Activities

Create a simple obstacle course on the playground. Demonstrate how to go down the slide, around the monkey bars and beside the sandbox. Support the children by leading them in chanting directions that guide them through the course.

Create an outdoor obstacle course using playground items such as hula-hoops, small traffic cones and balance beams. Provide opportunities for the children to maneuver through the course.

Set up an obstacle course in your room or on the playground. Have the children crawl through tunnels, up stairs, down slides, under tables and chairs or around shelves.

Design an obstacle course using items such as chairs, hula-hoops, carpet squares or a balance beam. Start with three to five sections. Give step-by-step directions using positional words and physical demonstrations.

Create a simple obstacle course on the playground during outdoor time. Ask children to walk through the obstacle course. Next, depending on the complexity, have them go through different ways, such as backwards, crawling or holding a friend's hand.

Add blue food coloring to vanilla yogurt or pudding, or use blueberry yogurt. Give the children a zip-top bag containing half a graham cracker that they crush.

Watch a short video about ocean life. Using sand, art supplies and blue plastic wrap, encourage the children to create an ocean scene.

After reading Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann, encourage the children to think of alternate endings by asking questions such as, “What if Officer Buckle had not listened to Claire and did not begin teaching safety lessons again?”

Read the book Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton. Talk to the children about George and why it was so hard for George to be a good dog.

Sing a song daily with the children when it is time to wash hands for lunch or snack.

Tune: "Do You Know the Muffin Man?"
Oh, let's come to the circle now

the circle now

the circle now

Oh, let's come to the circle now

it's almost story time.

Ask the children to name a place they visit in the community. As a child shares a place, ask the other children if they also go there. Make a graph of all the places the children visit in the community.

Oh, when the leaves fall off the trees 

Oh, when the leaves fall off the trees 

Oh, we all know it must be autumn 

When the leaves fall off the trees
Oh, when the snow falls on the ground

Oh, when the snow falls on the

Freeze colored water in an ice cube tray. Fill a pie pan with vegetable oil. Have the children observe how bubbles are formed when the ice cubes melt and mix with the oil. Encourage the children to draw a picture of their observations.

Provide activities where the children have to respond with an OK sign or by putting a hand up to indicate “no way.” For example, read scenarios with examples of classroom behavior.

Make simple animal puppets using paper plates or pictures glued to paint sticks. Give each child an animal puppet. Encourage the children to show their puppets as you sing the familiar song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

While singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” have the children imitate the action and sound of the named animal.

Sing to the tune of the original “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” and give each child an instrument to play and sing along with. Such as, “...on his farm he had a tambourine. With a shake, shake here and a shake, shake there...,” or “...

Sing “Old MacDonald” but replace the word “farm” with “body” and the word “animal” with the name of a body part. Have the children create a funny movement and/or sound to go with the body part.

Young children LOVE repetition and hearingthe same books over and over. It is important to continue to read those same books. This creates familiarity and a love for reading.