Using dramatic and pretend play to promote children’s learning: the case of early childhood education in Ghana

Abstract

Communities and cultures have a way of passing on their legacies to their young ones for preservation in order to keep the generation and lineage going. Many of these practices are passed on through dramatic or pretend play. Providing children opportunity to learn best should be done through a medium that children find to be interesting and child-friendly. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe dramatic and pretend play and their place in the education of children in early childhood care and development settings in Ghana. This will inform practice, to enable teachers use such dramatic and pretend play to enhance children’s learning. This manuscript is important for teachers, policy makers, and Non-Governmental Organizations who are interested in early childhood education in Ghana. Understanding the knowledge that the ecology within which the child lives and grows will be very crucial, to developing a curriculum and pedagogy that are context bound and therefore very appropriate for the children in that ecology.