuals who wrote them are anonymous. For example, have the children jot the ideas down on a piece of paper, hand them in, rearrange them and hand them out again. When these ideas are shared anonymously the children will begin to learn that others have shared the same experiences.
When encouraging opportunities for children to role play regarding bullying:
Prepare and introduce the subject. Educate children on bullying by talking about bullies, victims, and bystanders before introducing the activity. You can refer to the document titled Educating Children about Bullying for ideas about introducing the topic of bullying to children in your group.
Arrange the room in a way where all children can be effective contributors to the role play activity. This may involve moving tables and chairs to create a more open space for greater participation.
Model the first scenario by taking part yourself with two other children who would be most comfortable with performing in front of the group. This will give the children an idea of how to start off. Use specific scripts at first and practice at least once in the beginning.
Define roles (bully, victim, bystander) and situations (see scenario examples below). Once the group is ready to ad-lib the skits and practice problem solving you no longer need to provide them with prewritten scripts.
Make it realistic and fun by using phrases such as “Action!” to begin the role play, “Freeze!” to have the children stop to discuss the situation as a group, and “Cut!” to end the dialogue.
Small groups allow all the children to have a turn in role playing. It will give all children a chance to act out their feelings and ideas. Smaller groups are also great for children who may be more reluctant to share their ideas in a larger group setting.
Keep it short for the first few times the children participate in the activity. This will provide an opportunity to discuss the main points.
Reverse roles played by the children to allow the children to experience and therefore identify with the roles played (bully, victim and bystander). Ensure that children who tend to bully have a chance to experience the role of the victim.
Change groups to allow the children to discuss different points of view and build on ideas.
Expect noise. Children will become excited, laugh and possibly raise their voices. Provided this excitement is because of the task at hand, allow this to take place. It will create genuine feelings and ideas if the children are given the opportunity to establish realistic scenarios.
Praise all efforts. Provide specific positive feedback such as, “I like the way you stood up to the bully and told her to leave you alone”.
Coach the children through skits, if necessary. Coaching the children may involve asking questions about feelings, problems, solutions, obstacles (e.g., “Why do you think he was not comfortable enough to deal with the bully himself?”), body language (e.g., “Johnny had his arms crossed when you were talking to him. What do you think that means?”) and more.
Construct questions for the children to think about as the role plays are happening. Some questions may include: How do you feel when this happens to you? How do you think your friends feel when they are bullied? What kind of things do you think will help to stop bullying? The children think about these questions both generally and as they relate to the scenarios that are being role played.
Scenario Examples:
- Janet is making fun of your name.
- Tony wrote all over your paper with a red pen.
- Rahman says that no girls can play in the block centre.
- Asia is trying to take your snack again.
Information adapted from
One of the key staples ofchildhood learning and play is acting out different scenarios through a varietyof means. We’re talking, of course, about role-playing activities. Theseactivities usually involve your child imagining themselves in various situationsin which they play out pretend dialogues either on their own or with others.Some common role-playing scenarios can include pretending to be a mom or dad to“play house,” super hero or emergency personnel play (think police officers versus“bad guys” or firemen saving a home), and even situations like pretending to bea teacher or grocery store clerk.
Witnessing these instances, manyparents assume their child is simply participating in imagination play and don’tgive much stock to its importance. The truth is, however, these role-playingscenarios are an immensely important part of a child’s learning process and canbe a fantastic teaching tool for parents and educational professionals lookingfor ways to bring about a deep understanding about different concepts andlessons. The benefits of role play learning are an invaluable part of thelearning process that stay with children throughout their lives.
“Role play moves a step beyondthe dialogue and places students in a situation in which they are called uponto cope with the unexpected or with a new setting using the material they havelearned through dialogs and other classroom activities,” explains SouthCarolina’s Department of Education.
Role-Playing 101
Role-playing is a multi-facetedteaching and playing activity that allows children to grow and learn through imaginativescenarios. Since these activities place children in interactive situations requiringthem to work out solutions and reactions on their own in order to play out therole, this type of play often brings about a deeper understanding on topic ofplay. Essentially, role-playing combines teaching techniques which allowschildren to grasp a concept much more thoroughly than traditional teachingmeans.
It’s no surprise that childrenlearn from experience, no matter their age, so by allowing them to act outvarious experiences on their own, we’re essentially arming them with unlimitedlearning opportunities. Since the sky’s the limit with role play, there are aninfinite number of potential teaching and learning experiences for childrenevery single day if we know how to harness and encourage the techniques.
Including role-playing activitiesin a classroom daily – whether structured or unstructured – will only serve toboost the learning potential of students by getting them to activelyparticipate in their education without even realizing it. In fact, the skillsthat children pick up from these role-playing scenarios are invaluable toolsthat will stick with them throughout their lives, arming them with the toolsthey’ll need to work through practically every situation they face in their adultlives years later. Role-playing is so much more than simply pretending to beanother person; it gives children the chance to try on new roles and work theirway through different challenges.
The Benefits of Role Play Learning
When children put on differentcostumes and act out scenes during play time, they’re doing so much more thansimply playing dress-up. Role-playing allows kids to try on different hats –both figuratively and literally – and imagine what it’s like to be in that role.This is a key teaching tool because it puts children in the driver’s seat oflearning by cognitively processing what they believe would happen in eachsituation. To put it simply, role play allows children to gain a betterunderstanding of any given scenario because it gives them the opportunity tosee things from a new perspective and to use their minds to work through them.
This opportunity is one that isbrimming with new connections and gaining a deeper knowledge of those aroundthem. Some of the greatest benefits of role-playing are centered around the socialand emotional growth that stems from the empathy children gain by puttingthemselves in someone else’s shoes and learning to cope with different strugglesand obstacles that arise in that experience. This kind of play allows childrento explore different sides of real-life situations, which in turn gives them agreater knowledge on how their actions affect others around them. Some of the mostimportant benefits gained by role-playing include:
- Developing empathy towards others by experiencingnew perspectives
- Increased problem-solving skills
- Improved self-expression through communication
- Learning to work better with others
- Gaining better social and emotional skills
Invaluable Experiences with Role-Playing
Since role-playing experiences feelmore like playing than a more rigid lesson plan session, children tend togravitate toward these activities without even realizing they are learning inthe process. This is a part of what makes role-playing so invaluable. Anotherpart of its interactive genius is that it allows children to gain a better perspectiveon who they are and who they may want to be when they are adults. Role-playingis often the best way for children to discover what they truly enjoy and to exploredifferent avenues of interest in a way that lets them try out new roles.
Something as simple as puttingon a police hat or a white lab coat can allow children to experiment withvarious careers and areas of interest. By pretending to be a police officer,children can use their imaginations to harness a desire to help others or be theprotector. Putting on a stethoscope and grabbing a toy medical bag can allowchildren the opportunity to explore what it’s like to take care of those aroundthem. Virtually every scenario is ripe with the chance for children to see whatkind of interactions they are drawn to the most – something which will comeinto play quite a bit in the years to come.
While trying on various outfitsand acting out different careers and roles can help children develop crucial socialand emotional skills as well as allowing them to gain a better understanding oftheir own interests, themost important part of role play learning is something much simpler. Bygiving them the opportunity to act out a variety of situations, role-playing teacheschildren they can be anything they choose. It allows them to envision themselvesin a multitude of situations, giving them the confidence and foundation for realizingtheir true potential in the coming years.
