A Peek Inside Our Playroom: Fall Farm Dramatic Play

After a month of holidays, I just want to play! Not that we didn't play here over the last month, but with so many holidays back to back, we are just now getting into a Fall routine. And speaking of Fall, it seemed like a perfect time to set up a Fall Farm Dramatic Play theme in our play area. So come on in, take a peek inside our playroom and get ready for some Fall-themed fun at our farm!
When it comes to setting up new play themes I need it to be time and budget efficient. That means we repeat themes here--and why not? Every time my kids explore a play theme again, they bring new life and learning to it. I use what I have on hand and many of our resources and props cross over from one theme to another. Storage is always a work in progress so I can actually find the resources and props I want, but I like 2 gallon ziplock bags for flat and smaller materials and larger plastic bins for dramatic play props and costumes. I get the kids on board to create new props and materials because it's less work for me and more fun for them. I also make my setup a gradual process rather than a massive project. For one thing, this is what time and energy allows for right now and it also gives the kids a chance to explore and experience activities one at a time rather than being overwhelmed by so many new things that they end up not playing at all. And with this particular theme, I'm actually going at an even slower pace, intentionally adding in props that the boys will help to make and new activities that I will join in with them so that we can squeeze a bit more use out of one play theme before I transition to another.

In our month of endless holidays, we totally missed pumpkin picking season this year. Last year we spent an afternoon at a dramatic play pumpkin patch, and I knew I wanted to incorporate that into our Fall Farm this year. Printable resources for dramatic play are a great, time saving resource. I especially like the dramatic play sets from Pocket of Preschool and in this setup I used materials from both the Apple Orchard Dramatic Play and the Pumpkin Patch Dramatic Play sets. I print and laminate materials once and store them between use.

So far our Fall Farm includes:

• a build your own pumpkin patch for planting and growing pumpkins
• hayrides
• pumpkin picking
• a snack shop
• a "face painting" station
• a kitchen for preparing and selling foods served in the snack shop
• a weighing station for pumpkins, gourds, candy, cookies, etc.
• a cashier's station with tickets for purchase, a cash register, receipt pads and order forms
• "cameras" for taking pictures
• handmade snack and food props (with more to come...)

At the Build Your Own Pumpkin Patch, our shelves our stocked with planting pots, a gardening shovel and rake, a watering can, "seeds" (I used rocks), "dirt" (I used pompoms and also a large piece of fabric to lay down on the floor as a garden bed, real mini pumpkins and gourds (you could make your own or use artificial ones if you prefer), and artificial vines. You can get creative with your props here, using what you have, making what you don't have.

S really liked putting the fabric down as a garden bed and then sprinkling "dirt" and "seeds" overtop. The photo at the head of this post is how his pumpkin patch looked once they had grown and were ready to harvest!

When it's time to harvest, guests can ride "tractors" (scooters--I later taped a photo of hay on top) to the pumpkin patch and pick their gourds and pumpkins. They can take them to the weighing station and weigh them. The boys especially love putting things in bags (I have no idea why!) and some brown lunch bags were perfect here.

They have also really enjoyed baking pies, selling treats and visiting the snack shop. I used some printables from the Pumpkin Patch Dramatic Play Set I mentioned above and laminated different foods that they could velcro on to the snack menu each time they play.

We made the "caramel apples" using some foam decorative apples we had left from a few years ago. I stuck in some wooden craft sticks and we drizzled glitter glue over them to look like caramel coating. We made some "pumpkin cookies" using leftover felt shapes I had from last year, fabric paint and glitter for icing. I recycled some empty fruit cups and turned them into "applesauce" by painting the inside yellow and adding a laminated label from the Apple Orchard Dramatic Play set with velcro dots to open and close. Later this week we will be making model magic cookies and perhaps some other delicacies.

Our "face painting" station is just a laminated picture of face paints and some clean brushes. I might b adventurous after October 31st when real face paints go on sale!

This has given us a lot of "food for thought" as we begin our play adventure. Stay tuned for more additions and updates and until then...

Happy Playing!