Activities

Purchase plaster of paris or make your own using two parts white glue to one part warm water.  Encourage children to make hand prints, footprints or globes molded on balloons.

Read The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle by Alison Inches. Prepare picture props for the children to use in retelling the story and put them in sequence on a bulletin board or clothesline to show the cycle of a plastic bottle.

Obtain a variety of smooth plastic cards, such as key cards from hotels or customer loyalty cards. Clean and disinfect them.

Cut three or four egg cartons in half so they have six compartments. Have the children paint the egg cartons to match a collection of plastic eggs. Once the cartons are fully dry, place them in the sensory table along with the plastic eggs.

Support an older infant in a standing position. From behind, wrap your arms around him/her just under the arms. Place a ball at the infant's feet and show how to kick the ball.

Read Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen. Give each child a ball of play dough and a small bowl of water. Have the children mold their ball into a boat shape and determine if their boat will sink or float.

Use play dough and craft sticks to build replicas of the local community in the art center.

Provide play dough in the sensory center area and encourage the children to use it to create models of their family members. You might also include doll-sized clothing for the children to dress their models.

Give each child in the sensory center a ball of play dough to construct anything he/she wants. Have accessories available to enhance the child's play, such as pipe cleaners and wiggly eyes.

Provide play dough and laminated mats printed with uppercase and lowercase letters. Encourage the children in the writing center to roll the play dough into thin logs, and twist and manipulate the logs to cover the letters on the mats.

In small group, introduce play dough and play dough tools such as cutters, rollers, scissors, plastic knives and plates. Demonstrate how the tools can be used with the play dough. Then have the children experiment.

Provide play dough for the children and encourage them to create with it. Ask questions such as, "What kind of animal can you make?" and "What kind of tail does it have?" Give the children pipe cleaners and wiggly eyes to add to their creation.

Surprise the children with scented play dough in the sensory center. Add extracts, oils or dried coffee grounds inside balls of play dough. Additionally, pour a sample amount of each scent on cotton balls.

Provide laminated cards showing 2-D shapes and play dough. Encourage the children to roll the play dough out and manipulate it to match the shapes.

Show the children how to make play dough worms by modeling rolling out the dough on the table with the palms of your hands. Encourage the children to make their worms different lengths.

Set up play with multiple baby dolls, bottles, blankets and other accessories. Encourage the children to interact and talk to the dolls as if they were the adults. Say, "Tell your baby what you're doing;" then, "Ask the baby if he/she is hungry.

Add props, photographs, and a sign to turn the dramatic play area into a familiar local community business.

Play multicultural music and set out scarves for the infant to wave to the music. Model and talk about the concepts up and down, side to side, high and low, and fast and slow.

Create pretend snow by mixing 1/2 cup of child- safe white hair conditioner and 3 cups of baking soda.

Use two pretend telephones to have a back-and- forth conversation with the children. Encourage one child to pick up the phone. Begin by saying, “Hello,” and give the child time to respond.