Ice Cream Parlor - Dramatic Play Center

Do you have a Dramatic Play Center in your classroom?

I sure do!

That has to be one of the most popular centers...the students come up with all sorts of things they want to turn it into!

Recently, I overheard the students having a conversation about going out for ice cream (this was just over a week ago when the weather was warmer than it is now!).

I asked the students if they wanted to turn our Dramatic Center into an Ice Cream Parlor and they quickly got to work.

I involve the students as much as I can when we decide on something for our classroom.  We drew a plan of what we would like the Ice Cream Parlor to look like and have, then rearranged furniture and started collecting materials.

After much discussion of what the actual "ice cream" could be, we decided that Playdough would work best.

I went to the Dollar store that night and bought some real ice cream scoopers and containers to put the Playdough in so that it wouldn't turn hard.

The next day, the children decided that an ordering form would be great to have and students could colour the ice cream of their choice.  They also wanted to leave some ordering forms by the cashier (along with a telephone) in case they received any phone in orders (this sparked from one child who said her mother ordered her an ice cream cake for her birthday and called the store).

And off we went...

This area is for employees (the "scoopers") who take orders and scoop ice cream.

Bowls, spoons, napkins and cones are organized along with toppings.

The children decided to offer a few flavors of the day.  The rest of the ice cream was stored in the freezer (the cupboards that you see in the picture).  We would rotate the ice cream daily for new flavours.

The children had various roles they could play...scooper, server, cashier and, of course, customers (which was just as popular as the others!).

These were the toppings.  We learned that we all like different things on our ice cream!

I had labels for these topping containers including:  sprinkles, cherries, peanuts and marshmallows (all with pretend toppings inside, of course, which were sealed with tape so nothing could really come out!).

 

Customers could choose from either bowls or cones.  We didn't have pretend cones so instead we used these glasses (from Ikea - aren't they adorable?!).

 

I just posted this Ice Cream Dramatic Play Center in my TpT store...and it's on SALE until tomorrow night!

Want to win a copy?

Be sure to LIKE my Facebook page (click HERE to take you there).  Look for my entry and leave me your e-mail underneath as a comment.  I will be choosing 3 winners tonight!