Create a dramatic play center for dress-up. In a preschool or kindergarten classroom, offer clothing types from pants and dresses to shirts, coats and blouses. Children also enjoy dressing with accessories such as hats, shoes, ties, gloves, and costume jewelry. If available, place a full-length mirror, vanity, battery-powered microphone, small stage and puppet theater in the dramatic play center as well. Let children use their imaginations and have fun pretending and acting.
Create a music center and stock it with smaller musical instruments. Store them on a shelf or in a large toy box, when not in use. Plastic flutes, harmonicas, rattles, shakers, tambourines, recorders, drums, bells, jingles, xylophones, and kazoos are all fun additions to this center. Also, have on hand a recorder or CD player and CDs of children songs that children can play instruments along with.
Set up a building-block center. Fill bins around with building materials, blocks, and Legos. Include a child-sized tool bench with toy tools and other things a builder might use such as a tool belt, hard hat, and safety glasses. The tool bench may come with wood and plastic nails. Alternatively, you can set out pieces of Styrofoam and golf tees for children to use like wood and nails or other materials to master the use of hand-held implements.
Make an exploration center. A plastic covered sand box can be used if your classroom does not have a sand table available. This fun table can also be filled with other tactile materials besides sand such as clay, dried rice, coffee beans, corn kernels, dried legumes or pebbles. You can even fill the table with softer materials such as shaving cream, bubbles, 'silly putty', baking soda and water, or finger paint. Include plastic shovels, pails, cups, small muffin tin, sand molds, measuring cups, shakers, plastic animals, fish, insects, small fishing boats, trucks and any other appropriate toys. Be sure to place this table on a tile surface or cover the floor with an old tablecloth. Set out old shirts for children to use in this center to protect their clothing.