dramatic play
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Travel-themed dramatic play props
Are you in vacation mode yet?! Me too, and since it isn’t going to happen for real, I figured I’d take a pretend trip (you can download my free travel lesson plan here!). I fully believe that children need the opportunity to explore authentic materials when engaged in dramatic play, so here is a great big list of travel-themed props that you can add to the classroom for your travel or vacation week. Suitcases Duffel bags Cosmetic or toiletry bags Empty travel bottles (Shampoo, conditioner, etc.) Tote bags Luggage tags Travel pillows Boarding passes Passports Travel magazines and brochures Cameras Binoculars Postcards Clothing Flip flops Maps Hotel room keys Sunglasses…
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DIY: Easy Dramatic Play Cookbook
I have the easiest DIY ever for you today! I always struggle with making materials for the dramatic play area because I know how much wear and tear they are going to take, but this one is perfect, I encourage teachers to add written materials to their dramatic play areas, and cookbooks are an easy fix for any kitchen or restaurant theme. You could find cookbooks at Goodwill or garage sales, but I really love cookbooks that have plenty of pictures too, and these can be harder to find. So for this “cookbook” I just used the recipes from the backs of boxes! There are a couple of ways that…
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Week of the Young Child – Taco Tuesday
Happy Week of the Young Child! I thought I’d celebrate by sharing some fun ideas to help you follow along with NAEYC’s themed days. For more info about the Week of the Young Child celebration you can visit NAEYC’s website, but I’m going to jump right into the fun! Taco Tuesday is about eating healthy, and the minute that I saw Taco Tuesday on NAEYC’s list, I thought of this book: My kiddos are in love with Build a Burrito by Denise Vega (it’s out of print but I was able to find a couple of copies on Amazon). It’s a counting book all about building the perfect burrito, with text…
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Ice Cream Dramatic Play
Last week was all about camping, and this week is Ice Cream! If I could only pick two dramatic play centers to set up all summer long they would be a camping trip and an ice cream parlor. A camping trip is a great adventure, and an ice cream parlor is a dream come true! I’ve rounded up some great ideas for your classroom ice cream parlor; Maureen over at Spell Out Loud shares her ideas for ice cream scented play dough, and a super cute printable menu. Lindsey from So Easy Being Green shows you how to make an ice cream parlor out of a cardboard box. Sue over at One…
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Camping fun in the dramatic play center
This month is all about camping for me, I’m going on three different camping trips and we’re gearing up for our first one this weekend, so I thought I’d share the fun here at Preschool Ponderings. I love to do camping activities with preschoolers because some of them are familiar with camping – they’ve gone with their families, or they’ve at roasted marshmallows in their backyard – while others have no experience with the concept and are over the moon excited about camping in the classroom. I like to introduce fun new topics like this by including related materials in the dramatic play space. This gives the children the opportunity…
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Reggio Inspired Dramatic Play Centers
A couple of weeks ago I gathered photos of some incredible Reggio-inspired Math and Writing centers to share with you. These have been some of the most popular posts that I’ve done, so I thought I would do a few more centers this week. I shared some incredible science centers, today I want to show you some inspiring dramatic play centers. My students favorite materials to use in the dramatic play space are; Any kind of costume Authentic items related to the play topic (old cameras, real stethoscopes, old cell phones, hair dryers, bakery boxes, etc.) Related printables, such as pretend library cards, shopping lists, airline tickets, recipe cards, etc. There are a few…
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Foam food for dramatic play
Last week I posted my plans for our holiday cookie party at school. I’ve been working on prepping some of the materials for our cookie shop dramatic play area , which means adding to my collection of foam cookies. I wanted to show you some of the cookies that I made before, and the new varieties that I made specifically for our party. I made all of these with sheets of craft foam, and they couldn’t be easier. Making your own food with craft food is a great alternative to buying play food because it s really easy to customize, and it’s all flat, so it stores better than most…
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Friday Freebies
Four-day work weeks are always better aren’t they?! Happy Friday, it’s time for another weekend, and another freebie. Tonight we are doing a local family event for school, we’ll be having a photo both for children and family to take silly pictures, and I’m looking forward to helping build some really fun memories. I thought I’d share some of the free photo booth props that we’ll be using. Both of these sets are from Oh Happy Day. I also love to use them in the classroom. They are perfect for a number of different dramatic play scenarios, I’ve even set up dramatic play photo booths with old cameras so…
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Library play
We were supposed to walk to the library this morning as part of our celebration of the Week of the Young Child, but it rained all morning, so I did what every good preschool teacher would do, I improvised. I set up my classroom like a library and made each of my students library cards, and we all spent the morning at Ms. Erin’s School Library. It was hilarious. My kiddos spent the entire morning whispering to each other, just like they would at the real library. They sat on the floor and read with each other – ALL MORNING. I’m going to do this more often! It was really…
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It’s a birthday… everyday
To a preschooler there are two important days every year, Christmas, and their birthday. In our classroom we had two birthdays to celebrate right after Winter break, and ever since our class has been consumer with every thing birthdays. Even the children who don’t have a birthday for 6 more months are excitedly planning their own parties (and I do apologize to their parents)! It seemed only natural that we make this a tangible part of our classroom, so today we introduced birthday items into our dramatic play area. We included birthday plates, cups, and napkins, special ice cream bowls and an ice cream scoop, birthday candles, cupcake wrappers, gift…
