Day 21 SoL Story Challenge: Combining Storytelling and Singing in Dramatic Play

Little L. was busy this afternoon creating an elaborate story using plastic toy dinosaurs and her dollhouse. The gist of her story is that the dinosaurs discover "treasure" in the dollhouse that lead them to believe that their grandparents are "out there" somewhere. The treasure then becomes clues that lead the dinosaurs on a search for their missing grandparents. As Little L. tells the story and plays, she mixes dramatic play with singing.

Here's a clip of the singing (I was having trouble editing with YouTube, so if the clip is longer than 45 seconds, than the singing is at 2:30):

I'm constantly amazed at how children appropriate material from all sources when it comes to dramatic play. Here's a list of  just a few sources that I think L. was drawing from as she constructed her dinosaur narrative:

1. Her love of dinosaurs is an obvious source of inspiration here. She's been a dinosaur kid practically since birth. and it just so happened that at her preschool they are studying dinosaurs and paleontology, and her teacher gave each kid a little plastic dinosaur to take home today.

2. Building on the paleo/archaeology theme, my husband has been doing some oral storytelling with Little L. At every bath time, meal, and bedtime, Little L. wants to hear a bit more of the story of Indiana Jones. She's obsessed now, and her dramatic play now includes a bit more mystery and intrigue that I think comes from the Indiana Jones storytelling. (BTW I'm amazed at the level of detail my husband can recall from those movies!)

3. Little L.'s all time favorite show (one of the handful of television programs she's ever even seen) is Wonder Pets, and as you may already know, the Wonder Pets sing throughout every episode. It's like opera for little kids.