The kid’s play store is the perfect dramatic play component for your list of valentine activities for preschoolers. This particular store, the chocolate and flower shop, has been a hit with my students for years. We often set it up around Valentine’s Day, but it would also fit our home center well any other day of the year. I, personally, have so much fun watching the kids play store!
To transform the home center, Mary Poppins placed some heart wreaths in the “window” over the sink. Fake flowers were added to the center, as well as empty chocolate boxes and bags from a local candy store. Toy cash registers and old phones were already in the home center, and they completed the shop. The kiddos used brown and white pompoms as the “chocolates” in the empty boxes.
Next to the home center, the discovery center acted as a chocolate factory. An old metal chocolate box was requisitioned by the children to act as a candy box, while brown play dough was the raw material for making “chocolates”. The children broke off pieces of the play dough, rolled the pieces into little balls, and placed the pieces into the metal candy box. We also placed a few heart cookie cutters in case they wanted to make heart-shaped chocolates.
As I already said, the students had a lot of fun at both these centers. I loved hearing their conversations as they played in the home center and the discovery center. My favorite child quote from the week — “Well, that’s how much it costs. Do you want it or not?” Hopefully that little one won’t go into sales when he’s older! 🙂
Children learn so much through pretend play and sensory play. Here are just a few of those things:
- Language and conversational skills
- Turn-taking and sharing
- How social situations work in the real world
- How to observe with their five senses
- Textures, shapes, smells, etc. of different materials
Valentine’s Day Preschool Books
In my opinion, when it comes to preschool, every occasion is the perfect occasion for a great book! So, I love reading as many books as possible with the littles so that I can recommend the best ones to you all. And that’s exactly what I’ve done here.
Below, you’ll find my favorite preschool books to read around Valentine’s Day. Click on each image below each image to be directed to a link for each book. I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Done-for-You Preschool Resources
Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!
Since this pretend play activity was a chocolate and flower shop, I thought it fitting to let you all have a glimpse of our chocolate and flower lesson plans below! Click on the images to learn more about each resource.
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What a cute idea! Valentines Day or not, chocolate and flowers are welcome around here year round! Thanks for sharing in the Discover & Explore pretend play theme. I’m featuring this post today.
Thanks so much Shaunna! It’s definitely a favorite at school. 🙂 I’m excited to read the rest of the pretend play center ideas.