Hot Cocoa Dramatic Play

About this resource

A hot cocoa dramatic play center you print, trim and play: a pretend cafe with a welcome sign, open, closed and pay here signs, a picture menu, cafe tokens, 4 how-to-play step cards, punch cards, helper badges and receipts, plus the pages children work on: order forms on three levels, a cup-size cut and glue, marshmallow count cards for 1 to 10, a 9-piece cut-and-glue mug craft and a thank-you note. It is a print-and-go PDF for PreK to 2nd grade, with no real food and no prep beyond printing, trimming and gluing.

The Cafe Props

Print the prop pages on card stock, trim and laminate them once, and the cafe is ready for the whole winter. The welcome sign hangs above the counter. The OPEN sign and the CLOSED sign stand on it, and the PAY HERE sign marks the register. The menu shows 4 things to order, each drawn as a picture with its price in tokens (1 token each), plus a "Today's special" box to draw and write on. 16 cafe tokens are on one page. The 4 how-to-play cards show the steps with a picture: say hello, take the order, make the cocoa, serve the cocoa. Three punch cards with 10 circles each, 6 helper badges (Server, Cook and Cashier, 2 of each) with a name line, and 4 receipts finish the center. The tokens are pretend money: no real prices are printed.

The Pages Children Work On

• Order forms on three levels. Level 1, circle: read the order and circle the size and the marshmallows. Level 2, trace: look at the order and trace the words. Level 3, write: look at the order and write it with a word bank (small, medium, large, one to five).
• Cup sizes: cut 6 mugs and glue small, medium and large in order, in two colors. Then finish the sentence about the mug that holds the most cocoa.
• Marshmallow counts: 10 count cards, 1 to 10, to cut and glue under the right number (5 cards on each of two sheets), with 3 mugs on each page to count and write.
• Assemble a mug craft: one big red cocoa mug with marshmallows, steam and a peppermint stick, cut into 9 equal squares in three columns and three rows. Color the black-and-white pieces (or use the ready-colored set), cut them out and glue each piece on its faint twin. Every glue box is exactly the size of its piece, and a small finished model sits on the page.
• A word bank of 6 words (cocoa, mug, marshmallow, cookie, token, menu) to trace and write, and a write-a-thank-you-note page with a word bank and a box to draw your cocoa.

What'S Inside

• Start Here and set-up tips: how to build the cafe corner, the roles, how the play goes, the three levels and a five-day plan
• Welcome sign, open sign, closed sign and pay here sign
• A picture menu with a "Today's special" box
• 16 cafe tokens
• 4 how-to-play step cards
• A word bank page: 6 words to trace and write
• Order forms: circle, trace and write levels (one sheet per level)
• Cup sizes cut and glue (6 mugs)
• Marshmallow count cards 1 to 10 (5 cards on each of two sheets)
• Assemble-a-mug craft: 9 pieces to color and cut, the same 9 ready-colored, and a glue page
• 3 punch cards, 6 helper badges and 4 receipts
• A thank-you note page
• A "Who Did What This Week" class data page, with the answers
• A credits page (font and art license)

23 pages in all, 19 of them for the cafe and the children (pages 3 to 21).

Cutting Built For Small Hands

On the pages a child cuts, every piece sits edge to edge with the next so each cut is one straight line: 2.4 by 1.8 inch cup cards, 1.5 by 2.4 inch count cards and 2.1 inch mug pieces. A child cuts 34 pieces in all (6 mugs, 10 count cards, 9 black-and-white mug pieces and 9 ready-colored mug pieces). The prop pages (signs, menu, tokens, step cards, punch cards, badges and receipts) are meant for the teacher to trim and laminate. You will need crayons, scissors and glue sticks. Card stock suits the craft pages.

Three Skill Levels

A small shape beside the name line marks the three order forms: circle (circle the order), square (trace the order) and triangle (write the order). Easier: circle the order, or a partner who holds the glue stick. Harder: write the order, then the thank-you note.

Who This Is For

Preschool, PreK, kindergarten and 1st to 2nd grade classrooms, self-contained special education classrooms, and paraprofessionals who want a winter pretend-play center with oral language, sizes, counting and early writing attached, ready to print.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A printable PDF (print, trim and play). It is not Google Slides, Docs or PowerPoint, and it has no fillable fields. It is a pretend cafe: no real food or drink is needed or suggested. It is not a book companion and uses no book's characters or pictures. It makes no claim about any student's age or rate of progress.