Have your little ones set up a lemonade stand this summer? There is something so sweet about a hot summer day, a table in the front yard, and little kids selling lemonade with their homemade signs. 

In my preschool class, I thought it would be fun to infuse this dramatic play with a little real-life skills practice, by having little ones make their own lemonade! They thought this was so special and fun, and I loved that they were learning all sorts of skills while playing. 

If you aren’t feeling quite adventurous enough to pull out the lemons and juicer, you can always substitute any of the ingredients for colored rice, pom poms, or any other manipulatives. Kids are so good at transforming any object into whatever they need! 

My little ones LOVE being involved in the set-up of our activities, so the first thing that we did was color our “Lemonade” banner. This made them feel like it was truly their stand. 

Luckily our weather was cooperating and we were able to take this outside since it did get messy. I already had all of our signs printed and laminated (all included in my Lemonade Stand set), so they were able to help by putting them in the right places on our stand and table. 

A few things I used for this activity:

• Lemons
• Limes
• Pink Fruit (optional)
• Lemonade Mixes (also could use sugar and food coloring)
• Lemon Squeezer of Juicer
• Cups and Straws
• Spoons
• Pitcher 
• Ice
• Water 

I had all of the materials set out with their labels. As I mentioned above, if you don’t want to buy lemonade mix in different flavors, you can get the same effect with sugar and food coloring. 

We started off by choosing a recipe card and following them step by step to make lemonade.

They each made their own cup of lemonade to drink, which was a great exercise in following directions, measurement, pouring, and fine motor skills all in one! We then talked about the different tastes which circled back to our five senses taste unit. 

Once littles had gotten a chance to make their own cup, I brought out the lemonade order forms so they could take orders and make drinks for their friends. This was where the dramatic play really came in. 

They had so much fun creating new recipes, counting money, and working on their communication skills. It was so cute listening to them play customer and cashier.

I also had a “Today’s Special” sign laminated where they could choose four ingredients to mix together for their own special recipe. 

The lemonade stand activity only took a little guidance from me at the beginning and then they were off! They especially loved squeezing the lemons and limes (hello, fine motor practice!) and mixing the powders together. 

I am not sure how many cups of lemonade were made (and dumped, spilled, etc) throughout the activity, but I am pretty sure they would have kept going all day.

You can see the fun they were having in this TikTok I shared.

@preschoolpackets These kids are a little too young for a real lemonade stand so I made a dramatic play center for them instead! 🍋 Even though it was “pretend play” we still used real ingredients like lemons, limes and sugar so everything was taste safe and they could try their lemonade! 🍋 Plus they got to work on skills like pouring, transfering and measuring! #dramaticplay #lemonadestand #pretendplay #summerideasforkids ♬ I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) - Taylor Swift

If you are wanting to set up your own Lemonade Stand dramatic play, all of the printables you need are included in the Lemonade Stand Dramatic Play set in my TPT store. If you do this activity, please share it with me on Instagram @preschoolpackets, I love to see my activities in action!