Activities

For the block center, make blocks from cereal boxes, clean milk cartons or tissue boxes. Attach photos of the children making good choices to the cartons. Use these to encourage positive behavior.

Create story picture blocks by attaching photos of characters from a book to unit blocks with clear contact paper. Encourage the children to build a story such as The Napping House by Audrey Wood using the blocks in the block center.

Use a variety of props and dress-up clothes to create your own photo booth in the classroom. Provide funny props such as mustaches, glasses and hats. Use a creative backdrop and have the children take pictures using a digital camera.

Display photos of the children engaged in play throughout the day. Post the photos of the children at eye level and encourage them to explore and find their pictures.

Take a walk around the classroom and outdoors and let each child identify one item to be photographed. Print the pictures and ask the children to explain if the picture is of a living or nonliving object.

Use purchased pick-up sticks or similar real and found materials such as chopsticks or wooden skewers with the points cut off. Place the sticks in the center of the table and have children remove them one by one.

Set up the game "Pick Up Sticks" by dumping the sticks onto the table or any other large, flat surface.  The children then try to pick up a stick without moving any others in the pile.

Add Styrofoam® peanuts, small plates and chopsticks to the sensory center table for the children to pick up and put on a plate.

Plan this for a day when the weather is nice and lunch can be served outside. Have the children help with setting up and cleaning up, just as they would if they were eating inside.

Take photos of the children in your class throughout the day and create a simple pictorial schedule. Place it at the children's eye level. Provide language to help the children understand daily routines.

Provide picture cards and number cards in the reading center. Encourage the children to identify the word and how many syllables it has, then match it to a number card.

Create picture Bingo cards. Use bottle caps as markers. Call out an object. Have children place a cap on that object if they find it on the card. Don't play to win; just fill in the cards.

Add a picture of each child to a rectangular unit block. Use these to tell a story or, when reading a book such as “The Little Red Hen,” substitute children's names for the characters in the book.

Read a book without any words, such as The Red Book by Barbara Lehman. Sit with a few children and talk about the story.

Use a picture book with photos showing the daytime and nighttime sky, such as Day and Night by Robin Nelson. Ask the children to point to the sun or show you the stars.

Provide assorted picture cards of words that rhyme. Encourage the children in the reading center to match the rhymes.

Show various pictures to the children, and encourage them to demonstrate how they might feel in the situation shown. For example, when shown a picture of pizza, a child might rub his/her tummy excitedly.

Create a matching game using a clear acrylic picture frame and some stick-on hooks. Place the hooks on the frame in a 3x3 arrangement, spacing them so there is room under each hook to put a small picture.

Ask the family to bring in pictures of their child at different ages along with a few additional pictures of family members and pets. Use VELCRO® strips to place the pictures on flannel board.

Place pictures on the floor and cover them with clear contact paper. Encourage the infant to explore the pictures and narrate what he/she sees.