Dramatic Play Outdoors - Air Traffic Control

Our Jr. Kindergarten class is currently VERY interested in making paper airplanes. We can barely keep our writing center stocked with enough paper to keep up their airplane making endeavors! Since we run on an "emergent" curriculum, I decided to support their interests with an "Air Traffic Control" dramatic play center....and what fun it has been!

The idea was for the children to pretend they are controlling the airport activities, so I set out earphones, walkie-talkies, old phones, keyboards and some old laptops.

I also made an air traffic control wand out of colored tape wrapped on PVC so the children could direct the planes. And of course, I set out an entire bin of sturdy paper airplanes. On the ground, I designed a numbered runway out of colored tape. The numbers were so the children could measure how far their plane flew.

To incorporate math and literacy, I made a chart for children to write down their names and the distance their plane flew. Clipboards made this activity even more appealing.

As another added component to spark literacy, I posted photos with sentences about airports, maps, and photos of tickets and passports. I also posted some idea started and songs for the teachers to use to engage and spark interest. In the writing center, we stocked the bins with paper to make passports, tickets, airplanes, and anything else the children could think of!

Next week, we plan to transform this area into a passenger airport. To prepare, the children are painting a large box (to be made into a plane), and I've laminated some printed airline tickets and passports for the children to use on their voyage. I'll also add some old luggage, chairs for the plane, and ??? Any ideas????

 Check back next week for more photos of our airport!

Race Car Painting

I have done this activity several times with young children and it never seems to tire (no pun intended...haha!). You can do this on a flat surface or on an easel like I did. Basically, just set out a few flat dishes filled with various colors of paint. Let the children run the cars through the paint and then onto the paper. This project was completed over the course of an hour with many hands contributing to the project.