Dramatic Play Center

[tbutler]

What is your dramatic play center right now?
What will it be for the month of November?

Needing ideas because my three year olds are bored with the Home Center!

[Cat Herder]

I am thinking about a huge felt board and cutout shapes to go along with our new fall books.

Maybe some new hand puppets.

Mine are also HORRIBLY bored with the Home Living type stuff....

[AmandasFCC]

I usually put out Halloween costumes before and after Halloween so thy can continue to dress up.

[tbutler]

Originally Posted by Catherder

I am thinking about a huge felt board and cutout shapes to go along with our new fall books.

Maybe some new hand puppets.

Mine are also HORRIBLY bored with the Home Living type stuff....

This sounds like a good idea. Are you making the felt board yourself?

[cheerfuldom]

we are adding a puppet theater and puppets soon. thankfully my husband is very handy and can make the theater himself. I think the kids are really going to love this.

[Cat Herder]

Originally Posted by tbutler

This sounds like a good idea. Are you making the felt board yourself?

Yeah.. I'll have to. The commercial ones are out of my budget right now.

Plywood/corkboard is pretty cheap.

Covering it with a roll of felt (by using a staple gun on the backside) and attaching it to the wall with drywall hooks at ground level will be my cheapest method.

It is still a plan in the works....

[kendallina]

Originally Posted by Catherder

Yeah.. I'll have to. The commercial ones are out of my budget right now.

Plywood/corkboard is pretty cheap.

Covering it with a roll of felt (by using a staple gun on the backside) and attaching it to the wall with drywall hooks at ground level will be my cheapest method.

It is still a plan in the works....

I just made a large felt board this way and I LOVE it! The kiddos really like it and it's big enough for a few kiddos to use at once. We were studying how shapes make up different things recently (houses, cars, etc) and this really came in handy!

To OP: the last few weeks, the kids have really been into the doctor stuff and babies for dramatic play. A few weeks ago, I had a stage-area, with microphones and dress up stuff and that was a lot of fun.

[Crystal]

Originally Posted by cheerfuldom

we are adding a puppet theater and puppets soon. thankfully my husband is very handy and can make the theater himself. I think the kids are really going to love this.

a long time ago my hubby made a puppet theatre out of a sheet of plywood. We cut it into 3 pieces, with the two end pieces smaller thatn the middle and used hinges to attach them, cut a window in it, painted it and ta-da....an awesome puppet theatre for $10.

Pizza boxes are GREAT for felt boards. Just glue the felt/flannel in, cut out a story, decorate the front and you have it....I used to have a bunch of them and they all contained their own story.....gave em away when I got my commercial board....wish I still had those instead!

[SilverSabre25]

I just put away the tools and construction worker hat and got out the doctor stuff. I don't have much different in the dramatic play area, and not much way right now to change it up.

I'm planning on getting some felt this weekend though and cutting out pumpkin shapes and Jack-O-Lantern face pieces and letting them play with making their own Jack-O-Lanterns. I love the idea of felt boards and just haven't gotten to the point of making it reality yet.

you could always put out doctor stuff and stuffed animals, and make it a vet's office. You could make a store with a cash register and shelves with food and shopping baskets and bags for packing the groceries--you could even save your cereal boxes, oatmeal canisters, etc. to use. You could make a restaurant with pads of paper/pens (for order taking) and aprons and chef outfits. You could make a pizza restaurant with pizza boxes (many pizza places will give you a few empty boxes if you say you're a teacher) and then felt pizza pieces, pans, cutters, etc. You could do a post office with a mailbag and a mailbox and writing/drawing materials for making mail.

[tbutler]

Thanks for all the ideas. I think next week I'm going to change it to a grocery store. I'll start saving empty boxes/containers that will be safe for the kids to play with this week. I appreciate all of your responses.