We love to use playdough as part of a dramatic play bakery. Learn some simple tips on how to create a fun pretend play set up for your kids.
Updated January 2025
We don’t know about your kids, but when our kids play with playdough, it usually turns into pretend play rather than just sculpting or crafting. And more often than not, their dramatic play revolves around one thing: running a play bakery!
They create cupcakes and pies of every flavor imaginable, take turns being the customer and the baker, and even pretend that they are in a baking competition on TV!
Setting up a dramatic play bakery for your kids is super simple and doesn’t require any fancy materials. We typically keep these supplies stored with the playdough, so we don’t have to gather everything every time we want to play.
Here’s how to set up a simple dramatic play bakery for your kids. Trust us, this will give you a chance to sit back and watch your kids use their imaginations!
Dramatic Play Bakery with Playdough
MATERIALS
- Playdough (either homemade or store-bought)
- Silicone cupcake liners
- Mini muffin tin or small pie tin (we reuse the pie tins you get from mini graham cracker pie crusts)
- Small cookie cutters
- Rolling pins
- Other playdough tools or pretend kitchen toys
- Toppings and decorations (think beads, buttons, or small pom-poms to represent sprinkles)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Gather materials
Make a batch of playdough or gather some store-bought in a variety of colors. Raid your baking cabinet or hit up the dollar store for some cupcake liners, mini muffin tins, and small rolling pins.
Look through your arts and crafts drawer for beads, buttons, and pom poms. Things don’t have to be fancy! Your kids will have fun no matter what.
- Set out materials
We like to use trays for our playdough play; they keep things contained and off the floor. Set out the play baking materials on a tray and invite your kids to play!
- Bake!
Allow your kids to let their imaginations run wild as they create all kinds of pretend desserts. Or, if your kids prefer savory, they can pretend they are running a pizza parlor or a fancy restaurant!
If you would like, you can add a toy cash register, play money, or menus to encourage even more dramatic play.
You can adjust the theme of your play to any season or holiday, too. During the fall, make apple pies! Or in the summer, bring the bakery outside!
We love setting up pretend play invitations like this for our kids. And we’ve even gifted a DIY pretend bake shop kit to our little cousins! We filled a small bin with playdough, rolling pins, cupcake liners, lots of gems and pom poms, and even a few birthday candles. They were a hit!
More Pretend Play Ideas Using Playdough
- 33 Ideas with Playdough for Kids
- 3 Homemade Playdough Recipes for Kids
- How to Set Up a Playdough Play Tray
- How to Use LEGOs to Make Pictures in Playdough
- Our Favorite Playdough Play Ideas for Kids
Pin It for Later
