Whether you’ve been following along for a little while or a long while, you probably know that I am a HUGE fan of Dramatic Play! I absolutely love setting up inviting spaces for my little learners that encourage them to develop their literacy skills, numeracy skills and social skills all through play.
This week I’d like to share a little peek into our recent Bakery Dramatic Play Space. We had so much fun with this one and still have a lot of the props out in our play kitchen right now!
We started by collecting the props we needed for our bakery. The kids helped to make our own bakery goods using salt dough which we painted once they had set.
I also found some gorgeous felt bakery foods from Chook Shed Designs. How cute are the little pies and sausage rolls?! We set up our Bakery around Easter which is when Chook Shed Designs also had the sweetest little Hot Cross Buns so we added those to our order as well.
Next, I created a printable set of signs and labels. You can grab our Bakery Dramatic Play Set from my store either separately or as part of a bundle. My husband and I got all of our signs and labels printed, laminated and cut out and then we were ready to set up!
Our DIY market stand made a fantastic base for our bakery. We use this stand for all of our dramatic play spaces these days – we just turned it around and used the crates as part of our food stand! I also used our beautiful Bunnytickles trolley as a drink cart and a space to store all of our bakery utensils and supplies.
The kids were so excited when they saw their Bakery Dramatic Play space! They immediately jumped in to play. I often find that when our little learners have life experience, they are more eager and able to engage in imaginative play. We often visit the bakery to buy Gingerbread Men or some morning tea which is why I think this space was so successful.
Lilly was almost 5 years old when we set up this space and she LOVED taking our orders and filling in the order forms. This was a wonderful way to encourage lots of early mark making and writing in a way that was relevant and fun! We also added some laminated play money to encourage the kids to begin exploring how we use money to purchase items. We tend to use our Debit Card a lot so I love to bring some money into our playtime where I can!
Ikea have some gorgeous KUNGSFORS net bags which were a wonderful addition to our Bakery Dramatic Play space as well. Elliot (almost 3 years) loved packing all of his freshly baked goods into the bags and carrying them around! We also added some simple brown paper bags and tongs which were a big hit.
If you’d like to set up a Bakery Dramatic Play space for your little learners, you can grab a copy of all my signs and labels by clicking the button below!
Don’t forget to tag me in your photos over on Instagram so I can see the beautiful spaces you set up! You can tag me @littlelifelonglearners and use the #LittleLifelongLearners hashtag!
Do you guys make the wood furniture and sale it?
Hi Kelly! We made the market stand ourselves, you can read all about in our DIY Market stall blog and have a go at making it at home yourself!