I strongly believe that imaginative play is an important part of every child's development and that early childhood students like my Kindergartners should be given opportunities to engage in imaginative play. That is why, I have a theater station in my classroom. Unfortunately, lately, our theater station looks and sounds more like ensuing chaos rather than productive play. So...I knew I needed to make some changes. I try to remember that if something in my classroom is driving me crazy, then there is probably something that I need to teach or reteach my students. With our upcoming holiday just a week away, I decided to provide my kids with some props so that they could act out and retell the story of the first Thanksgiving.
I fashioned our Mayflower out of a basket, ruler, yarn, and a piece of card stock. I'm all about using what you have on hand and I found all of these items in my closet at school. As for the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, I purchased some inexpensive peg dolls (around $3 for 30 of them).
In this basket, I have placed blocks to create the villages for both the Pilgrims and the Indians, play food to act out the actual feast, and Thanksgiving books.
Finally, to give the area an authentic feel; I added this little campfire made from rocks, twigs, and construction paper.
My students are loving it and I'm loving that our theater station has been more "playful" and less "crazy". : )
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