Instructions for Children to Play House

Set up your play area. Playing house can be done in a child care center, after school program or at home. To play house, you will need items representing what is found in the home. This includes a place for eating meals, dishware, a kitchen area and an area reserved for taking care of children. Purchase the materials at Target, Walmart or Toys R Us. Buy items like plastic play food, a cash register, kid's apron and even cleaning tools, such as a toy vacuum and broom. Use common household items to help kids understand how to stay organized, how to make nutritious meals and keep a home neat and tidy. Arrange these centers so that children can move around within the sections and have enough room to play.

Assign roles. Children will do a better job of communicating and getting along if they have designated roles. Playing house usually requires the children to portray the role of "mother, father, brother, or sister". Assign roles to involve everyone and avoid disagreements. To sustain interest in creative play, children can rotate their roles so each person has a turn. Keep a list of all of the children's names and the role they protrayed; then rotate the roles on the next play day. Children can also assume roles outside of the home like grocery store owner, teacher, mail person or neighbor.

Create tasks. The majority of play involves children pretending to be part of a family. Provide a list of the different things that families do on a daily basis on a bulletin board in the play area. Allow kids to choose the tasks they want to complete. You might also include tasks such as going to the grocery store or the post office to give kids an understanding of the responsibilities that go along with running a home.