Pretend Play Architect

The kids have been playing architect for some time now.  It has been fun for all and is a great activity for older children.

Get some graph paper (if you do not have any in the house just google graph paper and you can get free printable paper).  The kids have drawn all different floor plans - 2 bedrooms - 6 bedroom homes, 1 bedroom apartments, condos, etc and describe the amenities ie pool, fenced in yard, close to shops, etc.  When the building plan is complete I was providing general prices for them based on each lay out and where it was located.  We did decide to price each unit as if they were in the same town otherwise pricing was too difficult.

Here is where the pretend play starts.  Choose someone to be a customer.  You get to create any persona you want - ie husband and wife with 6 kids, single college student, retired grandfather, etc.  You can add on extras that you are looking for ie pool, sidewalks, etc.  Now tell your price range.

Then each child picks one of their floor plans to show you.  The creator of each floor plan gives you a tour describing all the features and why it would suit your needs (based on your fake persona).  You, the customer, then chooses where you want to live.

We all had a lot of fun with this.  I have to admit it was quite fun to imagine I was shopping for a new place to live as a young 25 year old again or pretending I was transferring from some exotic place and needed certain amenities.

This was a kid created activity which I give a huge thumbs up.  It was a nice combination of quiet, creative time with pretend play.  Why not give it a try?