I don’t think you can have a preschool classroom without a dramatic play center! Setting up an engaging area for your children to play and learn will have huge benefits for your students.

What Is Dramatic Play?

Let’s start with defining dramatic play. Dramatic play (also called pretend play or imaginative play) is when children act out scenarios and take on different roles. Children can take on the role of something or someone they have seen in their real-life environments like a doctor or a fantasy role like a talking dragon!

Dramatic play happens in stages. In preschool, most children are ready for cooperative play with others. You can read more about the stages in this article, How Kids Learn to Play: 6 Stages of Play Development.

Dramatic play can happen in any space, but it can be helpful to choose a designated area for this center. The size of your dramatic play center is usually determined by how much space you have in your classroom and what large pieces of furniture you want to incorporate, but don’t feel limited to just the classroom! The playground can be another great spot for dramatic play!

Dramatic Play Benefits In an Early Childhood Classroom

Dramatic play has so many benefits in an early childhood classroom. Here are just a few:

• Promotes social skills and peer relationships
• Encourages language development and communication with others
• Introduces new vocabulary
• Practice taking turns with materials
• Allows for practice problem solving
• Gross motor skill development
• Fine motor skill development
• Provides opportunities for students to explore academic concepts in everyday life scenarios (one-to-one correspondence by matching plates with stuffed animals, exploring length with blocks, writing down a restaurant order, acting out the butterfly life cycle, etc.)
• Encourages creativity

I also think it’s important to mention that all students should be welcome and encouraged to play with any items of their choosing. There are no “girl toys” or “boy toys.”

Related Post: 12 Best Preschool Graduation Ideas

Dramatic Play Center Essentials

The good news is that children will play pretend with just about anything and often times their imaginations will surprise and delight you!

However, setting up a dramatic play center is a great way to engage children and foster pretend play skills! Here are some essentials to include in your dramatic play center:

Pretend Play Props and Prop Box

Pretend play props can help encourage dramatic play and keep things fun and interesting for preschoolers.

Depending on your preschool classroom setup and space, it may be helpful to put together prop boxes. Prop boxes allow you to pull out items for dramatic play ideas. Prop boxes are often organized by dramatic play themes or seasons.

Costumes

Adding costumes or dress-up clothes really encourages students to get into pretend play and their role in the play scenario. Costumes can be found at many places and are often on sale after Halloween. You can also send a parent letter home asking for dress-up clothes donations!

I always recommend washing these items often and choosing items that won’t spread lice, etc. You can also always make paper props like hats to that each student has their own to wear for play.

Kitchen

A play kitchen is a must-have! Most students have experience watching their caregivers cook in the kitchen or have helped with preparing a meal. This is a fun real life addition to a home living area and can be changed to go with different themes.

The play kitchen is a great place to incorporate some literacy too! A recipe book with real pictures is a great addition to the center. You can even laminate store ads or include paper and pencils for students to create shopping lists.

Here are a few of my favorte play kitchen items that can be added to a housekeeping center. You may find that some of the toys can always stay in the center, while others need to be rotated out:

• Pots and pans
• Plastic play food
• Egg Carton
• Blender
• Plastic plates, cups, bowls and silverware
• Cleaning supplies
• Cash register
• Waffle maker
• Mixer

Baby Dolls

Baby dolls are always a wonderful addition to centers too! Think about adding doll clothes for fine motor practice and other baby care items like bottles and diapers from the dollar store.

Baby dolls encourage kids to practice empathy and caring for others.

Tools/Work Bench/Hard Hat

Students love building things! Props like plastic tools, a work bench and even hard hats can be added to play centers. These props can be added to other centers too to encourage dramatic play like the block center. These props will help children role play and get into character!

Grocery Shopping Equipment and Cash Register

A pretend grocery store is another great idea for a dramatic play center and is very simple to create for your little learners! It’s a great

I recommend using real-life, clean food boxes in addition to pretend food. You can also add a pretend shopping cart, cloth bags, or baskets for students to use as they shop.

A cash register also adds to the role play and encourages math skills like number recognition.

You can even laminate store ads or include paper and pencils for students to create shopping lists. This can also be added to a housekeeping center.

Doctor or Vet

Students love props that allow them to pretend to be a doctor or even a vet. A simple doctor set is a great bang for your buck and can be used for many dramatic play themes.

Stuffed Animals

Students love stuffed animals and stuffed animals can be found to fit with many themes. You could also try plastic animals for easier cleaning. Stuffed animals also encourage empathy for animals.

Dramatic Play Center Ideas: Tips and Tricks

Create Themed Prop boxes

If you are short on space, themed prop boxes can be a great space (and time) saver! Simply put together items that foster dramatic play around the same theme and store them in a plastic container together. If you need some theme inspiration, check out this post: Preschool Themes for Every Month.

Later in the post, you will find a few of the most popular ideas for putting together prop boxes, so read on!

Include Print Rich Resources

Print rich resources are a great way to include literacy into your dramatic play area and continue exposing children to different types of print. I highly recommend including environmental print in your classroom and dramatic play area! You can read more about environmental print in this post, Environmental Print in the Preschool Classroom.

Provide Labels

You should expect your students to help with the clean up of the dramatic play center. Adding labels can help with this. I recommend including real classroom photographs onto shelves so students can see where to put items. You can also take a picture of what the play center should look like cleaned up for kids to reference.

I also recommend adding a sign to each center in your classroom for students.

Keep It Interesting

In a preschool classroom, I think it’s important to change out your dramatic play area often. Kids this age have a short attention span. Frequent changes keep kids interest high and makes kids excited about visiting this area of your classroom. The dramatic play center can be resources and props daily, weekly, by units/themes, etc. 

I highly recommend making your dramatic play center coordinate with the other learning happening in the classroom. For example, if you are learning about the pumpkin life cycle in science; it might be a perfect time to create a pumpkin patch dramatic play center!

I think it’s helpful to change the dramatic play center as you change themes or learning units. But, remember that you don’t have to completely change the center either! Sometimes just adding new props can refresh students’ interest.

You also don’t want to overwhelm students with materials. It is okay to have some empty shelves or leave favorite items that are played with frequently. Let your students be your guide! You can read more about setting up a preschool classroom in this post, Preschool Classroom: Intensional Design and Set Up.

Dramatic Play Centers: Your Role

So what is your role as the teacher when all of this wonderful play is happening in your dramatic play center? Here are a few roles that teachers can take on:

Observe

First, you can just observe what is happening and watch children play. This is a great time to take some notes and maybe jot down more dramatic play ideas based on your observations. For example, if you notice children really interested in pretending to cook maybe some cookbooks with photographs might be a great addition.

This can also be a great time to make observations and document children’s cognitive, language and social-emotional skills. I like to keep a pad of post it notes handy to jot down notable behaviors or quotes to share with parents for assessments.

Model

You can also model play for children. You can model how to use an object for dramatic play or even problem-solving. Modeling helps kids who may not have experience with the materials and/or scenarios in the dramatic play area. It also encourages language skills.

Supporting Actor

Sometimes children get “stuck” and need help moving the play forward. You can take on a supporting actor role. For example, you could pretend to be a customer at a restaurant or a parent with a sick baby. As always, let children take the lead and honor their play ideas.

Dramatic Play Ideas FAQ

Should Children Participate in Dramatic Play Centers Daily?

Absolutely. All children should have the opportunity to play daily.

What Are Some Examples of Dramatic Play?

Here are a few examples of dramatic play that you might see in a preschool classroom:

• Students pretending to prepare food and feed baby dolls
• Students building a city with blocks and pretending to be a dragon and knock it over
• Students in the home living center pretending to clean the kitchen

If students are struggling with figuring out roles in dramatic play, role necklaces can be helpful. These can be easily created with a lanyard and help kids remember their role.

What Are the Most Popular Prop Box Ideas for Young Children?

The options for dramatic play themes are endless! Here are a few popular prop box ideas for preschoolers to encourage dramatic play:

Pumpkin Patch

Set up a pumpkin patch for your students in the fall! You can use real pumpkins, plastic pumpkins from a dollar store or even make your own pumpkins with orange paper sacks and green pipe cleaners.

Hot Chocolate Stand

A hot chocolate stand can be easily created in the winter with Styrofoam cups and marshmallows and hot chocolate play dough.

Birthday Party

Another dramatic play idea is adding play props for a pretend birthday party! This is another scenario almost every child has experienced and enjoys acting out. Birthday candles, plate and napkins and table cloths can all be purchased at a grocery store and added to the dramatic play center.

You could also add gift wrapping supplies like ribbon, bows, wrapping paper and gift bags!

Classroom

At the beginning of the school year, I think a wonderful dramatic play idea is setting up a pretend classroom! This gives students a chance to process and act out events and role play being the teacher and other school helpers. Prop ideas include:

• School supplies you already have
• Workbooks or extra copies of work
• Pointers
• Backpacks

Restaurant

A restaurant is one of the easiest dramatic play themes to try in your classroom. Your prop box can include to-go menus from local restaurants, placemats, plastic silverware, plates, cups, napkins, and aprons! You can also add paper order forms for preschoolers to write down pretend orders!

Dramatic Play Centers: The Bottom Line

Play is essential to child development and children need the opportunity to develop these skills. A dramatic play center is an important part of the preschool experience.