This dramatic play flower shop is an easy activity to set up with artificial flowers and a few props and materials you already have at home. It will provide hours of entertainment, pretend play and learning in your own backyard this spring.
I love setting up dramatic play activities for the toddlers and preschoolers in my daycare. Some of their favourites over the years have been our pretend play coffee shop, our perfume factory and this dramatic play flower shop.
Easy, inexpensive set-up
This activity is wonderful for the backyard in spring and summer, and is easy to set up with silk flowers from the dollar store, coffee grounds for potting soil, a few small tools and instruments, and some containers to use as vases or flower pots.
Skill Development:
A dramatic play flower shop helps to strengthen language and fine-motor skills. It encourages critical thinking and imagination, and it provides a lovely sensory experience as well. It also gives kids the opportunity to learn the names, colours and shapes of various flowers.
- Small stones, dried lentils and dried (used) coffee grounds are a delight to the senses.
- Scoops, tongs and funnels challenge fine-motor skills and eye-hand co-ordination.
- Critical thinking and measuring is required to fill their flowerpots.
- New vocabulary: vase, soil, bouquet, stem, petals, etc.
- Imaginations flourish as they arrange and plant their flowers and pretend to interact with each other as customer and flower shop owner.
A pretend play flower shop is a wonderful way for young children to learn, play and explore.
Dramatic Play Flower Shop Props and Materials:
- artificial flowers
- dried coffee grounds (save and dry for several days before-hand)
- small stones
- dried lentils
- jars and containers
- small tongs and kid-friendly tweezers
- scoops/spoons
- small watering can (without water)
Learning through play:
Set everything up on a low table and introduce the children to the materials using words like potting soil, vase, flowerpot, stem, petals, bouquet, floral arrangement.
If you know the names of the flowers, teach them to your kids, and have them observe and discuss the different colours, markings and shapes of the petals and leaves of the flowers.
The children can measure, scoop and pour to fill the containers with layers of lentils, stones and coffee grounds and then they can push the flower stems into this “soil” mixture to plant their flowers.
If you have small watering cans, they can pretend to water their flowers too.
To keep the mess to a minimum…
This activity is best done outdoors because the coffee grounds can be a bit messy. If you’ll be doing this inside, set it up in an area that isn’t carpeted, or put a sheet or plastic tablecloth down to protect the carpet.
Need a work apron for your little flower shop employees? Make some of these durable craft aprons out of the legs of an old pair of jeans.
More dramatic play activities:
Boredom Busters for Kids!
Print off our checklist of 100 Fun Things for Kids to Do at Home. Stick it on your fridge, and they’ll never be bored again!
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
