ON-GOING
CREATIVE DRAMA CORNER OPTIONS: Fire Station Haunted House
ON-GOING
CREATIVE DRAMA CORNER OPTIONS:
Fire
Truck: A large cardboard box (at least big enough for a child or two) makes
a great firetruck for your pretend "fire station." If your lesson
plans allow time for it, let the children paint it red, and then YOU
CUT windows and doors into it. Otherwise, as part of your parent involvement
program, you might ask a parent to do it, and more than likely, that parent will
really get into it and create a gem of a firetruck that you'll keep for future
years.
I always found that my Play Kitchen was the best place for setting
up my little fire station because, as you know, fire stations also have kitchens,
so all the little utensils, pans, etc are quite appropriate. I would
then just add my fire station toys.
Beds: See if 2-3 parents will send 3-4 small rugs and small throws to serve as firemen cots.
Firehouse Chili: Add dry kidney beans to the kitchen so firefighters can make some "firehouse chili."
My favorite "fire
station" creative drama kit suggestions are in my "Community Helpers"
booklet. You can get it through the Stormie's Stuff
for Teachers" section of my website.
Haunted
House:
I personally like the pretend haunted house to be in the Quiet
Corner of my classroom. Since Halloween can often be chaotic, I feel that
the Quiet Corner suggests a bit of calm. In fact, I usually had a rule
that whoever was in the haunted house had to be quiet in order to listen for those
ghosts lurking about. I allowed the children to take a flashlight and
a couple books into the house with them. This was always a big hit.
House Decor: When we did "Halloween" related art projects (ghosts, witches, spiders, webs, etc), the children loved hanging them inside and/or outside their little haunted house. All it takes is a piece of string and some tape.
Yard
Fence: One year, my husband cut a cardboard split-rail fence for placing outside
my classroom haunted house. Then, early on during the Halloween theme, the
children created "torn paper jack-o-lanterns" which were glued to the
tops of the split-rail posts.
My
favorite way of making a haunted house is in my "Halloween" booklet
(including related props). You can get it through the "Stormie's
Stuff for Teachers" section of my website.
Other
Options For Your October Creative Drama Corner:
1. Square
House: If you prefer to back off a bit from the Halloween theme, and the "square"
is one of your shapes of the month, you could simply have a "square house"
for children to play in (that is, if the huge appliance sized box has square sides,
not rectangles). Cut squares for the windows and even the door. Let
the children help in making sure everything about the house is square, including
the things they play with inside.
2. Nursery Rhyme House:
If you have a nursery rhyme of the month (let's say, "Little Miss Muffet"
or "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"), the appliance-sized box could be Miss Muffet's
house (complete with a pillow for a tuffet, spoon, bowl, and spider suspended
from the little house ceiling), or, it could be the home of "the little boy
who lives down the lane" (and let the children decide what might be in his
house).
3. Playing In the Leaves: Set up a wading pool in your
creative drama corner and fill it with fall leaves. If you have a tall
bare cardboard tree, anchor it in the center of the pool or simply place it behind
the pool next to the wall. Allow children (perhaps two at a time) to take
books to look at while lounging in the leaves. (If you don't have enough
real leaves, mix in some brown paper bag leaves.)
Please
share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com
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Reminder
from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom
ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you
can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here
to check them out.
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