Dramatic Play: Lollipop Shop

Dramatic play is an excellent learning tool for encouraging kids to communicate and cooperate and engage in maths and reading without even realising. Besides, it’s tons of fun! This lollipop shop will keep your little ones engaged and all the dramatic play printables you see below are available for free.

Lollipops are worth getting excited about, but I must admit I’m not a big fan of kids playing with real lollipops. For one, it’s too distracting and they’ll be thinking more about when they’re going to eat one than in extending the play. Secondly, lollipops are pure sugar so there’s no nutritional reason for them. But they do look pretty!!

(If you’re interested, here’s a research-based post regarding Healthy Eating and Body Image in Preschool Children.)

What you’ll need

• This Lollipop Shop free printable
• Recycled cereal boxes (or other card)
• Scissors, pencils/markers, adhesive tape
• Toy cash register or small box for handling money
• Recycled glass jars for displaying lollipops
• Play dough
• Craft sticks
• Play dough lollipop ‘decorations’ such as sequins, small buttons, stars etc. I used cupcake decoration toppings.

Preparing our lollipop shop

Using the coloured printables

Print off the coloured lollipops and glue each sheet to old cereal boxes or other card to stiffen them (or print them straight onto card in the first place). Cut them out and tape each one to a craft stick.

Using the black and white printables

Do the same as above, but provide coloured pencils, crayons or markers for colouring in.

What else do I need to do?

Print off the money onto coloured copy paper, using a different colour for the $1 and $2 notes. Cut them into individual notes, there are 10 on each page.

Print off the ‘Hop to the Shop’ and ‘Come to our Lollipop Shop’ printables to use for advertising and shop promotion!

How do we play at our Lollipop Shop?

Dramatic play is all about kids coming up with their own ways to play, they’ll think of more than we ever could!

Here are some ideas:

• Pretending to buy and sell: what should they charge? Are they parents buying for their kids?
• Decorating the shop: making it look more beautiful, adding price tags, making signs like ‘how to eat a lollipop.’
• Taking inventory: how much is their stock worth? Have they sold out of certain colours or types?
• Creating a ‘making a lollipop’ shop, where the buyers are provided with materials for making their own lollipops… either paper ones or play dough ones.

• Going on the road: Loading up with lollipops and leaving the shop to sell them outside. How can they convince people to buy their lollipops?
• Made to order: someone wants you to create an extra special lollipop for their teacher.
• Advertising their shop: using the poster and brochure to go out and encourage people into their shop.

Did you download your free printable yet? If not, here’s the Lollipop Shop again!

What other ways can kids play in their lollipop shop?

Wishing you happy teaching and learning!

Looking for more dramatic play?

This post is part of the Dramatic Play from A-Z series hosted by Happy Brown House. Pop over to find many more play ideas!