How to Create a Pretend Play Area at Home
Children can play make believe almost anywhere and with nearly any type of material, but you can create a space that can enhance your child's enjoyment of imaginative or dramatic play. Children learn a wide variety of skills when playing make-believe, ranging from trying out various life roles to small motor coordination when dressing and undressing dolls. Designating certain items and a space for dramatic play can also save your real household items from being played with and broken.
Things You'll Need
- Box or set of shelves
- Toy kitchen appliances
- Plastic shopping cart
- Old clothing
- Wigs
- Jewelry
- Cardboard boxes
- Scissors
- Crayons
- Doctor kit
- Carpenter kit
- Stuffed animals
- Dolls
Instructions
Make or acquire a set of shelves and some plastic tubs to contain the various materials. If your child has a specific place to put props, costumes and kits, it is easier for her to put them away at the end of playtime. Some items might need a closed lid to protect small parts, such as play food, modeling clay or kits that focus on a profession. Provide a plastic tub with a lid or an old suitcase to store dress-up clothing. Go through your clothing and pull out items that are too worn or out of style to wear. If you don't have any extras in your own wardrobe, shop a few yard sales or second-hand stores for fun clothing to go in your child's dress-up box. Old formals, suit jackets and ties, hats and fancy shoes are good for dress-up collections. Cast-off costume jewelry or beads that can be strung help your future fashion consultant create different "looks" from the contents of the dress-up box. Create a cooking space by adding a toy stove, refrigerator and sink to your child's make-believe corner. You can often find sets at yard sales or at second-hand stores, or you can even make these pretend appliances from cardboard boxes. If you are too busy to construct them, simply leave some cardboard boxes in the play corner. Your child can turn them into appliances, boats or vehicles and might find a number of other uses for them.. Add occupational props. A child-sized plastic shopping cart, a doctor's kit, a small blackboard and child-sized carpenter's tools can springboard hours of imaginative play. Provide plastic food and clean, empty food containers so that your young cook can pretend to visit the supermarket and stock up the kitchen. A cash register and some play money will help your youngster wait on imaginary customers. Some plastic chairs and a child-sized table can become a doctor's waiting room or a place to serve tea to a family of dolls or stuffed animals.
