Activities

Begin a pattern with two colors of counting bears. Give the children additional counting bears of the same two colors and ask them to extend the pattern. Ask them to explain how they extended the pattern.

Provide the children with snow pea pods or other legumes during outdoor time. Have them explore the closed pods. Then have the children open the pods to see what's inside. Have the children taste the peas.

You will need some clean, empty egg cartons, cut in half lengthwise, and some green play dough. Write a numeral zero to five in each section of the egg carton. Show the children how to roll the play dough to make “peas.

Read Peek-a Who? by Nina Laden. This lift-the-flap book uses word cues and rhyming to help children make predictions about the animal that is hiding. For example, “peek-a-moo” gives children the hint that a cow is under the flap.

Sit facing the children. Talk to them so they are looking at your face. Use your hands or a small blanket to place between you and the children.

Read Peek-a-Boo! Baby Faces Board Book by Roberta Grobel Intrater. This up-close book of baby faces is ideal for reading to infants. Encourage the infant to point to eyes, ears, nose and mouth, as well as to expressions, tears and smiles.

Read Peek-a-Boo Morning by Rachel Isadora. Infants will love this story about a young toddler who plays peek-a-boo with a variety of family members. After reading, play Peek-a-Boo with the infants.

Laminate pictures of the teachers and infants in the class. Glue the pictures to each side of a cube and place a piece of opaque fabric over each picture. Have the infant hold the cube and play Peek-a-Boo with the pictures on each side.

Place an unbreakable mirror on the ground or low enough on a wall that the infant can see it. Using a small cloth, hide the infant's face and play Peek- a-Boo in the mirror.

Provide ears of corn with the husks on. During small group, have the children peel off the husks and strip off the silk. Model this activity for the children. Encourage them to ask questions about the parts of the ear of corn.

Give the children pegboards and encourage them to fill the entire board full of pegs.

As a class, create and send pen pal letters to other Pre-K classes within the county or state. Include photos, drawings and stories of life experiences, in the writing center.

Give each child a 1x4 grid and several pennies. Say a word and have him or her put a penny in each box for each phoneme.

Add plastic containers with lids that the children can decorate to make their own penny banks in the art center.

Read Benny's Pennies by Pat Brisson. Using a flannel board, have the children match the items that are in the book that Benny purchased.

Pentominoes are figures made by placing five squares in different arrangements, making sure that at least one side of each square is touching the side of another square. For example, the squares may be arranged side by side, in a row or tower.

Pick a week and highlight a different community helper each day. For example, Monday – firefighter, Tuesday – construction worker, Wednesday – postal worker, Thursday – police officer, Friday – sanitation worker.

Take a photo of each child playing. Print and cut the photo into three to four pieces. With guidance, encourage the children to put their picture back together.

Read the book Percy's Neighborhood by Stuart Murphy. Ask the children to recall the different workers Percy met as he went with his dad around the neighborhood.

During large group, read Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook. This book teaches the children about respecting people's personal space.