Big Green Pocketbook - Dramatic Play Activity

One of my kids' favorite books is The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Random and Felicia Bond, which I found when researching Before Five in a Row (BFIAR) literature-based curriculum.  It's a story about a girl who goes out to run errands with her mother and fills up her purse with little tokens from each place they visit.  Around Christmas, I found tiny green mini-purses, and we've been acting out the story since then...

To do this activity, we set up different stations around the house to represent the bus (see picture above), the bank (table with papers to stamp), the insurance office (my computer), the dry cleaners (my closet), etc..  Then I read each page in the book out loud and we go to the place mentioned.  I found clipart (from Google images) for all the items mentioned in the book that the girl puts into her purse (purple lollipop, keychain, bus ticket, mini calendar, etc..), and laminated them.  At each stop, I give each girl the tiny item to put in her little purse.

It's a lot of fun, and the girls usually want to do it over and over.  Here is L trying on rings at the "jewelery store":

And here she is typing her name at the secretary's desk at the "insurance office" (first in big letters, then in little letters, just like in the book):

Here is E enjoying the last stop before we catch the ride home - eating ice cream at the drugstore counter!

Who doesn't like an activity that involves ice cream at the end?

I'd love to take the kids with me to run errands in the real world, but the logistics of taking two toddlers and a baby anywhere make it too tricky.  This little dramatic play activity we do at home is a wonderful, safe, and easy substitute.

Please 'like' Learners in Bloom on Facebook for more fun!

Take a look at my sidebar (on the right) for all the great blog linky parties that I participate in.