October’s theme with Experience Preschool with Mother Goose Time is Down on the Farm. Day one was all about chickens so I had to set up a chicken coop dramatic play area.
Chicken Coop Dramatic Play
Lesson on of preschool theme, Down on the Farm: Chicken.
Down on the Farm is one of the most versatile and fun preschool themes! I thought this was such a cute idea for dramatic play. Some of my kids have chickens at home so they were all about gathering eggs! Here is a picture from the preschool lesson plan ideas teacher guide book.
Making paper plate chickens is super easy. I used some large paper plates and some small for a variety.
Simply fold the plate in half and glue. I used hot glue because it’s fast and long-lasting. Add a googly eye, orange triangle beak, and feathers if desired. I completely forgot or didn’t think to add a red comb but I saw another Mother Goose Time educator did and they were super cute.
I’ve seen very cute chicken coop setups made with stacked cardboard boxes but I didn’t want to take the time to create it, so I just used baskets. I have a couple bags of brown crinkle paper so I added that to the baskets for hay.
Our wooden eggs and egg sorters came from Target at Easter time, but you can use plastic eggs as well.
A couple egg cartons would work very well for containers or sorters.
I set our Chicken Coop Dramatic Play area up on a table but be creative with what you have. Play experiences do not have to be complicated or complex – just inviting!
Ask some questions while the children play:
- What might you find in a chicken coop?
- How many eggs can you find?
- Where do you think chickens sleep?
- What do you do with eggs?
My kids took the eggs to the play kitchen and cooked them! Great idea!
Along with the dramatic play activity, we read Rosie’s Walk. I just love this story. The pictures are interesting, the text is simple and there’s so much to talk about it.
Experience Preschool (formerly Mother Goose Time) is truly a wonderful daycare curriculum for family child care centers. It makes my days so much easier while providing preschool materials and quality learning experiences through play every day.