Preschool Activity: Playing Restaurant

Today in Gresham’s Sonlight Curriculum, we learned about the different jobs at a hotel in the book Things People Do.  I decided to add an activity to go along with it – playing restaurant.  I knew that Gresham would like to play this anyway, and by making it a school activity, I was able to sneak in some educational skills as well!

First, we made a menu, which provided an opportunity to work on writing and math (discussing prices for the items).

Gresham wanted to name our restaurant “McDonald’s” or “Chick-fil-a” and I said that we needed something original.  So he settled on “Sloppy Joes Diner,” which I thought was pretty funny, especially since he doesn’t like sloppy joes!

We finished our menu, got out our 1980’s play food (from when I was little!), and were ready for business!

Aidan and Owen were our first customers.  I gave Gresham a pad and pencil for taking their orders.  We worked on manners – seating people at the restaurant, asking them what they would like, and then filling their order.

The pad and pencil for order taking were fun, but what was even more fun was having a tray to carry the food on!

For a tray, we used the bottom of my plastic cake dish.  (We hardly use it anyway, with the way my birthday cakes turn out…)  Carrying food with the tray was a great activity for developing coordination, and it was enjoyable even for Aidan, who is 8.  Plus, there was no mess if the plastic food hit the floor!

Here’s a great “truth about homeschooling” picture – it was 11:00 a.m. and Owen was still in his pajamas.  And it was hard to take these photos without capturing things like dirty socks in the background!  We love homeschooling, but I will be the first to admit that I either have activities planned for the kids or the house clean, but rarely both!  I have to keep reminding myself that the kids are more important – the cleaning can wait!

What ideas do you have for preschool play involving “things people do?”