Pretend play is such a fun center! On the outside it looks like children are just playing, but in reality they are building much needed life skills. Not only do they gain valuable real life skills, but build on language skills as well.
Through pretend play children are able to assign roles to each other and themselves, participate in cooperative play and rule following. This is a great center for building those important social skills as well.
While in the pretend play center children learn about various job and community helpers. They even learn about jobs they might not have known about! The materials in this center are changed out regularly to allow children to discover different jobs, real life scenarios and activities.
We have had flower shops, veterinary clinics, bakery, the beach, a fire department and so many more! Children learn about working together in a community, roles people play and even math skills.
Children use pre-writing skills when they help create signs, use sign in sheets or check boxes off on lists.
Each classroom’s pretend play center is similar, yet different. All classrooms have kitchen sets to have a “home center”, but the older children will have additional materials to create more robust spaces such as an office with keyboards, telephones, clipboards or our aquarium with a check in station, checklists, etc.
At home you can create your own spaces using real life items around your house. Create a store and use empty packages. Calculators can work as cash registers and you can design your own money!
What are some fun pretend play activities you can create at home?