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Play to Learn

A delightful preschool experience

Airport Dramatic Play Center

Airplane pretend play

Our dramatic play center underwent some major renovations this month as we transformed it into an airport– the home of “Play Air” airlines.  The students look forward to this center every year and started asking when it would arrive about 5 months ago, but I will be the first to admit that it is not as easy to set up as the Grocery Store or Hospital!

Here’s a picture of the whole area.  (I know that we are really lucky to have such a big space.  Every time I post about our dramatic play center, I get comments and emails about it!  Each classroom is different, and we can each use the space that we have to make a great learning environment for our children.)

airplane travel pretend play
Most of our dramatic play centers include some type of name tag or ID badge.  I have found that it is a good way for the students to divide the roles and really get into “character.”
name tags for dramatic play for preschoolers
Before we can fly anywhere, we have to make reservations, right?!  This reservation desk (formerly known as our art easel) has a keyboard, phone, notepad, maps and travel brochures that my assistant, Super-Gemma, picked up at a local travel agency.  The kiddos love to look through the pictures and decide where to go.
airport dramatic play center for preschoolers
Of course, if we are traveling to someplace exotic, we also need passports.  I showed the class my expired passport (they think the picture of me in 1997 is hysterical!) and made individual passports for each student, complete with their birthdate and photo.  When they come to this passport station, they add a stamp to their book.
airport dramatic play center for preschoolers
After stamping their passports, the students pass through this security check point and find their seats on the plane!
dramatic play for preschoolers

A couple of years ago, I came across a fantastic Airport center from a preschool in Canada.  So cool!!  But, of course I had nothing like it.  I sent the photo to my ultra-handy dad to see if he could put something similar together for me.

I think he loved the challenge!  He scoured thrift shops and his workshop and made this awesome cockpit for our airplane.  The kids cannot keep their hands off of all the buttons, switches and levers.Dramatic Play for Preschoolers
If you don’t have this sophisticated set of controls, it works just as well to let the kiddos make their own steering wheel and buttons.  Add a captain’s hat and a white shirt, and let their imaginations run wild.
All of the signs, labels, nametags, tickets, passports, etc. can be found here:

Click HERE to see even more pictures of the Airport Dramatic Play Center.
Have fun playing and learning with your children today!  Travel safely!!

    

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  1. Aaron STILL talks about this center over a year later! He loved playing at school and then he would come home and arrange our kid sized chairs into a plane formation. In fact, he just saw the pictures and is talking Isabelle into playing "travel on a plane" right now!

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