Welcome to Imaginary Play
Your job as coordinator is to remind the parents that they signed-up for the monthly play area. You can give them ideas from previous years and let them go at it!
• I have created a blog to help you it has all the info and pictures in this folder so that you can easily copy and paste for easy emailing and communication. You can visit it here: http://LagunaPreschoolCurriculum.Blogspot.com/
• Email, Call, or put a note in their file at the preschool. Give them as much advice and notice as possible (2-3 weeks notice is best) for the setup email.
• Many of them sign up and then forget; they will make other plans and be unavailable to participate. Its easiest if you send out a monthly notice to everyone with the entire list of each Imaginary play center and who is in each grouping so there will be no surprises and if they want they can get a head start collecting and putting ideas together.
• You need to check the sign up sheet to see if there is a Group Coordinator for each Month if no one signs up you must choose a person
• Use my email templates or create your own using the basic info I have provided you need to let each group know that they are responsible for setting up AND breaking down the center. Give them specific dates it needs to be set up by and taken down by. Generally it is the second Monday of each Month and it is taken down within two weeks.
• Barbara would like the existing Imaginary Play furniture incorporated in each setup. If it is not possible you must find a place in the classroom to store the furniture that is not in the way.
• The school has a lot of items that can be used in each theme. Make sure to always email Barbara each month and ask what is available. Also ask her what she would like the setup and take down days to be each Month in case she has something planned.
• Ask Barbara what the current reimbursement for each month is so you know how much you can spend on enrichments each month.
Group Members can:
1. Beg (For Donations) Use The Donations Letter in this folder, plus any monthly “Needed Items Lists” I tried to make it as easy as possible for you
2. Borrow (from others) We are part of an amazing school everyone wants to help ask other parents for borrowed donations MAKE SURE THEY LABEL if they want something back.
3. Steal (ideas only) Work with everyone to create incredible themes use my ideas and expand, look online for more ideas.
REMEMBER: Have lots for the kids to do! Keep it FUN! Keep it SAFE!
Best-
Debra
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Market- Imaginary Play
EMAIL THIS LETTER TO MEMBERS HELPING WITH SETUP
Greetings,
Its time turn the Dramatic Play Center into a Grocery Store for everyone to enjoy! The following items and ideas are available for you to go over so we can create the Best LPPP Market ever.
Everyone- This Month, we begin by asking you to start gathering empty containers that we will use for our “products” within the Super Market. Keep those cereal and cracker boxes!
*Clean them out fill them with newspaper and use packing tape around the edges to seal those packages so that they are durable for the duration of our supermarket theme.
*Wash out and seal those empty plastic applesauce, juice and milk containers and seal the lids with some hot glue!
* Any kind of container is fine, so long as it is clean and sealed (mostly to keep that yucky, food-tainted water from dripping all over the place).
* Also, please don’t bring any containers that once held a food item with nuts! We don’t want to take any chances of nut-product residue aggravating serious allergies.
* If each of you could accumulate 1-2 garbage bags full of empty, sealed product containers by the time of the Super Market set up, that would be great!
** Also, everyone please choose EITHER Part A OR Part B to work on. Email me back with your selection, and please also let me also know your applicable skill sets (sewing, crafting, drawing, painting, building, engineering, handy with tools, sign making, etc.) for future themes. Thank you!
Part A (Food): We often need additional and replacement food items. This year, we need more “meat”, "produce” and larger “baked goods", which can be fashioned out of felt, yarn, foam, construction paper, cardboard, etc. Here is a list of easy tutorials. We only ask that your creations are made with the safety of the children in mind--no pointy or sharp edges, and pieces should be bigger than the middle of a toilet paper roll in the few first months of the school year, when some of our 2-day kids are still pretty young and sometimes still put things in their mouths. Your creations should also be able to withstand the children’s abuse for at least the duration of the month. Please consider this when you construct parts and pieces. More durable, well-made food products are appreciated, as we can re-use them in the future. Those with sewing or crafting skills would be ideal for this project.
Part B (Signage): Typically, we plastic-cover signs and affix them with zip-ties to the fronts of the shelves to designate areas like “frozen foods”, “dairy”, “eggs”, “meat”, “cereal”, “crackers”, “baked goods” “produce” and “baking needs”. These signs become damaged, and new signs need to be fashioned. Those who can use the computer deftly to create signs with both text and pictures of each word underneath to help the children identify different sections, would be ideal for this project.
Set Up: All of you will work on set up. Some of you will assemble our wire shelves and place them under the loft, against the back wall. These will be the shelves of our market, and will hold the majority of the food. Some of you will organize and stock shelves. Some of you will set up a produce stand, bakery area and deli. Your Lead will help delegate everyone to a task during set ups. Please find some photos of a past Super Market and select items, to give you an idea of what we’re looking for with regard to food production, signage and set up.
Take Down: You will all take down the Super Market. You will return furniture and items to their original places and recreate the original “kitchen/house” environment.
School/ Teacher Barbara has:
• Cash Registers
• Plastic Fruit and Veggies
• Shelves
*some felt fruits and veggies
* Play Money
* Shopping Carts
* Customer Order Dividers
*Some felt bakery items
Try to get Donations of the following from Local stores
• Old Displays (ask on Wednesdays many displays are changed out and disposed of with the new sale ads )
Some Tips for the Grocery Store
* Use a black trash bag or black fabric taped down to create a "conveyor belt"
***Two registers TWO LANES- use two tables one by each Register- Per TB****
* Grocery Weekly ads and coupons- save from Sunday paper etc
• Have paper and pens set out for children to make Grocery lists
• Freezer section: Use a clear shower curtain liner cut it to the right length cut strips attach under loft.
Setup:
*Produce Stand, Delicatessen, Freezer Section, and Bakery should all be addressed
* Optional- Flower Stand--- Ask Walmart for Silk Flower Donations.
• Anything else you can think of?
Our Flower Stand Go Here for step by step instructions on how to make one.
Go Here for the Donations letter for the Market of basic items needed remember you can always add to it as needed. Simply Copy and Paste into a Word Document (change Font size as needed)Include the Base Donations Letter along with the specific Donations Letter for the unit you are working on
Please “REPLY TO ALL” and keep me in the loop with all emails so I can stay up to date with your progress and ideas.
This thing is awesome anyone have any ideas as to how to recreate it? It is supposed to be strictly for a Kids Bakery Display Case, from the 'Designs by Sara' collection, 42''w x 24''d. Includes an unbreakable Lexan® display window, 3 shelves & locking sliding doors in the back. Top & shelves have a brush orange laminate.
Here is a link to the site where I found it
Above is a picture from the year before so you can see while they are different there are some similarities.
I used a trash bag as the "conveyor belt" and used the bottom of the shower curtain that we weren't using to cover the whole table so I wouldn't have to tape directly to our table it sealed in the trash bag and I taped the shower curtain to itself so we won't have any yucky tape residue.
Aprons and Job Badges for children who are "Working"
Our Produce Section
We used tubs where the children will color code the fruit and veggies
The fruit and veggies were 90% hand made
This year we added a Cocoa shop to our super market.
You can make turkey/chicken legs and we had meat trays donated we sealed them up and placed them in the freezer section.
Our freezer section we saved an assortment of frozen tv dinners etc
I used a shower curtain and cut it to size for the freezer section I also cut strips it into strips so the kids could easily reach in and pull out what they want
We made fish bacon and more drumsticks
Fresh pasta in the refrigerated section
Make labels on the computer
Again you can get creative using simple yarn and a baggie.
This was the bakery this year but there is a photo above of the bakery in previous years.
Easy cupcakes, cookies, and even a cake for the kids to choose from
Some were packaged on plastic lids with some of the scrap shower curtain taped on top.
Buying in bulk
.
Use felt or foam to create bread, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and meat. Have Baggies ready for the kids so after they create their sandwich they can take it to go.
We used signs to indicate where everything is
We used a Mailbox to house our sale ads we have been collecting
We put out paper and pencils for "Make your own Shopping Lists"
Greetings,
Its time turn the Dramatic Play Center into a Grocery Store for everyone to enjoy! The following items and ideas are available for you to go over so we can create the Best LPPP Market ever.
Everyone- This Month, we begin by asking you to start gathering empty containers that we will use for our “products” within the Super Market. Keep those cereal and cracker boxes!
*Clean them out fill them with newspaper and use packing tape around the edges to seal those packages so that they are durable for the duration of our supermarket theme.
*Wash out and seal those empty plastic applesauce, juice and milk containers and seal the lids with some hot glue!
* Any kind of container is fine, so long as it is clean and sealed (mostly to keep that yucky, food-tainted water from dripping all over the place).
* Also, please don’t bring any containers that once held a food item with nuts! We don’t want to take any chances of nut-product residue aggravating serious allergies.
* If each of you could accumulate 1-2 garbage bags full of empty, sealed product containers by the time of the Super Market set up, that would be great!
** Also, everyone please choose EITHER Part A OR Part B to work on. Email me back with your selection, and please also let me also know your applicable skill sets (sewing, crafting, drawing, painting, building, engineering, handy with tools, sign making, etc.) for future themes. Thank you!
Part A (Food): We often need additional and replacement food items. This year, we need more “meat”, "produce” and larger “baked goods", which can be fashioned out of felt, yarn, foam, construction paper, cardboard, etc. Here is a list of easy tutorials. We only ask that your creations are made with the safety of the children in mind--no pointy or sharp edges, and pieces should be bigger than the middle of a toilet paper roll in the few first months of the school year, when some of our 2-day kids are still pretty young and sometimes still put things in their mouths. Your creations should also be able to withstand the children’s abuse for at least the duration of the month. Please consider this when you construct parts and pieces. More durable, well-made food products are appreciated, as we can re-use them in the future. Those with sewing or crafting skills would be ideal for this project.
Part B (Signage): Typically, we plastic-cover signs and affix them with zip-ties to the fronts of the shelves to designate areas like “frozen foods”, “dairy”, “eggs”, “meat”, “cereal”, “crackers”, “baked goods” “produce” and “baking needs”. These signs become damaged, and new signs need to be fashioned. Those who can use the computer deftly to create signs with both text and pictures of each word underneath to help the children identify different sections, would be ideal for this project.
Set Up: All of you will work on set up. Some of you will assemble our wire shelves and place them under the loft, against the back wall. These will be the shelves of our market, and will hold the majority of the food. Some of you will organize and stock shelves. Some of you will set up a produce stand, bakery area and deli. Your Lead will help delegate everyone to a task during set ups. Please find some photos of a past Super Market and select items, to give you an idea of what we’re looking for with regard to food production, signage and set up.
Take Down: You will all take down the Super Market. You will return furniture and items to their original places and recreate the original “kitchen/house” environment.
School/ Teacher Barbara has:
• Cash Registers
• Plastic Fruit and Veggies
• Shelves
*some felt fruits and veggies
* Play Money
* Shopping Carts
* Customer Order Dividers
*Some felt bakery items
Try to get Donations of the following from Local stores
• Old Displays (ask on Wednesdays many displays are changed out and disposed of with the new sale ads )
***Two registers TWO LANES- use two tables one by each Register- Per TB****
* Grocery Weekly ads and coupons- save from Sunday paper etc
• Have paper and pens set out for children to make Grocery lists
• Freezer section: Use a clear shower curtain liner cut it to the right length cut strips attach under loft.
Setup:
*Produce Stand, Delicatessen, Freezer Section, and Bakery should all be addressed
* Optional- Flower Stand--- Ask Walmart for Silk Flower Donations.
• Anything else you can think of?
Our Flower Stand Go Here for step by step instructions on how to make one.
Go Here for the Donations letter for the Market of basic items needed remember you can always add to it as needed. Simply Copy and Paste into a Word Document (change Font size as needed)Include the Base Donations Letter along with the specific Donations Letter for the unit you are working on
Please “REPLY TO ALL” and keep me in the loop with all emails so I can stay up to date with your progress and ideas.
This thing is awesome anyone have any ideas as to how to recreate it? It is supposed to be strictly for a Kids Bakery Display Case, from the 'Designs by Sara' collection, 42''w x 24''d. Includes an unbreakable Lexan® display window, 3 shelves & locking sliding doors in the back. Top & shelves have a brush orange laminate.
Here is a link to the site where I found it
We sectioned the food into categories we kept all the dairy/ eggs together breakfast stuff together etc.
I used a trash bag as the "conveyor belt" and used the bottom of the shower curtain that we weren't using to cover the whole table so I wouldn't have to tape directly to our table it sealed in the trash bag and I taped the shower curtain to itself so we won't have any yucky tape residue.
Our market, the "next customer" signs are cardboard covered in masking tape rolled into a long triangle shape with the words written on in sharpie
This year we added a Cocoa shop to our super market.
You can make turkey/chicken legs and we had meat trays donated we sealed them up and placed them in the freezer section.
Our freezer section we saved an assortment of frozen tv dinners etc
I used a shower curtain and cut it to size for the freezer section I also cut strips it into strips so the kids could easily reach in and pull out what they want
Ground Meat is easy to make with yarn and sushi was made with felt
Again you can get creative using simple yarn and a baggie.
This was the bakery this year but there is a photo above of the bakery in previous years.
Delicatessen
This is the Delicatessen made in another year. Slightly different but mainly the same.
We used signs to indicate where everything is
We used a Mailbox to house our sale ads we have been collecting
We put out paper and pencils for "Make your own Shopping Lists"
Camping and Native American Village- Dramatic Play
Hooray for November! A Camping we will Go!
Set Up: All of you will work on set up. Some of you will assemble our wooden tents that will go up on the loft. These will be our camping sleeping area. Some of you will organize and stock our camping information area. This will consist of maps, brochures, etc. Some of you will set up a camp fire, cave area and forest stream. Your Lead will help delegate everyone to a task during set ups. Please find some photos of a past Camping Unit and select items, to give you an idea of what we’re looking for with regard to set up.
Take Down: You will all take down the Campground. You will return furniture and items to their original places and recreate the original “kitchen/house” environment.
Camping
There will be a lot of temporary donations needed for this one. Please CLEARLY LABEL anything you bring in that you would like back at the end.
What we will need if we go “Camping”:
•Turn the "under loft area" into a Picnic area/ Nature Center. We have the table and chairs and the background furniture what we need is to borrow any camping cookware you might have.
•Kids binoculars made from toilet paper tubes start making them now we need at least 10
• Bug catchers * I found this one does someone want to make 5 of them maybe more?
• Christmas trees (smaller we need around 3)
• A couple of small sleeping bags
• A sign- This is our old one and I loved it I couldn't find it would someone want to recreate it.
• Small flashlights
• Small backpacks
• Child size beach/ lawn chairs
• Small cooler
• silk plants (just to borrow)
• Pots and pans (from dramatic play center)
• Picnic blanket
• Maps, and brochures visit your local city hall. Most have free maps for nature trails etc.
• Campfire (a ring of rocks with firewood or sticks in the middle)create flames from felt
•Sticks with "Marshmallows" (felt or cotton balls) glued to the end. Some with Felt Hot dogs glued to the end
• S'mores made of felt
• A River or stream with fish. I would like the fish to have some kind of magnet on them fishing poles with another magnet so that the kids can actually go fishing for the fish.
•Make a Cave (Black- Blackout curtain two panels)
• Make bats, borrow a giant bear, any other ideas for the cave?
• Canteens
• Mosquito netting
•Compasses made out of cardboard. Maybe around 15 of these. Something similar to this http://bestpractices4teaching.blogspot.com/2013/09/compass-craft.html?m=1&utm_source=feedburner
•I would like to make a waterfall coming down the side of the loft on the staircase/ side where the sink is in the classroom something similar to this
or like this
•Please Print out the animal tracks and pictures and laminate them for a game the kids can play in the camping center.
http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/assets/PDF/Animal_Tracks.pdf
• I would also like some animal tracks made for different animals that the kids can set out so 20 of each animal track. Perhaps bears, coyote, mountain lion and deer. The kids can then make a trail with them that their friends will have to track
• Artwork. Does anyone like to paint? I will look but I think we will need at least one art scene of a forest print created.
• Smallish fake Christmas trees
• Pinecones, rocks other natural elements
• Use vines/ greenery on the staircase rail to the loft as well as on the loft itself
The school has three of the above tent we will need to put together
Set Up: All of you will work on set up. Some of you will assemble our wooden tents that will go up on the loft. These will be our camping sleeping area. Some of you will organize and stock our camping information area. This will consist of maps, brochures, etc. Some of you will set up a camp fire, cave area and forest stream. Your Lead will help delegate everyone to a task during set ups. Please find some photos of a past Camping Unit and select items, to give you an idea of what we’re looking for with regard to set up.
Take Down: You will all take down the Campground. You will return furniture and items to their original places and recreate the original “kitchen/house” environment.
Camping
There will be a lot of temporary donations needed for this one. Please CLEARLY LABEL anything you bring in that you would like back at the end.
What we will need if we go “Camping”:
•Turn the "under loft area" into a Picnic area/ Nature Center. We have the table and chairs and the background furniture what we need is to borrow any camping cookware you might have.
•Kids binoculars made from toilet paper tubes start making them now we need at least 10
• Bug catchers * I found this one does someone want to make 5 of them maybe more?
• Christmas trees (smaller we need around 3)
• A couple of small sleeping bags
• A sign- This is our old one and I loved it I couldn't find it would someone want to recreate it.
• Small flashlights
• Small backpacks
• Child size beach/ lawn chairs
• Small cooler
• silk plants (just to borrow)
• Pots and pans (from dramatic play center)
• Picnic blanket
• Maps, and brochures visit your local city hall. Most have free maps for nature trails etc.
• Campfire (a ring of rocks with firewood or sticks in the middle)create flames from felt
•Sticks with "Marshmallows" (felt or cotton balls) glued to the end. Some with Felt Hot dogs glued to the end
• S'mores made of felt
• A River or stream with fish. I would like the fish to have some kind of magnet on them fishing poles with another magnet so that the kids can actually go fishing for the fish.
•Make a Cave (Black- Blackout curtain two panels)
• Make bats, borrow a giant bear, any other ideas for the cave?
• Canteens
• Mosquito netting
•Compasses made out of cardboard. Maybe around 15 of these. Something similar to this http://bestpractices4teaching.blogspot.com/2013/09/compass-craft.html?m=1&utm_source=feedburner
•I would like to make a waterfall coming down the side of the loft on the staircase/ side where the sink is in the classroom something similar to this
or like this
•Please Print out the animal tracks and pictures and laminate them for a game the kids can play in the camping center.
http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/assets/PDF/Animal_Tracks.pdf
• I would also like some animal tracks made for different animals that the kids can set out so 20 of each animal track. Perhaps bears, coyote, mountain lion and deer. The kids can then make a trail with them that their friends will have to track
• Artwork. Does anyone like to paint? I will look but I think we will need at least one art scene of a forest print created.
• Smallish fake Christmas trees
• Pinecones, rocks other natural elements
• Use vines/ greenery on the staircase rail to the loft as well as on the loft itself
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