Storytelling Dramas as a Community Building Activity in an Early Childhood Classroom Cheryl Wright • Marissa L. Diener • Jacqueline Lindsay Kemp Published online: 29 August 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract Healthy social-emotional development is pro- moted by building a safe, secure and respectful environ- ment in an early childhood setting with positive and consistent relationships among adults, children, and their peers. This study explored storytelling dramas as an opportunity to build community within the context of one early childhood classroom. The study was a qualitative, interpretive analysis of 20 videotaped storytelling drama sessions containing approximately 100 stories told by children in one preschool classroom over a 6-month period. Videotapes of the 20 storytelling sessions were analyzed for patterns and themes that may represent community building within the context of one preschool classroom. Qualitative methods were used to identify themes that emerged from the videotaped data. Triangulation across investigators, time, and methods enhanced trustworthiness of interpretations. Results showed that the storytelling drama activity provided opportunities to promote commu- nity building through four emerging themes: (1) individual roles, (2) group membership, (3) inclusion, and (4) rela- tionship building. Storytelling dramas provide teachers with an easy to implement teaching strategy that builds community and aligns with current early childhood edu- cation quality standards and child development theory. Keywords Community building Á Storytelling Á Drama Á Preschool Á Early childhood curriculum Introduction Once upon a time there was a gynormous dinosaur that was named Godzilla. And there was a giant Tyranidon named Rodon and Rodon attacked the small monster that was named Padora. And then Godzilla came and then Godzilla did his electronic breath. And the electronic breath exploded through the small monster and then there was a big Earth shake but it wasn’t really. It was an underground monster named Gygon. And Gygon crept through his underground tunnel and all the people were scared of Gygon. The end. This is one of the exciting stories told by a 4-year-old boy in a classroom using Vivian Paley’s (1990) storytelling and drama method. Children in a preschool classroom acted out this story with much delight and enthusiasm. The four boys acting in this story came to life as the ‘‘monster’’ characters by making sound effects, exaggerating movements and facial expressions. The boys enthusiastically adopted their roles while maintaining an awareness of their fellow actors and engaging the audience of classmates. Storytelling dra- mas are activities in which children act out their own dictated stories and share experiences and ideas as a group (Child Care Collection 1999; Cooper 2009; Nicolopoulou and Cole 2010; Paley 1990). Although most research on sociodramatic play has been conducted in dramatic play centers in which children come and go, and interact in dyads or triads (Barbu 2003; Hartup 1983; Johnson et al. 1997), the present study examined storytelling dramas based on children’s stories in a whole group setting. Research has shown that sociodramatic play in early childhood classrooms increases opportunities for peer interaction and collaboration, fosters healthy social and C. Wright (&) Á M. L. Diener Á J. L. Kemp University of Utah, 225 South 1400 East, Rm. 228 AEB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0080, USA e-mail: cheryl.wright@fcs.utah.edu 123 Early Childhood Educ J (2013) 41:197–210 DOI 10.1007/s10643-012-0544-7