Activities

During outdoor time, go on a nature walk and listen to the different sounds you hear from birds, leaves, wind, trees and the children. When back in the classroom, graph the sounds the children recognized.

Play a game with a puppet to demonstrate "near" and "far." When you say "near," encourage the children to lean in toward the puppet; at the same time, move the puppet toward the children so they are very close.

Discuss with the children how we use money for things we need. Discuss how we have to save for the things we want. Chart the children's answers as they talk about things they think we need versus things we want. This could be done in large group.

Encourage the children to name a place in their neighborhood that they visit, such as a grocery store, the post office, a bakery or a gas station. Give the children construction paper, crayons and markers.

Have three to five boxes from smaller to larger that will easily nest within one another. Encourage the children to discover how to nest the boxes until all boxes fit inside the largest box.

Provide a variety of paper cups in several colors and different sizes. Encourage the children to play with the cups by stacking the them and pulling them apart.

Use an old rotary-dial phone, a touchtone phone, an older cell phone and a newer cell phone to demonstrate how technology has changed over time.

Use the grid of multi-colored squares you created during center time and talk about all the different shades and colors you see.

Teach the children to play a new game, such as kickball, for the purpose of introducing new vocabulary. Use words such as throw, kick, catch and pitch as you teach the children how to play the game.

To help the children connect to prior knowledge, make up new verses or add words to familiar songs such as “Down by the Bay” or “A Hunting We Will Go.” They can use the familiar rhyming pattern of the song and substitute new words during large group.

Prepare the students for a special visitor by talking about and using specific vocabulary appropriate for conversations with that visitor. For example, with a firefighter, the children might want to talk about stations, alarms and emergencies.

Give each child a piece of unfolded newspaper to be their individual dance floor. As you play music, the children dance freestyle on their dance floor. At some point, stop the music and have the children fold their paper in half.

Give each child a piece of unfolded newspaper to be his/her individual dance floor. As you play music, the children dance freestyle on their dance floors. At some point, stop the music and have the children fold their papers in half.

Start with a section of newspaper for each child, unfolding it and laying it flat. This is the “dance floor.” Play music while the children dance on their personal “dance floor.

Read Hands Are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi.

Create a day bottle using water and one or two drops of blue food coloring. Create a night bottle using several drops of red and blue food coloring to make it very dark purple. Hot-glue the bottle caps on tightly, for security.

Read Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Ask the children to share their nighttime rituals. As a family activity, send art materials home and ask families to help the children draw a picture of something they do at night.

Use a magnifying glass to look at individual grains of sand. Talk about how sand feels. Introduce the word “gritty.” Show the children sandpaper of different grades from very smooth to very rough. Encourage them to feel the texture.

Read the book No No Yes Yes by Leslie Patricelli. Point out the things the baby did that had a "no" response and those things the baby did that had a "yes" response.

Provide a sheet of white paper with a picture of a magnifying glass for each individual child. Have each child stamp fingerprints inside his/her magnifying glass.