Awesome Camping Dramatic Play Ideas

Camping Dramatic Play Center

Kids love camping…indoors or out!  Over the years I have come up with some camping dramatic play ideas I know you will love.  In fact, our camping dramatic play area transitions easily into my other fall dramatic play themes.  So, a little extra work on the front end saves me time in the long run.  And another thing, it is so much fun for the kids!

Paint a Forest

Since I usually set up our preschool camping theme dramatic play area in the fall, we begin with the trees. First, I will give a short lesson about trees that are ‘evergreen’ such as pine trees, and trees whose leaves change color.  Next, I focus on aspen trees because our mountains are full of them. The leaves of aspen trees turn a vibrant gold and seem to sparkle in the sun like golden coins.  The kids are fascinated with them.  Therefore, when I tell the kids we will be painting a forest of pines and aspens for our dramatic play center…they can’t wait to get started!

The prep for this center is pretty easy but takes some planning. The night before this activity I paint brown tree trunks and branches on dark blue bulletin board paper for the pine trees.  Then, on the same color paper, I paint white trunks and branches.  I will add the familiar black dashes and spots to the white trees to make them really look like aspens.  Next, to set up the center, I tape the tree branches to the walls. Then I put paper on the floor beneath to catch spills.  For the pines, I use dark green paint and fun sponge-scrubby looking brushes. Similarly, for the aspens, we use bright golden yellow paint and big sponge dot paint brushes.  (I add a little gold glitter to the wet yellow paint to make them sparkle in the ‘sun’).

After that, when the trees are dry, I tape them up in the camping dramatic play area to create the perfect forest! The kids LOVE, love, love this center!  

Camping Dramatic Play Props and Printables

After the forest is done, it is time to add props and printables.  Because the dramatic play camping theme is such a favorite, I created some adorable printables to make it even more authentic.  By adding the printables to your campsite, your students will be exposed to letters and numbers in one more area of your classroom.  I love watching the kids find the letters in their names, the letter of the week, and the numbers they are learning as well. Learning through play is the focus of everything we do!  

For the props, you don’t have to spend a lot of money.  In fact, we used what we had on hand. We got creative and made a fire pit out of our cardboard blocks.  Then, we found forest animals in our stuffed animal stash. We also found a few woodsy-looking hats to add authenticity. Next, we added an inexpensive tent and camping gear set we found on amazon.com.  Luckily, the camping set we purchased is pretty durable, so it was worth the cost.  The result is a complete authentic-looking comapground.

Camping Dramatic Play Benefits

Playing is the way young children learn.  Therefore, it is up to us to make every area of our classrooms full of learning potential. It goes without saying that there are so many learning benefits to our camping center.  I’ve made a partial list below.

• Imaginative Play
• Taking Turns
• Letter Recognition
• Numeral Recognition
• Taking Turns
• Problem Solving
• Working together

If you want to create an amazing camping dramatic play area, try the above camping dramatic play ideas. Or create your own. Everything you need is in the links below. Have fun, get creative, keep it simple, and always remember that PLAY is the thing!