Even though the ground is covered in snow outside, we are ready to think about all things spring. One of our favourite spring activities is our Pretend Play Flower Shop. The kids (3 and 5 years old) love all the different elements to it and it makes the playroom feel cheery.
I’ve reused things we already had to make the shop structure. I emptied one of our toy shelves to be the store front and set up our Arches Magoo Slippery Wedges beside it with a table cloth overtop to act as a counter. Foam takes up a lot of space in our little playroom so it needs to work pretty hard. The Slippery Wedges definitely fit that bill.
Then I used the Easy Connect Fort Set (from the Lovevery Storyteller Play Kit) to make a canopy over the shop. A Sarah’s Silks play silk is clipped to the top. Making shop canopies is probably what we use the Easy Connect Fort Set for the most. I love that it gives a bit of a play stand feel, without taking up too much space. Plus, I can take it apart and store it away when we’re finished with this play scene. I wrapped a few lights around the front for a little extra special touch and then added in the flowers.
Most of the flowers are from Dollarama. I cut the plastic bouquets into individual stems and put them in tin pots (also from Dollarama). Some of them have floral foam in the bottom to help the stems stand up. However, if you have small children, I recommend getting some styrofoam or craft foam instead. I plan to switch mine out soon. My kids have in the past taken the green floral foam out of the pots and it makes a huge green, smeared mess everywhere.
The felt lily flowers on the back ledge are from Lovevery and the tulips in the felt pot are from Sewing Seeds Play. I made some simple picture labels for each pot and the price, in case the kids were feeling in the mood to do some math.
For accessories, I included our Goki cash register and a clipboard with some Order Forms. I just drew and hand wrote the form myself, but you are welcome to download it here if you’d like. I put out some pencils, extra pots, and ribbons and paper for wrapping up flower arrangements. My daughter added some self inking stamps so she could “approve” payments and the grass on top of the counter.
To add a little extra sensory element to the play, I put out some dry black beans in the IKEA Bastua side table along with a few pots and garden tools. I’m experimenting with leaving sensory material in the Bastua. So far the kids have been good about keeping the material in the tray; however, pots filled with beans have tipped over a few times by accident. Luckily, beans are pretty easy to scoop up off the floor so it hasn’t bothered me too much… yet.
And finally, the most popular element of this play activity – the delivery truck. By far, this is the thing my kids enjoy most about the shop. They love to take orders by phone, prepare them and then deliver them. The delivery truck is a Hape toddler bike that we’ve had for years with a basket strapped to the front. It’s too small for both kids now, but they don’t seem to mind.
We’ll be playing with this shop all month. It has so many fun learning opportunities: vocabulary, colours, counting, fine motor skills, writing, math, etc. I don’t push any of these learning concepts and follow what my kids are interested in at the time. If my daughter becomes interested in the math aspect of the activity I may develop that a bit more, but I will wait to see how it goes. My main goal is for them to have fun!
Materials
- Canopy – Lovevery Easy Connect Fort Set and Sarah’s Silks play silk
- Flower “counter” – Arches Magoo Slippery Wedges
- Plastic flowers – Dollarama
- Flower pots – Dollarama
- Felt lily flowers in stand – Lovevery
- Felt tulips in felt pot – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code: HOUSEOFPLAY10)
- Goki Cash Register
- IKEA Bastua side table
- Hape Ride on Wood Bike
- IKEA basket