Ideas for Dramatic Play

Need some ideas for dramatic play centers, look no further!! I have listed all my monthly dramatic play themes below to give you some ideas for your home or classroom. If you don’t have a dramatic play, you can build your own using my DIY steps here. Also, I have written a whole blog post about how to use dramatic play in the classroom and the benefits of it. You can read all about it here. At the end of this blog post, you can get my FREE dramatic play guide that has writing prompts.

January:

I created a hot cocoa stand for January’s dramatic play. The kids loved using the Keurig to make different hot cocoa flavors and there is the most perfect fake marshmallow on amazon!

February:

I wanted to tie in Valentine’s with a cookie theme. Melissa and Doug’s cookie set was awesome but I also let the kids use brown playdough and beads to create their own kind of cookies! I even had a clean-up set for them to clean up their shop. This was used in a couple of my ideas for dramatic play.

March:

I made a Sandwich Shop or you can also use it as a restaurant. I even added some St.Patricks decor to bring the holiday and theme together. The Sandwich set is from Melissa and Doug and some of the felt food was also found from Target Dollar Spot.

April:

I wanted to gear away from the shops for dramatic play and made a veterinarian or animal hospital for this month. My students love playing doctor and I have tons of stuff animals so why not combine those!

May:

I had to do it, I mean come on… April showers bring May flowers!! The flower shop was probably the easiest because all I needed was flowers and vases which were all found at Dollar Tree! Next, some of the little decors were fake plants from IKEA or bags from Target Dollar Spot or from Hobby Lobby/ Michaels Spring collection last year when it was 70% off. I am always planning ahead lol.

June:

This month is when Father’s Day happens so what a better month for a hardware store or construction zone! Again, most of the products came from Target Dollar Spot and I love felt toys because I can easily throw them in the washer to clean when the month is over!

July:

I scream for ice cream!! This is my favorite of all time! Once again thanks to the Target dollar spot for all the goodies, plus Melissa and Doug so my kids can build their own ice cream. You can use playdough or tissue paper if you don’t want to buy fake ice cream.

August:

I loved going to the farmers market once school starts and fall is about to begin. I loved the IKEA felt food for this stand or plastic food from hobby lobby! Both had tons of options!

September:

Who would have thought apples could be so much fun? My students loved our mini apple orchard and it was a great way to extend our social studies until where we talked about the life cycle of an apple, parts of an apple, different types of apples, and Johnny Apple Seed!

October:

You can’t have an apple orchard without a pumpkin patch. The kids were obsessed with all the fake pumpkins, hay, gourds, and making pumpkin treats with craft materials!

November:

I love bakeries and all the pastries so this was a must for one of my months. Also, around Thanksgiving students know about all the pies they are about to eat. I love my felt pie from Target Dollar spot and allowing students to fill it with poms for “different flavors”.  Be sure to add bread, bagels, donuts and cookies! Hobby Lobby is full of lots of fake food and I love Antsy Pants from Target.

December:

I wanted to create something that wasn’t centered around one “holiday” so I made a gift wrapping center and this can be used for any holiday. I also added some toys and lists if you want students to buy gifts and the workers wrap them. This was perfect for some fine and gross motor.