Open floor plans are great in homes but not in preschool classrooms, so find out how to set up your preschool classroom into centers! This post gives you a TON of ideas for your classroom centers.
What Are Preschool Classroom Centers?
Centers are different areas of your preschool classroom that each have a designated purpose. Centers allow children to experience and experiment and learn from a variety of materials and resources during each class time. Children also get the opportunity to work on their social emotional skills as they learn about sharing, teamwork, and responsibility.
The possibilities for centers and the way to set them up is practically endless. The materials in each center should be changed periodically, once a month works well. If you use themes in your classroom you can change the centers to match your theme for the month. Here are some ideas how to set up your preschool classroom into centers:
Dramatic Play Center
Purpose: Pretend play, explore roles and careers, act out (explorer, polar bear habitat, underwater adventure)
Location: Best in a corner or under a loft where children can’t easily run through it.
Furniture:
- Kitchen set
- Child sized table and chairs
- Child sized couch
- Coat rack or chest (for dress up clothes)
- Store Stand (farmers market, lemonade stand, store, post office, puppet stage)
- Doll furniture
- Shelves for storage
Materials:
- Play Food and Dishes
- Dress up clothes and accessories
- Baby dolls and accessories
- Puppets
- Materials to match monthly theme
Block Center
Purpose: Exploration, eye hand coordination, fine motor skills
Location: Hard floor area so that towers won’t topple, large enough out of the way area for children’s creations not to be disturbed
Furniture:
- Shelves for storage
- Baskets/bins/buckets
- Street Rug
Materials:
- Blocks of various kinds, sizes, and colors
- Cars
- Dinosaurs
- Manipulatives
- Materials to match monthly theme
Circle Time Center
Purpose: Cozy area for children to gather for the school portion of the daily schedule
Location: Opposite corner of the Dramatic Play center
Furniture:
- Rug
- Couch
- Bookshelf
- Basket
- (NO pillows or blankets to minimize the spread of lice)
- Hooks on the wall to hold children’s coats and backpacks
Materials:
- Lots of books
- Beanie Babies (for children to hold during Circle Time, store in basket)
- Calendar on the wall
- Posters on the wall
Materials to match monthly theme
Sensory Center
Purpose: Exploration, fine motor skills, calming
Location: Hard floor surface for easy clean up
Furniture:
- Child sized tables and chairs
- Light table
- Shelves for storage
- Baskets and bins for storage
- High shelves or cupboards for teacher supplies
Materials:
- Clay
- Play Doh
- Clay and Play Doh tools
- Sensory bins: (for many more ideas Google “sensory bin ideas”)
- Water with pouring, scooping, funneling tools, water beads
- Sand with construction toys
- Corn kernels with small party favor type toys
- Snow with twigs, beads, small felt hats for mini snowmen
Arts and Crafts Center/Snack Center/Table Activities
Purpose: Creativity, art; can double as a snack area, and tabletop activity area
Location: Hard floor surface for easy clean up
Furniture:
- Child sized tables and chairs
- Shelves for storage
- Baskets and bins for storage
- High shelves or cupboards for teacher supplies
- Easel (remove hinges and attach each side to the wall to save space)
Materials:
Manipulatives
- Alphabet Robots
- Legos
- Wedgits
- Magnetics (NOT for children under 2 or children who put things in their mouths, monitor closely
Arts & Crafts
Accessible to children:
- Crayons
- Glue
- Scissors
- Paper
- Construction paper
- Stamps/ink pads
- Stickers
Accessible to teachers:
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Other art and crafts materials
Other Possible Centers for Your Preschool Classroom
- Literacy Center
- Math Center
- Music & Movement Center
- Science Center
Which centers will you set up first in your preschool classroom?
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