Pretend play inspires imagination…
that’s where the learning really begins.
Our preschoolers are developing their interest and abilities in pretend play more and more throughout our classroom. From making tunnels and roads to playing with the animals and cars, their interest in pretend play is building their confidence to interact and talk with one another.
Being in the fall spirit, our class read “Pumpkin Soup” by Helen Cooper. In the book the characters make delicious pumpkin soup and they all have a special role in creating the soup, so we set up a center specifically for the children to create their own soup.
Our classroom is pretty small so we have to think outside of the box a bit to bring in different kinds of play and exploration. For our kitchen area, we set out a small clipboard for the chef to take orders, bottle caps for “soup,” and a variety of dishes we purchased from Goodwill for the children to set the table.
The children spent the morning setting the table, taking orders, and cooking up soup for each other. As the children asked each child what they would like to order, they would take the time to “write” the orders onto the paper. So many different skills the children are practicing in the process of play.
The children even acted out the roles of different characters from our “Pumpkin Soup” book into their play. The cat in the book sliced up the pumpkin, the squirrel stirred the water and all of the ingredients, and the duck in the story added just enough salt to make it just right. I overheard one of our little girls tell her friend, “look! I’m adding salt like the little duck.”
More to grow on…
Check out this super cool DIY Pizza Box Kitchen!
Available on Amazon…
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