A walk around the school neighborhood is a simple way to tour the area. Before leaving the classroom, you can talk about what the kindergartners think they will see and prepare a list to take on the walk; as you spot items on the list, you can cross them off. You can schedule a field trip to a few local businesses, giving kindergartners behind-the-scenes tour of a local bakery, fire station, police station, restaurant or store. You can also invite local business owners or community helpers to the classroom to talk about how they are involved in the community.
You can create a large map of your town on a piece of butcher paper, starting with the school as a reference point. Moving outward from the school, you can help kindergarten students add roads, homes and businesses to the map. Photos of some main points of interest can help complete the map. To make the map three-dimensional, the children can decorate small boxes as the buildings and paint pictures of their favorite places in the community.
Teachers can read books aloud relating to communities and the components of a town, such as firefighters, schools, stores and hospitals. A mix of fiction and nonfiction books gives a well-rounded view of the topic. The kindergarten class can create a book about their town. Working together as a class, children can decide on the content or each child can make his own page that gives his interpretation of the community.
A community-themed dramatic play area turns the kindergarten classroom into a mini city. Appliance boxes work well to create buildings. Painting the boxes to resemble important buildings creates the basic structure of the town in the classroom. Another option is to cut out the silhouettes of buildings from butcher paper and place them on the walls in the dramatic play area. Props and costumes allow the kids to incorporate those buildings into their play. For example, to recreate the town's cafe, set up a table with menus, restaurant order pads, a cooking area, aprons and tableware.