Activities

Invite the children to go on an “I Spy” logo hunt in the reading center. Use pictures from school supply catalogs for classroom labels and center signs. Encourage the children to walk around the room and read.

Place some pipe cleaners and a colander with large holes on the table. Demonstrate how the children can place the pipe cleaners in the holes, and have them complete the task.

Create a song to the tune of “The Mulberry Bush” about your classroom rules such as:
This is the way we walk inside,

walk inside, walk inside,

This is the way we walk inside

when we're in our classroom.

Create an “I Can Build” book. Take pictures of various buildings and structures in your community and encourage the children to replicate the buildings/structures.

Write the nursery rhyme "Jack Be Nimble" on chart paper and read it with the children. Place one set of laminated candlesticks with numerals and corresponding dots on each table.

Teach children the rhyme below. During outdoor time, encourage children to recite the rhyme while playing rhythmic activities, such as jump rope or hopscotch. 1, 2, 3, you are friends with me. 4, 5, 6, we make a perfect mix.

Here's a great large group activity using masking tape, mark one or more 3x1-foot three-section rectangles on the floor. Provide the children with a container that holds several pictures of three-sound words such as dog, cat, lick, car.

Introduce this chant to children to teach the difference between “loud” and “soft.” Have the children count from one to four, pausing after each number. When they pause, you say the second part of each line of the chant.

2-4-6-8 Meet me at the Pre-K gate Please come quick 'cause I can't wait 2-4-6-8

Explain to children that they are going to play a detective game. They will ask questions to try to find out about a hidden object. Use a notebook, folder or any other object as a screen.

Encourage the children to create common 3-D shapes using play dough or modeling clay. This can be done in small group.

Play Shape Bingo to reinforce names of 3-D shapes. Cut magazine pictures of 3-D objects and place in a plastic sleeve designed for sports card collections. Use terms like cube, cylinder and sphere.

Provide an opportunity for the children to dip 3-D objects in paints and press them on paper to make prints in the art center. Cans, blocks, wooden cubes, spools, candles and drinking glasses work well.

Read A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. Discuss the things that happen in the story that could happen in real life and the things that are fantasy. Ask the children if someone could really get a bad case of stripes.

Read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Talk about conflicts the children may have seen or had at school. Discuss how they were solved and give ideas for solving it if it comes up again.

Read the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. After reading the story, encourage the children to share about a time when they felt like “moving to Australia.” This could be done in large group.

Engage the infant by drawing attention to what is going on outside the window. Say, "See the bird in the tall, tall tree. See the red circle swing. See the green, green grass," to help settle the infant down.

Teach the children how to talk to each other about what “bothers” them. For example, one child says, “May I give you a bother and a wish?” The other child says, “Yes, you may give me a bother and a wish.

Make a square on the floor with tape. Have all the children in the group stand inside the box. Ask the children to try to move around in the box. Have the children share how they felt.

Teach the children how to talk to each other about what “bugs” them. For example, one child asks, “May I give you a bug and a wish?” The other child says, “Yes, you may give me a bug and a wish.