Do you have a child in your program that loves to play house?

• Talk about:
  •  What does it takes to care for a baby?
  • How and when do babies get teeth? How do they eat food without teeth?
  • How do you know if a baby is sick? How do you take a babies temperature?
  • How big were you when you were born? Let’s measure and weigh you now? (Then you can compare and contrast children’s weight to other things in your program.).
  • Where does dust come from? Can you see it in the air? How can we get rid of it? 
  • Why do we clean? Explore the cleaning process and learn about different kinds of soap used for things like doing dishes, laundry, or disinfecting toys.
  • How do we keep our house comfortable for our family? Explore the idea of temperature. (ie: Adjust the temperature in your space to match the different season or climate, talk about and use thermometers to measure temperature)

• Create a space where household items can be taken apart and explored (ie: an old toaster, phones, calculator etc.) But remember to remove any parts that are not safe or developmentally appropriate!.
• Explore together: What materials are used to build playhouses around the world?
• Mix solution of water and vinegar to clean areas in the home

• Play matching games with items such as: clothes, faces, foods etc.
• Make a sock matching game on a clothesline
• Add a phone number list by the phone so children can practice dialing on a real phone (with no cord, battery or SIM card) to practice number recognition.
• Have each child bring a doll to circle time so they can “read” or sing to them.
• Provide calculators, pretend money, purses and wallets for children to pay for things with, and calculate how much they have to pay for things like food, clothing or bills. (You can also make a poster and hang it on the wall of how much things cost and how many coins or bills it would be.)
• Show pictures of animals and their babies – talk about how they care for the babies
• Sort items into clean and dirty piles.
• Follow a recipe for making snack.
• Talk about why we bathe and the importance of personal hygiene
• Talk about food from around the world
• Create patterns on a clothesline
• Talk about nutrition and healthy eating

• Provide:
  • Clothes and material from different countries
  • a variety food from around the world
  • Books that represent diverse families, abilities and cultures

• Talk about:
  • different ways to carry babies from around the world and provide different wraps, baskets, strollers etc. to try..
  • Different currencies of money and where it is from.
  • How babies eat and sleep in different cultures
  • How mothers wrap babies to sleep
  • How families take care of and wash their home and children, clothing and, dishes around the world. What are some of the different traditions and cultures we have around cooking and cleaning?
  • Gender roles. Who cares for children and the home in different cultures?
  • Different ways to prepare meals, clean, and care for families

Families

• Invite families to come in and/or share:
  • What languages are spoken at home and in the country of origin?
  • What kind of work do they do? What kind of work do they do at home to take care of their family?
  • What is the family’s favourite snack? Could they come in and teach the children how to make it?
  • Do they have a simple family recipe that they’d like to share?
  • Baby pictures. It can also be fun to play a guessing game and try to figure out which picture matches each child!
  • Do they have a baby or pet at home? Maybe the family can bring in the baby to show the other children, or they could bring in a photo of their pets
  • A family tradition and/or history
• Talk to the children about:
  • Popular name of babies in families
  • Who is in your family
  • the many different roles that family members play in caring for the children, the home and each other. (cuddling, bathing, cooking, cleaning and shopping)

Communities

• Create a display board of recipes or items that families have shared.
• Talk about:
  • What do homes look like in different parts of the city/country/world?
  
  
  • How do people travel to different communities (ie: by boat, walking, ice roads etc.)
  
  
  • What type of ceremonies are done for babies in different communities when they are born and on special occasions?
  
  
  • How are meals prepared and served in other countries and communities?

• How do communities care for others? Some share meals, visit each other, donate to the food bank etc.

• Doll washing station

• Play dough in the dramatic play area

• Dolls and doll clothes in other areas of the room such the block area or library

• Add oven mitts and other household items not usually in the centre.
• Act out or tell the story of the three little pigs (each with a different home).
• Provide “pets” for their house (ie: dogs, cats, mice, fish, birds)
• Add purses and wallets to the dramatic centre.
• Add  fabric and different materials to wrap the babies
• Pretend to:
  • clean like mom or dad. (ie: Wash floor, clothing, fridge, cupboards, furniture, floor)
  • Prepare meals for the family like mom or dad

• Prepare snack together and invite other classes to share it with

• Add strollers to the gym or gross motor area
• Move like a baby crawling and/or scooting around the room.
• Add a lawn mower to be pushed.
• Have cars or different modes of transportation available, a gas station, bank etc for the children to drive to. (Or build your own with the children using simple boxes and paint!)

• Dance with the dolls or stuff toys. Add a variety of music, rhythms and beats for movement.
• Try carrying baby dolls in different ways. In some cultures, parents carry babies on their back, others carry their little ones on their heads, shoulders, or chest!
• Set up a race to carry water pots from one area to another. This can be done fast or slow. Depending on the skill and developmental stage of the children.
• Play games based on different family traditions and cultures.
• Have the children dance or go for a walk (Remember in some cultures girls and boys don’t touch.)
• Set up yoga mats and invite parent classes to come do yoga with the children.

• Build houses from the three little pigs story with sticks, play dough and other materials.
• Set up a station where the children can give “hair cuts” for the dolls (you can make the hair out of paper a paper plate and/or paper, string and yarn)
• Provide fabric, scissors, stapler etc. for the children to create their own clothes
• Practice with buttons and zippers while dressing and undressing dolls

• Braid hair and decorate hair with pins and other pretty things
• Sweep with brooms or let the children help vacuum
• Practice dialing and pressing buttons on a telephone or keyboard
• Prepare meals together (children can wash the rice and beans or cut up vegetables)

• Talk about feeling and encourage children to act out their emotions using puppets of dolls

• Have pictures and books about taking care of children
• Taking about what happens when you visit the doctor
• Sharing meal with others can be a time to get to know one another better
• Talk about the role of males and females in different cultures and family tadations
• Talk about, compare and contrast pretend play and real life
• Practice taking turns and role play how to share responsibilities and problem solve together

• Baby food smelling jars
• Baby food tasting, exploration and/or finger paint with baby food
• Washing the babies, dishes or toys in the water table.
• Explore the many different smells of different soaps, creams and oils we use on baby’s skin and hair
• Feel different clothing, and fabrics
• Provide a variety of spices and flavours to smell and taste
• Explore the concepts of hot and cold, Try washing dishes in warm vs. cold water. Which one works better? Talk about how the soap clean the dishes.
• Provide opportunities for children to help with cleaning. This can be washing the floors,  laundry, walls with soap and water
• create scent jars that can be used as air fresheners for the home

• Decorate baby food jars with finger painting
• Create parking sign for strollers
• Trace dolls or the children bodies on a large roll of paper.

• Draw and display pictures of your families. Be sure to  provide skin tone paint or markers1

• Create clothes for dolls and children (ie: wraps, saris, skirts, baby carriers, head coverings)
• Provide mirrors on the table to help the children draw themselves
• Provide materials to create a beautiful collage of babies with different skin tone, eye color and abilities
• Create recipe books with pictures and words in different languages
• Provide a variety of materials to your creative materials (ie: spices. different scents/smells, and textures)
• Create meal plan by cutting out pictures from magazines
• Provide pottery or clay for the children to decorate, set a variety of materials from different cultures (ie: indiegous or middle eastern art.)

• Gentle
• Blanket
• Bottle
• Happy – Sad
• Sleepy – Tired
• Soft – Hard
• Rough – Smooth
• Wet – Dry
• Hungry
• Food
• Loud- Quite
• Sweet – Sour
• Hot – Cold
• Clean – Dirty
• Measure
• Pour
• Label item on the shelf or wall in a variety of languages
• Different
•  Same
• Male- Female
• Numbers, color, shapes
• Display sign language

Different material ideas:

• Dolls of different sizes, skin colours, genders and abilities
• Blankets
• Assorted fabrics
• Dishes, cutlery, pots and pans
• Cleaning supplies
• Rolling pin, belan (thin for rolling chapatis etc.)
• Paper towel rolls
• Pencils and paper
• Stroller, high chair and/or car seats
• Baby slings, wraps and/or cradle board
• Bottles, bottle warmer, and/or sippy cups
• Baby items such as soothers, teething rings, bibs, burp cloths, toys
• Boxes
• Phones and computers
• Fabric
• Diapers and  wipes
• Masking tape or fabric tape
• Food jars
• Towels and bath tub or large container to bath a baby
• Storage for baby clothing
• First aid kit and thermometer
• Brooms. mop, vacuum cleaner, dusters
• Apron and cleaning products, vinegar in water bottle
• Recipes cards
• Variety of empty food containers from other cultures 
• Chopsticks
• Rice maker
• Dish drainer
• Baking materials and utensils
• Aprons, sponges, towels, soap
• Books and magazines in different languages
• Baby monitor
• Roll of foil and foil tins
• Egg timer
• Tool kit/tool belt

• Consider different kinds of homes and family spaces when you’re setting up your dramatic/home centre
• Consider materials from other cultures, display food items boxes, package, books magazine,
• Consider how other cultures care for their the family and babies. Not everyone sits at a table to eat meals! Provide rugs and throw pillows that children can place on the floor.

Playing “House” in the Preschool

Playing House

Lessons to teach while playing house