Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about our community: community helpers and places
Find more Community Helper Activities for Pre-K
Books
Click here for a complete list of Books about Community Helpers!
Community Large Motor Games
Stop, Drop & Roll
Paint red “flames” onto an adult size (Large or X-Large) white T-shirt. Choose a child to put on the T-shirt over their clothing and have the child practice “stop, drop, and roll”. When they have gotten the pretend flames out, they take off the shirt to show that the flames are gone. Make sure each child has a turn.
Stay Low & Go
A white sheet is used for the pretend smoke. My assistant and I hold the sheet low near the floor, and the children practice “stay low and go” by crawling underneath the sheet.
Community Fine Motor Activities
Construction Workers: Play Dough Activity
Wooden craft sticks can be added to the play dough for children to construct houses and other buildings.
Restaurant: Making Menus (Scissor Skills)
Children make a restaurant menu by cutting pictures of food from grocery store sale folders from the newspaper and glue the pictures onto file folders. Each child makes up a name for their restaurant, which is written on the front of the menu. These menus are used in the children’s pretend play restaurants.
Bakery Shop: Create a Bakery
This activity promotes art and fine motor skills. Children made their own bakery in the classroom by making cookies, cakes, cupcakes, bread, cinnamon rolls, and other bakery foods with Model Magic. The Model Magic was painted after it dries, and the children’s bakery foods were placed on display using trays. Children also made a sign for the bakery, and had a cash register with paper for writing receipts, and small bakery bags for their purchases.
Play Dough Bakery
Add bowls, spoons, plastic knives, cookie cutters, muffin tins, mini bread loaf pans, small cookie sheets, spatulas, rolling pins, and pots and pans to the play dough area. I also have a George Foreman playdough grill and a baking rack from a real toaster that were donated to me.
Community Literacy Activities
Construction Workers: Block Building
Children glue pieces of paper “blocks” onto their page to build something (house, school, skyscraper, church, etc.) The children’s names and what they built are written on each page.
Post Office
This activity is a combination of literacy (writing) and math (counting pennies). A small post office is set up at the table with paper, envelopes, and stickers. A poster shows the cost of each item (pennies taped beside each item). Children have to count out the correct amount of pennies to “buy” the materials they want to use. Children “write” a letter to someone using the materials they buy.
Firefighter Stamping Game
This game can be used for literacy or math. Write a letter or numeral on each firetruck, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an “X” over the firetruck if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available. Print the Firetruck Bingo Game here.
Our Town Class Book
We make a list of places in our community. Each child chooses one place to draw and tell about. (Examples: zoo, art museum, fire station, gas station, mall, grocery store.) I include photos whenever possible. The pages are put together to make a class book. To make our class books, I use “presentation book covers” from an office supply store or Walmart. It has a sturdy plastic cover with a clear insert, and the pages are also clear inserts. I just slip in a page for the front cover, and slip in the children’s pages inside. These can be reused.
Community Math Activities
Construction Workers: Block Game
Children take turns rolling the die, and counting out that amount of blocks from the pile. As they take the blocks from the pile, they construct a tower. After all the blocks are gone, we compare the towers to see whose is the tallest.
Construction Workers: Tools Grid Game
Read about about print here: Grid Games
Bakery Cookie Math
{Math, Fine Motor Skills}
Write numbers on paper circles and attach them to a cookie sheet with clear contact paper. Children make cookies with play dough, count out the correct amount of chocolate chips (brown beads), and place them on a number on the cookie sheet.
Community Science Activities
Doctor & Health Care Workers: Stethoscope Science
We use a paper cup with the bottom cut out. Children press the big end of the cup to the heart area of a friend’s chest, and press an ear against the small end. (Works best if you don’t hold onto the cup.)
Police Officers: Fingerprint Science
Each child’s hand is traced on a sheet of paper. Children color heavily with a pencil on an index card to make a layer of graphite; they rub a fingertip on the graphite; stick clear tape on that fingertip and press; pull the tape off and stick to the finger on the hand outline. We look at the fingerprints with a magnifying glass, and talk about ways police detectives use fingerprints.
Community Cooking Activities
Bakery Shop: Make a Lemon Pie
Children pretend to be chefs. Ingredients/Materials: Mini graham cracker pie crust, whipped topping, frozen lemonade concentrate, sweetened condensed milk, spoons, disposable bowls Put one spoonful of whipped topping, one spoon of frozen lemonade concentrate, one spoon of sweetened condensed milk into a bowl, and mix. Scoop the mixture into the piecrust.
Restaurant: Make Mini Pizzas
These are made by spreading Ragu Pizza Quick sauce on an English muffin half, then adding shredded mozarella cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes (or less). You can also use a toaster.
More
Home to School Connection Project
Read more about this Community Helper Home to School connection activity here.
Construction Worker Prop Box
Tools, Belt, Hat, Toolbox, Orange vests, Blueprints, Safety glasses
Health Care Prop Box
Doctor’s or Nurse’s Coat, Scrub shirt, Stethoscope, Cloth bandage wraps, X-rays, Empty medicine bottles, Shot syringes (without needle), Bandaids
Post Office Prop Box
All size envelopes, Bubble mailers, Stamps (canceled), Priority mail envelopes, Cardboard boxes, Packaging tape, Tube mailer, Mailbox, Paper, Pens
Firefighter Prop Box
{Dramatic Play Center}
Fire hats, Black boots, Oxygen tanks (made from 2 liter bottles), Raincoat, Short pieces of hose, Hand bell, First Aid kit
Police Officer Prop Box
{Dramatic Play Center}
Walkie-talkies, Blue shirts, Notepads, Pens, Badge, Hat
Bakery Prop Box
{Dramatic Play Center}
Rolling pins, Aprons, Oven mitts, Cupcake tins, Cake pans, Mixing bowls, Hand held manual mixers, Measuring cups, Cookie sheets, Paper cupcake cups, Measuring spoons, Spatulas, Wooden mixing spoons, Dishcloths, Towels, Empty food containers, Empty milk cartons
Restaurant Prop Box
{Dramatic Play Center}
Menus, Table cloth, Serving plate, Cloth napkins, Silverware, Dishes, Aprons, Play food, Notepads, Pens, Silk flower centerpieces, Play credit cards, Play checks, Chef hat, Place mats, Serving tray
Find more Community Helper Activities for Pre-K
Rhymes
Nursery rhymes that go well with a community helpers theme:
- Rub a Dub Dub
- Doctor Foster
Doctor Foster Nursery Rhyme
Doctor Foster
Went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again!
Note: Gloucester is a two-syllable word (Glouce-ster), and is pronounced “Gloster”, rhyming with Foster.
Look for a printable poster of Rub a Dub Dub on the Nursery Rhymes Page.
Songs
- Doughnut Shop: traditional song
- Brush Your Teeth, by Raffi on the “Singable Songs” CD: Download on Amazon
- World Family, by Dr. Jean on the “Kiss Your Brain” CD
- Doin’ Good in the Neighborhood, by Jack Hartmann on the “Colors All Around” CD
Links
- Post Office Dramatic Play: My Teachers.net Gazette Article
- Community Helpers @ Pre-KPages.com
- Dramatic Play Hospital @ TeachPreschool.org
- Learning About Fire Safety @ Little Illuminations