Throwing a Birthday Party Dramatic Play

Helping plan a pretend birthday party with a preschooler during free choice time is what led my interest in creating themed dramatic play centers.

This little preschooler spent so much time cutting out a banner, writing invitations and making a birthday cake out of paper.

More time than we could ever get him to do at a table.

He was cutting, writing letters, coloring, all while exercising and training the muscles in his little hand to hold and use scissors, crayons and glue.

These skills may seem basic but needed before a child can begin to read and write.

In order to recreate this experience for other students here are some printables with ideas that I hope gets you and your students excited to learn and have fun.

Change your dramatic play area into a birthday party:

Start by collecting props.  All things on this list are not required – just ideas of things to look for that might work for you and your classroom. If you plan enough time ahead you can ask parents for donations.  

• toy cake and candles
• gift bags
• tissue paper for wrapping station and to make play icecream
• wrapping paper
• toys (to sell)
• tape
• party themed utensils, plates cups, napkins, table cloth
• recycled cake making containers like: cake box, frosting tub, oil bottle, and sprinkles
• streamers
• party favors
• cash register
• play money
• purse and wallets (to hold money)
• pointer stick to help measure height
• telephone to call their friends to invite them to the party!

Set-up

Think about what aspects of a birthday party you want the kids to play roles in – like make a birthday cake, invite friends, buy and wrap a present, etc.

Then set up space for these activities.

Included in this resource, are printables for students to

• Decorate 
• Shop for a birthday present
• Wrap a present
• Make a birthday cake 
• Make inivitations and thank you notes
• Sing happy birthday 
• Measure their height with a growth chart
• Enjoy eating their cake and ice cream at a table with labels for all of the paper plates, and utensils
• and more…

If you’re interested in learning more about setting up Birthday Party themed dramatic play area, you can get all of the ready made printables and ideas at my store.