Imagination Station - Bake My Day!

I recently started a new early childhood play-based program with themed activity centers I call "Imagination Station," and this month I decided to do a "Bakery" theme. Many of the dramatic play items used in this program were purchased earlier with grant money the library had received for early childhood programming, some were from a programming kit borrowed from the main library, and a few were things my library already had. I like to invest in well-made, reusable items that are developmentally appropriate and can be used again and again in many different ways, such as the oh-so-versatile market stand that can be easily staged for a variety of themes, other dramatic play accessories, sensory toys, and building toys, and I am a big fan of Lakeshore Learning and Melissa & Doug products.

Program: Imagination Station – Bakery

Ages: 2-8 (participants ranged in age from 3 to 6 this month)

Number: Could accommodate 15-20 children; actual attendance was 10 children & 6 adults

Budget: Negligible, as most items used were non-consumables that we already had or could borrow

Skills & Concepts: Imagination, creativity, expressive language, socio-emotional, fine motor, counting and number recognition, functional print, measuring, sensory exploration. 

Stations:

1. Dramatic Play 
   
   
   
   

   
   I set up the main "bakery" dramatic play area by staging our market stand as the front counter, with a sign, menu, and items on display on the front side, and dishes, aprons, and additional trays of goods on the back side. I moved our small (tiny!) play kitchen a few feet behind it, and stocked it with a few utensils, pots & pans, a tray of cookies in the oven, and a few ingredients. The play foods used were: the "bread basket" and eggs from the market set, M&D cookie set, M&D cake set, another set of plastic cookies from the borrowed kit, and cardboard cookies. [Creativity, imagination, expressive language, functional print, motor skills, socio-emotional skills]
   
   
2. Dough Station 
   
   
   
   
   

   To one side of the dramatic play area I set up a dough station with multiple cans of Play-Doh and an assortment of tools: rolling pins, cookie cutters, rotary cutters, extruders, and textured rollers. I encouraged them to roll, cut, shape, and squish! I noticed quite a bit of pretend play going on at this station as well, and the participants didn't limit themselves to typical bakery goods, either. We had burritos, tacos, and worms, in addition to cookies, cakes, and pies. [Fine-motor skills, hand/finger strength, pre-writing, imagination, creativity, sensory exploration]
   
   *I had originally planned on having an additional dough-making station to make salt-dough, but in the end had to cut it because I was not going to have enough clean-up time for that.
   
   
3. Measuring Practice 
   
   
   
   
   

   Measuring is not only a cooking skill, but also a math & science skill! I encouraged them to scoop, pour, mix, stir, and measure in the sensory bin. The sensory bin is always a hit no matter what I have in it! I had considered having another bin with water, but as it was winter and chilly in the room, I decided to save water-play for when it gets warmer. [Measuring, motor skills, sensory exploration]
   
   
4. Cookie Counting 
   
   
   
   
   

   I found this counting and number matching activity several years ago, and I'm so sorry but I don't remember where to give proper credit (if this is yours, please let me know so I can remedy that!). Count the chocolate chips (or raisins if you prefer) in each cookie and match it to the appropriate number in the jar. I love that it has both numerals on the front, and the words on the back. [Counting, number recognition]
   
   

How It Went:

I was really happy with how the program turned out this month! I felt it was definitely more successful than last month. I think simplifying things and having fewer stations helped, as well as having more kids, and older kids. There is definitely a critical mass required to get the right energy for a truly successful program, and I think we had it this time. 

I saw more meaningful engagement and interactions than last time, both between caregivers and children, and among the children. They were much more engaged in dramatic play this time, both in the bakery/kitchen area and at the dough table. I loved hearing all their conversations while engaged in pretend play. Several also enjoyed the measuring station, but only one caregiver and child did the cookie counting & number matching activity, but that's ok. 

I was disappointed that once again no one checked out any of the related books I had displayed, but at least one caregiver looked at a few of them, and at least a couple of families did select other books to checkout after the program. 

What I Would Do Differently:

The only thing I would do differently is maybe to expand the dough center from one table to two so they would have more space (our tables are pretty small). I would also like to add play food and some child-sized cupcake and cake pans in the future, if the budget permits. Also, even with simplifying and reducing the number of stations, set-up and clean-up still took longer than the 30 minutes I'm allowed for each, so I'm going to have to advocate for more time and/or someone to assist. I feel like quality programs with multiple stations and opportunities to engage in messy play require more set-up and clean-up time than that, and I really don't want to have to compromise on quality now that I've found what works.

Up next month at Imagination Station…. Farmer’s Market!