Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten Dramatic Play Center Ideas and Resources.
How to set-up and organize a dramatic play center your in preschool, pre-k, Head Start or kindergarten classroom.
The dramatic play center is a favorite with both boys and girls. There are baby dolls of several different ethnicities in our dramatic play center. It is important to provide dolls that reflect the ethnicity of the students in the classroom. We have many Multicultural Dolls living in our home center.
Dramatic Play Themes
We change our dramatic play center throughout the year to keep it fresh and exciting.
Click on the links below to see pictures of our dramatic play themes.
- Baby Nursery
- Birthday Party
- Restaurant
- Bakery
- Post Office
- Vet Clinic
- Doctor’s Office
- Flower Shop
- Grocery Store
- Dramatic Play Hair Salon
- Ice Cream Shop
- Pizza Parlor
- Holiday Wrapping Station
- Hot Cocoa Stand
- Chinese Restaurant
- Space Center
- Mexican Restaurant
- Camping Theme
- Apple Orchard
- Pumpkin Patch
Dolls for Pretend Play
Having dolls to represent a variety ethnicities in the dramatic play center will provide opportunities for cultural identification for some students, and acceptance for others. I found all of the dolls pictured here at my local Goodwill store for a few dollars each. I was lucky enough to have a parent make doll clothes one year, and I bought the rest of the clothes for the dolls at the toy store since I didn’t have to pay much for the dolls.
Props for Play
Old purses, wallets, keys, and used gift cards are always extremely popular in the pretend play center. I found the purses at a garage sale. I save my old gift cards, wallets, and keys to use in the dramatic play center.
Dress Up Clothes for Pretend Play
Clothes for dress-up play are hanging from 3M hooks attached to the wall.
Books in the Dramatic Play Center
A tub of books about homes, clothes, food, and families is available to students.
Favorite Toys for Pretend Play
1. Play Phone
2. Multicultural Dolls
3. Pretend Food
4. Dress Up Clothes
5. Dishes, Pots and Pans
6. One Piece Kitchen
Printable Dramatic Play Labels
Do your kids need help cleaning up all the food, dishes, pots, and pans in the dramatic play center? I created these free labels you can print and use to help organize your dramatic play center.
Dramatic Play Center Materials
Below I have listed some of the other items we have in our dramatic play center:
- Book Basket (featuring books about homes, household items, food)
- Purses with wallets & keys (these are a HUGE hit)
- Table and chairs
- Pencils and notepads
- Restaurant menus
- Old cookbooks and cooking magazines
- Homemade telephone book with pictures next to each number (library, friends phone numbers, pizza etc)
More Center Ideas from Pre-K Pages
Dramatic Play Resources:
