We just love the Dramatic Play center in our room. The kids actually argue about who gets to go to this center. It is very popular!
We put tons of reading and writing in each theme. The kids think they are just playing, but they are actually playing with words encoding or decoding.
Here are a few pictures of the dramatic play center with some tips about what we include. As you can see the regular kitchen furniture is used for each theme. We just add a table here or there for a desk as needed. Click on any of the pictures to see it in our store.
We include the usual dishes and table and chairs for the restaurant. Some other things we have are:
- the menu (inside an 8×10 acrylic stand up picture frame from Dollar Tree)
- paper and pencil to write their orders
- a cash register and play money to pay the bill (and leave a tip!) We also have play checks and pretend credit cards.
- a receipt for the customer
- the customer’s bill for their meal
- an open and closed sign
- list of daily specials
- a telephone for making reservations
Of course you need patients for the vet’s office so we let students bring in old stuffed animals.
In addition we have:
- a doctor’s kit from the dollar store
- gauze wrap and bandages from the dollar store
- empty vitamin bottles for the medicine
- a telephone to make appointments
- a form to record appointments
- books about different pets
- a cash register, play money, checks and credit cards
- forms for pet information ( we have a clipboard for this form)
- prescription forms
- Dr.’s name tag
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| Our boys love this center, too! |
- a vacuum
- an ironing board
- aprons (a vocabulary word on our yearly assessments!)
- magazines
- shopping list paper
- telephone
- keyboard and a pretend computer (a box decorated to look like a monitor)
- recipe book and recipe cards
- play money, checks, credit cards and BILLS TO PAY!!
- a calendar
- envelopes and “stamps”
Our kids help us plan each theme and we send home a note if we need any items. Parents have been very helpful so we don’t have to buy every single thing ourselves. We also hit up local businesses like a local vet for old x-rays or bandages and restaurants for menus. Another place we like to go is to resale shops.
The children seem to enjoy reading and writing on their own while at the center. We post thematic word cards in the center so they have a picture with the word to refer to for reading and writing.
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