My kids love my husband, Officer Hoffer. We spend an entire week studying police officers. During the week we turn our classroom into a police station before going to the police station on Friday. We use a Police Car Photo Cardboard Stand-Up and Police Car Box Costume to make a police car garage. We also have a Jail Cell Photo Cardboard Stand-Up so my students can make arrests. They also can take fingerprints and investigate different crimes.
The most iconic part of a police officer is their police car. My students love having the Police Car Photo Cardboard Stand-Up and Police Car Box Costume in our police garage! They pretend to drive them around our entire room. They also take maintenance very seriously and use the Melissa & Doug® Let's Play House Spray, Squirt & Squeegee to make sure the cars shine!
One of the most recognized jobs of police officers is having to do paperwork. Download the FREE police department printables here so your little ones can do some paperwork of their own at their dramatic play center. With the students' "paperwork" I used Nifty Knob Lowercase Stampers and Cool Classic Giant Stamp Pad Set so my students could practice their names. Having this is really important for the next area of our dramatic play.
In our dramatic play area, we have a jailhouse. My students work really hard to get our streets clean and keep all the bad guys off them. After they fill out their paperwork, the classroom police officers can take the bad guys directly to the jailhouse. I did not include handcuffs in our dramatic play center, because I was afraid I would be continuously putting them on and off students.
I love having different dress up options available in my dramatic play center. During police week we have Kids' Police Vests, Police Badge Name Tag Stickers and Police Hats available for students to try on. I like having these types of outfits in our dramatic play center because they are easy for the kids to put on themselves, and the hats are more sanitary. It is not uncommon to hear "Look guys! I am Officer Hoffer!" during this week about twenty times a day!
I have always been fascinated with fingerprints. We talk about them quite a bit during police week so I decided to give my kids the Cool Classic Giant Stamp Pad Set along with the Police Officer Worksheets, and let them make their own fingerprint cards. I also gave them the 4X Magnifying Glasses so they could look at their fingerprints up close.
It is inevitable that during police week there is a crime that happens in our classroom. So I often find my students wandering around my room during center time using the 4X Magnifying Glasses looking for clues.
After a long day of fighting crime and keeping the streets safe, most police officers will enjoy a nice cup of coffee and a donut or two. My kids enjoyed using the Melissa and Doug ® Brew & Serive Coffee Set along with the Donut Party Plush Donuts with Box.
