The newest addition to my library’s active learning centers is a “Set the Table” activity. We made four “placemats”, a red, blue, yellow and green one and laminated them. Next, we bought a set of colored dishes from Lakeshore Learning. The day I put this activity out on a round table in our library it was a hit immediately. Right away a little boy put the placemats out around the table and began matching the colored plates, cups, spoons, forks, knives and spoons. The interactions we have seen between kids and their parents/caregivers as well as between kids and their peers have been more than we had hoped!
This activity was intended to be a simple color matching game but has spurred dramatic play, sharing experiences, talk about food and lots of laughter. One evening I was sitting at the Children’s Information desk and saw a little girl playing alone at the table. She had the placemats out and was matching the dishes to them when a little boy whom she did not know walked over to the table and sat down and said “Get me a cup of coffee!” A Children’s Librarian at another Library in the county was working her Children’s Information desk and heard a little voice say, “what would you like to drink?” Then the same voice answered itself, “Juice, please.” She peeked around the shelves and a little boy had set himself a blue place setting and was pouring invisible juice from the green cup into the blue cup. 