Playing the part
Oh no! It seems our car has caught on “fire” with…with…soap bubbles? Well, yes, technically; but in our imaginative play the bubbles are the flames and we need a firefighter to put them out. Look out! Here comes the fire truck with a “jump rope” fire hose to the rescue!?

Career Costumes
As children dress-up in career focused costumes, role play, and learn about what services different jobs provide, they come to appreciate the people in their community and learn how they can also contribute to society. If you don’t have any community helper dress up clothes, be creative!

Firefighter Costume
My children picked firefighters for the career they wanted to learn more about and create a costume around. For our firefighter costume, I simply took a black shirt of mine and put masking tape strips around the cuffs, sleeves and bottom of the shirt. Next I Googled firefighter badge and found a badge that I could print out and tape to the shirt. Walla! A firefighter costume was made.

With the Halloween catalogs featuring every costume you could think of, it’s easy to forget that you can create your own costumes with items you already own! You can also check your local thrift shop for career costume accessories.

Firefighter Hats
Sometimes a simple recreation of a career hat can be enough “costume” to influence the creative play in the career of your child’s choice.

To make our firefighter hat, I cut strips of construction paper and fitted it around my children’s heads. I then stapled it. Since we were pretending to be firefighters, we colored a picture of a fire hat, cut the firefighter hat template out, and stapled it to the headband. It’s that easy! And look how adorable this creative play costume is with so little effort and minimal cost!

Career Costume Hat Templates
Looking for a particular career focused hat? Below are some hats you can color. Don’t see your career choice? A simple web search should find what you are looking for.

• Printable Nurse’s Hat
• Printable Chef’s Hat
• Printable Mail Carrier’s Hat
• Printable Police Hat

Firefighter’s in Action
My little fireman went into action as they helped me wash the car and pretend it’s on fire by putting out the bubbles.

Special Needs Mention: Using the senses to enhance learning
Creative role playing is a fantastic way to teach without a typical preach and listen lesson plan. With dressing up and role playing, you provide your child a tactile experience. In role playing you can provide movement and even the sense of taste depending on the career path that is chosen. Many careers involve cooperation among others and by role playing this out, your child can practice taking turns and waiting skills.

Keep the Fire Burning with Career Games
Help your children continue the fun and education with this Career Acting Game – a hit for all ages.