Flower and Garden Shop Dramatic Play

The flowers and plants are in bloom, which means it is time to create a FLOWER SHOP OR GARDEN SHOP in the Dramatic play center! I say Flower shop OR Garden shop because I’m going to share how you can create either a Flower shop OR a Garden shop.  In my classroom, I created a garden shop just to keep the boys interested in the theme, but if you think your students would prefer a Flower Shop, then that works, too!  All the Garden and Flower Shop printables are in THIS pack in my TPT store.

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For those of you who want to go with a Flower shop, I will start with those pieces.  If you are doing a Garden Shop, you will follow the steps for the Flower shop but also add in the pieces for the Garden shop.

Flower Shop Shelf

On the top of the shelf is the flowers. I bought fake flowers from the Dollar store and cut each bunch apart, making each flower a single stem. Under the flowers are different-sized vases, little cactus plants, ribbons, and tissue paper (all from the dollar store).

Sort the flowers by color and place them in a matching color bucket (my buckets are from the Hobby Lobby and Target party sections).  As students play, create bouquets, and clean up, they will be LEARNING and SORTING by color!

Check out this little learner! He recorded his flower order, selected the flowers, and wrapped them with tissue paper and ribbon. He is developing literacy, math, and fine motor skills while using the order form! I placed the flower order form in dry erase pockets so we can use them over and over again.

I put Velcro Dots on each side of the ribbon since my Preschoolers can’t tie yet. If you have Kinders, using ribbon would be a fun way to practice tying (if they are ready).

Students need CARDS to go along with their Flower bouquets, giving students an authentic reason to write! My classroom is multiage (3, 4, and 5 year olds) so I have event and family cards in all uppercase and in lowercase for students to copy.  Trust me your students will be SO excited to write these cards!

When it’s time to pay, embed MORE math into this center by adding price tags, money, and paper for students to write their own receipts! Place a number line next to the register to support little learners as they learn how to write numbers.

STEM! Add a table for students to DESIGN and PLAN flower bouquets and vases! STEM is possible in the Dramatic play center when you think outside the box.

Garden Shop

Now we are onto the garden shop side! On the shelf are plants, a seed display, specials sign, and garden tools.

The seed and bulb display is one of my favorite parts because it’s just FULL of learning opportunities! Students will be exercising their fine motor muscles when the pick up the seeds with tweezers, sorting by color, and possibly counting the seeds as they put them in the bag!

In front of the check out stand is the Planting Station which is the perfect place to act out the life cycle of a plant! The plants are sorted by size on the green poster board and in front of that is a tub with “dirt” (brown shredded paper from party bags).

First students “plant the seed” in a pot with dirt.

Then they “water” the seed and watch it grow leaves and vegetables.  I cut up fake green vines for the seedlings and added felt vegetables.

To sneak in measurement I added rainbow rulers and a Plant Report.  Students check off the items and measure the plant during play!

MORE STEM!

If you add the garden shop pieces, students can also design a yard or a garden during play! Check out this young 4 year old’s front yard design!

Garden Mural

I just LOVE when students help create their play space. so what better way to help with the Garden center than to create a flower mural?!

That’s it!  Now when I start the Garden shop it doesn’t look like this.  I add pieces and props slowly each week to keep it exciting and not overwhelming when we first open it up for play.

If you are creating a Garden shop or Flower Shop for your SPRING THEME be sure to check out my SPRING CENTERS post for tons of spring themed activities for all the other centers in your classroom.

Want to see it in action? Check out the tour here.

If you LOVE this Garden shop and Flower shop as much as I do, pin this image!