Career Centers for Early Elementary!

Whenever I started as an Elementary School Counselor, I struggled with how to incorporate careers and career education into my program. This past year (my second year as a counselor), I decided to test out some ideas for career education during the scheduled guidance time. I ran a career unit that lasted about a month and wanted to make it as hands-on and interactive as possible for the students. I love doing centers with my younger classes so I thought it may be fun to do some play-based career centers for students to rotate through. 

I decided to run four different centers to start off with and included tools that the career-person may use.

Bakery Center:play-dough, cookie cutters, rolling pin, measuring cups and spoons, spatula, and design-your-own-cupcake/cake laminate sheets. 

Vet Center: stuffed dog, various animal figurines, latex gloves, various kid-friendly medical tools, and laminated vet check-up page with dry erase markers.

Construction Center: Jenga blocks, various builders and connectors, laminated graph paper, laminated floor plans, dry erase markers, hard hat, and  foam geometric shapes.

Story board center: I found some laminated career storyboards online where students can create their own story with different pictures. I will post the link whenever I get the chance!

Overall, the kids LOVED it. Many of them said it was their favorite guidance class ever. It was a lot of fun for me as well as I got to see how creative the students could be and got a chance to connect with each of the different groups. 

What centers have you used in your guidance program? What other career activities do you enjoy?