Magic Capes, Amazing Powers: Transforming Superhero Play in the Classroom

by Eric Hoffman

Heroes, villains and saving the day! Magic Capes, Amazing Powers explores why children are so strongly attracted to superhero and weapons play, and addresses the resulting concerns of parents and teachers. Unique in its approach to this wildly popular type of play, Magic Capes describes how teachers can use redirection, story-telling, dramatic play materials, anti-bias curriculum and clear limit-setting to guide superhero play in a positive direction that allows children to play and satisfies the concerns of adults. Eric Hoffman is the program coordinator for the Cabrillo College Children’s Center in Aptos, CA. He has worked with preschool-age children since 1970 and cofounded the CRADLE Project, which assists teachers and parents who do conflict resolution with children.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Gay O'hanlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of this book did a great job sharing potential biases about embracing superhero play in the preschool classroom. I enjoyed all the anecdotes that were shared between staff teachers and the children. These stories helped the book come alive. I also enjoyed the section on using dolls throughout the classroom almost as puppets to convey ideas to the children. I have never thought to do this.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish I had found this before "Every Hero Has a Story". One useful passage regarding behavior in general, "Teachers sometimes talk about safety when what they really mean is that superhero play is too noisy, messy, or active, or doesn't fit with their curriculum plans." (P58) Excellent list of resources after each chapter, wish there was a master list of everything in an appendix.