Imaginary Play: Flower Shop

Littlemiss has an ever expanding imagination. She pretend plays a lot, so for our flower theme this month I set up a Flower Shop. Littlemiss received a "Grocery" store stand from Pottery Barn Kids a few years back for Christmas. The Grocery sign/material on the stand was removable by velcro, so I used it as a template to make a "Flower" shop stand. I repurposed a shower curtain that had a floral pattern to cover the frame of the stand.I then created the letters and banner with scrap fabric and ribbon. The flowers were on sale for 70% off at JoAnns!

The "vases" are plastic containers I've held onto: a Gatorade bottle, mini water bottle, Crystal Light container, and snack puffs containers. They are sitting on a galvanized tub turned upside down and a step stool.

PBK's cash register and grocery cart. I added pretend money to the cash register and stuck an old Target gift card and some pretend money in her purse so she can shop.

The letters were free-handed and appliqued on using my sewing machine.

For the banner I cut out the floral fabric (an Amy Butler fave) with pinking shears and sewed it onto a ribbon.

It came up a little short around the sides, so I attached a few pieces of velcro to wrap around the back of the stand.

Daddy was the first customer!

There are probably endless educational extensions to an activity like this one. When we play Flower Shop Littlemiss prefers to be the person selling the flowers.She even likes to get into character and talk in a funny, high-pitched voice when she's selling flowers. We, the customer, ask her for the quantity and color of flowers we would like. She is doing math (counting) and identifying colors. She also has to listen carefully to our orders and follow directions, which has been a good challenge for her. 

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