Dramatic Play- The Campsite

I have long been a believer that when it comes to dramatic play variety and rotating stations are key and less is more.  The less stuff provided the more imagination takes place.  This is why I was so excited to try the campsite.  I used it the last week of school but ended up wishing I had given it a month of play.  My teaching team found 2 boxes of camping stuff that someone in the neighborhood was giving away.  They nabbed the boxes but the boxes sat in storage for months.  I was looking for something simple and different to keep my kids engaged the last week of school so I pulled the boxes out, went through them and discovered a treasure of imagination.  There a very few props but the kids had so much fun being in the tent and cooking over the fire.  In later pictures you will see trees around the tent.  We have these for various activities in kindergarten and they made a nice forest.

I am hoping to put together and apple orchard dramatic play area for the fall.  I am giving up the house keeping center all together because it originally belonged to another program and they really wanted it back.  I don't think I'll miss it.  I'll keep you posted!

The tent and camping dishes were a "give away" find in my neighborhood.

The campfire is a group of paper towel tubes and red, orange and gold tissue paper under a cooking grate.

There is a camping pad inside the tent and a backpack with a set of 4 plates, cups and spoons and 2 frying pans and 1 spatula a life vest and a minnow bucket and a small broom and dust pan.

The kids supplies the imagination.