Coffee shop role play

What you need

• A few plastic or paper cups A plate of toy pastries
• A small bowl with some instant coffee
• A small bowl with a few tea bags, a small jug of milk and warm (not hot!) water A few teaspoons
• Some napkins A toy cash register (optional)

Benefits

This activity will support your child’s self-confidence and self-awareness, and help them learn to make decisions independently. This is a great opportunity to introduce new words and encourage children to put two words together while trying to make a conversation with carers.

The experience

Set up the coffee shop on a small table that your child can reach. Talk to your child about all the components of the shop and the different options in making teas and coffee. Another adult present can represent a customer, so you can support your child in serving the customer.

Talk about quantities (big or small cup), beverages and demonstrate how to prepare those. Alternatively, let your child explore the setup, introduce simple words to their vocabulary by giving choices, encourage them to put two words together (for example, more milk, big cup, teaspoon) and observe how the beverage changes colour when adding milk to it.