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Bring joy and play into children's lives through books.

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Home » Reading Ideas » Reading Fun » Pretend Play: Working at an Amazon Fulfillment Center

Pretend Play: Working at an Amazon Fulfillment Center

October 28, 2015 • 15 Comments

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The doorbell rings.  My kids immediately say, “Did we get a package?”  Their little minds have associated the doorbell ringing with a package being delivered.  Yes, we do gets lots of packages delivered to our house each week and they are often from one place- Amazon.

When I found out that this week’s Early Childhood Education Team’s #TeachECE theme was pretend play, I immediately thought of doing an Amazon Fulfillment Center.

Create a pretend play Amazon Fulfillment Center is a fun way to build literacy skills through dramatic play opportunities.

We found ways to pack lots of literacy play as well as math into our set-up.

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

To inspire us to set up our Amazon Fulfillment Center we watched this quick one minute video showing how a teddy bear gets processed at the center.

You can buy socks, curtains and even a santa toliet seat cover and rug set (it is rated #1 toliet tank covers) on Amazon.  But, we usually buy BOOKS so that is what we used for our pretend play.

Set-Up

We placed our stock (aka books) on a shelf.

Then, we found a small bin that would be used to collect orders.

Our packing and shipping station consisted of empty boxes, a scale, a cell phone, crayons and mailing labels.

writing chart for Amazon pretend play

We also included an “address” sheet for the kids to copy names on mailing labels.  If your child can handle more writing, you could also include the full address to copy.

Creating Orders

placing an order for pretend play Amazon fulfillment center

Create orders by cutting out book cover images and and attaching them to an order form.  We actually created a PowerPoint for our orders to conserve paper.  The technology piece made it even more authentic.

Another option for the order forms would be to write down requests and have the children find the best fit.  Here are a few examples to get you started.

a funny book

a book that takes place outside

a non-fiction book

a good book to read at bedtime

packing an order for Amazon pretend play

Turn it in to a phonological awareness activity with this third option.  Place a picture of a word that rhymes with a household or classroom object. The kids will then find an object that rhymes with the word.

Get the blank order forms to use in your pretend play.  I’ve also included a few rhyming forms too.

DOWNLOAD ORDER FORMS HERE

Time To Play

One table held the orders (paper or on the computer), labels, crayon and address sheet.  The kids take turns sitting at the table waiting for an order.

Time to collect the order.  Retrieve the books and place in the small bin.

scan books for dramatic play Amazon center

Head to the packing table and scan the books with the phone.  I put the phone on camera and let the kids “scan” (take a picture) of each barcode.

weighing the box

Place the books in a box and weigh.

making labels for pretend play

Time to decide where to ship the order.  Fill out the mailing label and attach to the box.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.  My kids even rang the doorbell and delivered them to our front door!

Time to see what other pretend play ideas the Early Childhood Education Team came up with this week!   And, don’t miss Colleen’s Raising Creative Kids: A Collection of Creativity Prompts for Children.  It is packed with ideas!

cover2

Bakery Pretend Play Printables for Counting by Life Over C’s
Pretend Play in Preschool: How to be a Scientist! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog
Pretend Play Fishing Alphabet Activity by Mom Inspired Life
Detective Pretend Play by Capri + 3
Farmer’s Market Preschool Theme Pretend Play by Learning 2 Walk
Exploring Numbers 0-10 Pretend Garden Meal by Tiny Tots Adventures
DIY Farm Pretend Play Mat by The Educators’ Spin On It

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15 Comments Filed Under: All categories, Reading Fun Tagged With: dramatic play

About Jodie Rodriguez

Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two young boys and an early childhood/elementary educator with over 20 years of experience. Jodie's passion is helping parents, teachers, librarians and anyone else interested in nurturing and reaching ALL of our youngest growing readers.

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  1. Deanna @ Play Dough & Popsicles says

    November 6, 2015 at 6:43 am

    This is so stinkin’ cute. I can’t get over how fun this is! I like you set up real equipment (scale, computer, phone) for them to use. This is so fun!! Thank you for sharing on #made4kids! Can’t wait to see what else you have to share with us in the future!!

    Reply
  2. Kim says

    November 2, 2015 at 12:16 am

    Love this! My kids love getting packages in the mail. They ripe into them like it is Christmas morning. What a brilliant idea to use camera as a “scanner”. Thanks for sharing at Made for Kids!

    Reply
    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      November 2, 2015 at 1:59 pm

      It’s been one of our favorite dramatic play areas!

      Reply
  3. Emma says

    November 1, 2015 at 11:58 pm

    What a fun idea! This is one pretend play I didn’t do when I was a kid, lol!

    Reply
    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      November 2, 2015 at 2:00 pm

      How times have changed Emma! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Clarissa says

    November 1, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    Words can’t express how much I love this idea! My kids love getting packages, and using the camera to “scan” the bar codes- genius!

    Reply
    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      November 2, 2015 at 2:00 pm

      Thanks so much Clarissa!

      Reply
  5. Kim says

    November 1, 2015 at 7:05 pm

    What a fun idea!! We have so many boxes from Amazon!

    Reply
  6. Alecia says

    November 1, 2015 at 11:31 am

    WOW! I have never seen pretend play like this. Such a great idea. 🙂

    Reply
  7. The Preschool Toolbox says

    October 28, 2015 at 1:48 pm

    I LOVE this idea! So many skills being introduced that the kids will keep with them. Creating memories through play and learning…doesn’t get much better than that.

    Reply
  8. Natasha says

    October 28, 2015 at 8:25 am

    Glad that my kids are not the only ones who associate the doorbell with the delivery man. Great pretend play setup. Will try this out with the girl.

    Reply
  9. Theresa says

    October 28, 2015 at 8:17 am

    Our kids love it when packages arrive too. What a fun idea to have them pretend to be at the fulfilment center where the packages are prepared for delivery!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Farmer's Market Preschool Theme Pretend Play says:
    October 31, 2015 at 8:38 pm

    […] Life Over C’s Pretend Play in Preschool: How to be a Scientist! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog Pretend Play: Amazon Fulfillment Center by Growing Book by Book Pretend Play Fishing Alphabet Activity by Mom Inspired Life Detective […]

    Reply
  2. Pretend Garden Meal | Tiny Tots Adventures says:
    October 28, 2015 at 7:47 am

    […] Life Over C’s Pretend Play in Preschool: How to be a Scientist! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog Pretend Play: Amazon Fulfillment Center by Growing Book by Book Pretend Play Fishing Alphabet Activity by Mom Inspired Life Detective […]

    Reply
  3. Pretend Play Fishing Alphabet Activity - Mom Inspired Life says:
    October 28, 2015 at 7:43 am

    […] Life Over C’s Pretend Play in Preschool: How to be a Scientist! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog Pretend Play: Amazon Fulfillment Center by Growing Book by Book Detective Pretend Play by Capri + 3 Farmer’s Market Preschool Theme […]

    Reply

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