Teachers I’m so excited to announce that I posted my 1st Dramatic Play to TPT! I have created so many dramatic play areas for many many years but none of them ever made it to my store.

I am here to share how EASY and INEXPENSIVE it can be to make this set up! The best part is your students will be engaged the entire time! They will be thinking they are just “playing” and you will be watching as they write receipts, count money, write letters, etc

There is so much learning embedded in this Dramatic Play!

>>> Grab ALL the posters, labels, etc HERE <<<

Post Office Set Up

First off, make this work for you! I had a very small room when I set this up and now I am in a building with lots more space! Think about your area… where will the students walk? What materials are you printing off? Let’s take a peek at my set up to give you some ideas!

What does EVERY Post Office have? A scale of course! I added a weigh station with tons of different sized packages, envelopes, etc

In every Dramatic Play, I try to incorporate community helpers/jobs and their tools. I do that by having a dress up area with a themed outfit and their name badges. But I also like to add their vehicles! (fire truck, ambulance, pet vet truck, so… of course there had to be a MAIL TRUCK!)

You can find the exact shopping cart on Amazon here >> https://amzn.to/3dmUmFG

Sometimes purchasing dramatic play attire can be EXPENSIVE! So to save money I make my own by printing on iron on sheets and then ironing on the t-shirt. The shirts can be washed easily and I think the kids like to dress up! For the hats, I just printed and laminated them. Then I attached the hats by stapling it to sentence strips.

Be Organized

I often get asked “How do you put it all away everyday?” “Clean up must take forever” and the answer to those questions is model, model, model…. BUT also it is just as important to label EVERYTHING! Because the ultimate goal is for the students to be independent. Most can’t read so it is important to have pictures! When I play the “clean up song” students automatically know to clean up right away. They know if goes in the “right” place or they will be doing it again.

I have included SO MANY labels for just about anything you may need for this theme!

Academics

Remember when I said students will be engaged in academics while playing?!?

Anchor Charts

I also like to add Anchor Charts to my themes! It’s a perfect opportunity to expose them to new content and also make it hands-on! My anchor charts are easy to make… All the hard work is done for you! Just print and glue!

>>> Grab ALL the anchor charts HERE <<<

SUPER easy to make and saves on prep time!

Plus it comes with recording sheets as well!

Literacy Centers

I also like to theme my literacy centers!

The alphabet matching was a hit in my classroom! Grab it here!

You can use a variety of hands-on items to practice fine motor!

Another fun activity we did was learning about all 50 states! The kids LOVED this! You can grab it here!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my post office dramatic play! Stay tuned for the next dramatic play! =)