Retail Clothing Store Dramatic Play Activity
Who doesn’t love shopping? Setting up a retail store pretend play area for kids is a great way to let them experience this all on their own.
The preschool children & kindergarten kids will have a great time trying on clothes and “buying” them as well as all of the social interactions that come with a shopping or retail clothing store experience.
Read below for ideas on how to set up a dramatic play clothing store play area for the preschool children and what clothing and retail items to put in it to make it the best possible learning experience.
Setting Up Your Clothing Store Dramatic Play for Kids:
About a week or two before you plan on implementing this dramatic play topic, ask your friends, family, or clients, if they have old clothes and/or shoes of any size (child-adult) that they have been meaning to get rid of.
See if they can donate them to your Child Care Center or place where you provide care so the children can use them as dress up clothes.
Now it’s time to set up your play area, and chances are you don’t have access to clothing racks like you would find in a retail store at your local mall.
- A great space saver and organized way to let the kids shop is to get 2-3 medium sized totes.
- On one of the totes you could post a picture of a shirt and underneath it have the printed word “Shirt”.
- On the other bin you could post a picture of a pair of pants and underneath it print the word “Pants”.
- On the optional third bin you could put a picture of a shoe or a pair of shoes and put the word “shoe” or “shoes”.
Fill each bin with the designated clothing posted on the outside of the bin.
Make sure you have a child sized table to act as a “counter” for the cash register.
Now you are ready to begin adding in all of the extras to make this an amazing shopping trip for the preschool children in the classroom or your kids learning at home.
Items to Put in your Kids Retail Store Play Center:
- Full length mirror, (make sure you mention to the children that they should try on the clothes over top of their own clothes),
- cash register with play money,
- purses,
- wallets,
- costume jewelry,
- calendar,
- telephone,
- paper and pencils,
- re-usable shopping bags,
- some hats.
If you have a shelf in the dramatic play center, the bags, hats and jewelry can go on the shelf, but if you don’t, feel free to put them in labeled totes as well.
Retail Shopping Pictures & Visuals:
Don’t forget to find pictures of children shopping in clothing stores and print them out, laminate them and post them on the wall. Visuals are very important for children’s development and learning.
Books & Stories:
There are also books of real life experiences which can be put in your library center for the children to look at and relate to.