Christmas Dramatic Play

DRAMATIC PLAY was a HUGE hit!

Gifts were able to be wrapped and bagged with a large selection of boxes, bags, ribbons, tissue and bows.

The Santa hats made it official.

I wanted the children to have their own tree this year. We began to put up the big one, but they wouldn't be able to reach all of it, so we just put up the top half.

Just putting up the tree used several skills, such as color matching, logic/reasoning, spatial relations, sequencing, gross motor and fine motor.

Most of the ornaments didn't have hooks, so it was some excellent fine motor work getting the hooks on and the ornaments onto the tree.

The end result was darling. The children can decorate, un-decorate and re-decorate to their heart's content.

The fireplace is simply a shelving unit turned on it's side. On the back I put white butcher paper and stamped it with a kitchen sponge in red paint with a hint of black thrown in. I was going to have them help with this, but it became too messy.

I wanted to have an open space for the "fire" and use pool noodles for logs, but I just didn't have the time or resources to build something, and figured the "fire" would migrate anyway. So, ours is made from layers of construction paper.

The fire helped warm babies being fed.

The decorations came on and off SO many times.

It warmed little feet pretending to take naps in front of it.

And it was the perfect spot for drinking hot cocoa and eating snowball cookies for snack on pajama day!

Once Christmas and December were over, they BEGGED me to keep the fireplace and tree. So, we went with a winter theme instead, and added snow. 

Tags: Christmas, child care, daycare, preschool, pre-k, homeschool, homeschooling, children, kids, dramatic play, wrapping station, pretend, center, kindergarten

7 Skills of Dress Up Play

Our preschool area is under construction, so the older children haven't had access to their  [free-choice activity] dress-up clothes. The toddlers have their own, but they are "safe," i.e. they do not have buttons, beads, ties longer than 6 inches, or are easily broken or have ANYTHING that can be potentially removed. 

So, with it being a muddy nasty day, I decided to combine the two bins and carefully monitor some group dress-up play.

I was continuously reminded of just how many very IMPORTANT skills they practice during 

dress up. 

I've been to centers that had a neat little rack for their token quantity of dress up clothes. A princess dress, a vest, an apron, a couple of scarves and a tie, and three, and only three, it seems at all of them, hats neatly lined up on top. Seriously, they looked like the catalog pic...

and it made me sad.

"Well, we don't want the children spreading germs to one another, or, heaven forbid, LICE!"

We don't have a fancy dancy rack here, because it wouldn't hold all of our dress up stuff, and at the end of play time, who wants to sort everything out to hang up, put on hangers, etc... NO ONE! 

Clean up shouldn't be a looming pall over joyous play. While sorting is a great learning skill, doing so tired and anticipating another activity is usually not that educational for a child. Just frustrating.

So this is what our dress up bins look like. 

Hunting through for treasures is half the fun!

 We have a preschool bin of dress up, a toddler bin, a large trashbag full in storage for rotation, and some outside.

I've got MAYBE $20 invested in everything. It has been obtained through older sibling hand-me-downs, donations, thrift-stores, clearance sales [especially 90% off Halloween!] and garage sales. 

 Here is some of the things they practice 

and learn during dress up...

1. SHARING

"But I wanted that princess dress!"

"Well, you can wear it after me."

"Okay." 

While it may not seem like a profound conversation, it is for 3-4 year olds. There was no fighting, only conversation. One stated her need, the other responded with reassurance and a time frame.

I don't believe in forcing sharing. I believe it will come naturally as children find value in it.

 "Can you help me?" 
"Sure."
"Can you help me zip now?"
"Sure."

2. TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR FINDING ASSISTANCE
Even though I am right there, the girls look to one another for help, rather than me, first. Since this is usually a free-choice activity, and during their free time I am usually working with the toddlers, they have learned to rely on one another.

3. EXPLORATION
Some children simply may not have the resources or parental acceptance to explore all avenues they would like. A little boy in a tutu may not receive the best response in some families. Never mind that children this age are just beginning to have gender identity AT ALL, let alone anything set. Child care/preschool is a place of acceptance to exploration.

4. DRAMATIC PLAY/LANGUAGE & LITERACY
For the preschoolers, dress up is often related to dramatic play. They put on an apron when they play in the kitchen area. They put on the princess dresses and the pirate outfits to play royalty. They work together to create dialog and enact a scene.  

"Princes bow and princesses curtsy!" Mr. G stated to the girls, bowing.

5. SELF-HELP SKILLS
While their own clothing may be difficult to get on and off, the larger dress up clothes make practicing these skills much easier. Fine motor, gross motor, logic/reasoning, etc. are all worked during dress up.

Some items are intentionally difficult to get on and off for the preschoolers, so that they work those self-help skills just as much as the toddlers.

6. DRESSING CONVENTIONS & BODY AWARENESS
Boots go on our feet. Hats go on our heads. Bracelets go on our wrists. Scarves are worn in winter. That hat is worn by construction workers. Look, I'm a chef! 

These are all statements I heard.

7. SENSORY EXPLORATION
Soft feathers, smooth satin, wiry wigs, crispy tulle, sparkly sequins, fluffy furs, stiff leather, are a sensory delight to children. The ability to experience so many different textures through interactive play is just wonderful. 

Constantly, I see children stopping to simply feel one or more textures and assess them. 

Miss H was feeling the outline of a cameo on her dress-up dress nearly the entire time she was wearing it.

If you aren't doing dress up, please do! The amount of learning that takes place during this type of play is simply astounding.

If you would like a fancy dancy rack for your own, here's a wonderful post on how to make one fairly easily and inexpensively. I like the fleur-de-lis pattern she chose to go with Ana White's plan. 
Tags: child, care, child care, dress up, dress-up, daycare, preschool, pre-k, homeschool, homeschooling, home, school, play, dramatic, dramatic play, learning, play, loose parts, make believe, 

5 Minute Fort/Quiet Corner/Puppet Theater Curtain

While the children are always looking to make forts, there really isn't that great of a spot for them in our main multi-age play area. The "safe zone" has been to play under my desk, usually when I'm at it, with precious toys so they won't be in danger of being snatched by others, or to escape the chaos and retreat for a while in peace. 


So, to facilitate all of this, I decided to enclose the child-chosen area with a curtain. I checked out fabric, but the sewing machine was at the farm and fabric was EXPENSIVE, so I purchased a $5 flat sheet from WalMart, along with a tension rod that just fit the space when at the smallest setting. I simply snipped the length and tore it on the grain of the fabric. Then did the same down the middle. 

I carefully sliced through the back edge ONLY of the top seam to run the rod through. 

By placing the finished edges together in the middle, it gives it a finished look without being finished. It just doesn't need to be. Someday, when I have the sewing machine back over here, I'll hem everything up. If it looks like anything is coming undone more than I want it to, I can use fabric glue for the time being to stop fraying, or even hem it with the glue or iron-on fusible web. But so far, after a couple weeks of rough play, it's been just fine. The rest of the sheet I will be using for another project in the preschool room. This took me 5 minutes to put together.

By splitting it in the middle, I can pull the sides apart to scoot under without entangling myself, and it allows the children to easily move in and out without pulling it down constantly. However, because it will come down, it also teaches them to be more careful with their activity, in what is supposed to be a quiet zone. I added a few of our spare throw pillows onto the bottom for comfort and wash-ability. These are easily recovered or washed in the machine, which was important. 


I have dollar store tap lights and glow in the dark stars to put up, but with the younger two, they would be quickly stripped off. So those will have to wait for a similar area in the preschool room.


The reason I got a tension rod that was longer than needed for the desk fort space, was that I also have wanted a puppet theater. I really want a really CUTE, stand-alone, wooden puppet theater, with storage for our multitude of puppets and props, but we currently don't have the space. That's on the grand plan for later. Much later. So, the main doorway between the foyer area and the toddler room is about six inches wider than the space under my desk. With a few seconds of twisting on the end, the ensemble becomes a perfect minimalistic puppet theater. 

One of the best things I hadn't anticipated needing, is that it is completely ADJUSTABLE, so for the older children I can raise it up, and for the younger ones I can lower it down while they put on their dramatic masterpieces. This has been a key element in facilitating their puppet play.
Tags: puppet, theater, fort, playhouse, tent, quiet area, reading nook, preschool, daycare, childcare, pre-k, prek, homeschool

Happy President's Day!!!

 We made George Washington tricorn hats, more fun than you would think [surprised ME anyway!]

Free Pattern - click for link

Trace

 Cut 

(the stars are harder and may require teacher assistance for even older children)

Staple two sides

Fit for last staple

(she's happier than she looks, and it seems I didn't get all the Mexican from lunch off of her)

Glue stars over staples

Pretend to be George Washington crossing the Delaware and fighting red coats...

accessorized with a few dress up beads ...

The preschoolers did some money sorting, of course I didn't have any color ink to even print out my own printables in color. Oh well, black and white worked just as well. I provided 10 of each and they fit perfectly on the images.We only had 3 half dollars, and found them after I'd printed the other one, so when I get some ink we'll have a re-do.

  

 FREE - click for link

Skills:
Math symmetry, oval, ellipse, star, 5 points on star, 3 sides + 3 points = tricorn
Colors blue and yellow
Fine motor cut, paste, staple, placing stars

Touch on History and how they wore different things in the past than we do today, that stars in the military mean that you are an important person and the more stars the better, so they must be VERY special people given how many stars on their hats!
Tags: President's Day, printable, craft, cut and paste, money, sorting, dress up, dramatic play, math, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, childcare, daycare, homeschool