KTown Drama: Salon and the Barber

Everyone has memories from their time as a child, when days were spent imagining yourself as an astronaut, artist or superhero. These moments of play evolved from everyday materials: a blanket quickly became a cape, a large cardboard box turned into a rocket ship, while a pot and wooden spoon turned into the greatest rock bands drum set.

Though it may have seemed like this was just a child’s imagination running wild, there were things happening in mentally, emotionally and physically in our little bodies. Dramatic play offers a wide range of benefits that allows children to refine motor skills, imitate and relive real world places and spaces, take on different perspectives, learn to compromise and communicate in new and different ways.

This was the case at Kindertown, when one of our preschool classes took an interest in cutting hair! It started out, simply enough, in our preschools ‘Kindertown-Kitchen’ set-up. One child sat down with a fork in hand, while another grabbed a seat - and proceeded to get a haircut. Curious, one of our educators asked what the two boys were doing - and sure enough - this turned into a week long exploration of hair salons and the barbershop.

More than that though, children strengthened their fine motor skills by using an assortment of different cutting tools, discussed concepts of numeracy by exchanging money for a haircut, and learned the difference of length by asking questions of how long or how short. Over the course of this discussion, we also began to wonder what other ways we could take care of our body. Our educators encouraged children to think about the things they do at home to keep themselves clean, or the importance of taking a break and relaxing with mom and dad after a long work week. We aren’t quite sure yet - but as we move into the colder winter months, it looks like we are going to be having conversations about self-help, wellness and care.