Activities

Have a basket of feathers at the table. Give each child a pair of tweezers. Have the children pick up as many feathers as they can with their tweezers and pass the basket to the next child.

For outdoor time, gather paint, a long piece of butcher paper and new toilet plungers. Place paint on paper plates and encourage the children to paint using the plungers. See what interesting designs the children can create.

Using a pocket chart and a variety of rhyming cards, have children match picture cards that rhyme by placing them together.  This can be done in large or small group.

While reading a story to the infant, encourage the infant to point to different pictures and to turn the page in the book.

Look at a book with the children and have them point to familiar objects.

While reading a book with repeated or highlighted text, such as Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan, use a pointer to highlight words.

During small group, read Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer. Set up small polar bear habitats by freezing individual containers of ice for children to explore. Discuss the melting of glaciers.

Ask the children questions when reading Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle. Ask the children to point to and identify the different animals and colors in the book.

Have a police officer bring his/her K9 dog to visit your class. Have the children and the officer discuss safety for humans and animals.

Gather six to 12 extra-large pom-poms in different colors. Paint the inside of each section of a cardboard egg carton the same color as each of the pom-poms.

Have small bowls or cone-shaped cups and a variety of large pom-poms in a bowl. Have the children use an ice cream scoop to serve the pom-pom ice cream during center time.

Clasp pom-poms with clothespins to use as paintbrushes. Put a variety of colors of paint in small bowls. Have the children dip a pom-pom clothespin into the paint and dot it on their paper. Use one pom-pom per paint color.

Wrap tall Pringles® chip cans or toilet paper tubes in construction paper the same colors as an assortment of small pom-poms. Stand each tube upright. Provide tweezers or chopsticks to pick up each pom-pom and place it in the tube.

Place a variety of pom-poms of different sizes and colors on the highchair tray or at the table for the infant to explore and play with. You can include a strip of the hook side of VELCRO® for him/her to stick the pom-poms onto.

Provide colorful pom-poms for the children to shake while dancing to an upbeat song. CDs may include 150 Toddler Sing-A-Long Songs by the Countdown Kids and Move to the Music: Toddler Dance Class by Bright Stars.

Provide craft pom-poms in various sizes, small, medium, large, in the same color, plus three containers. Encourage the children to put all the ones that are the same together.

Cut foam pool noodles into sections about 3 feet long and show the children how to use them to strike beach balls.

Give the children short pool noodles and a soft ball. Set up a goal on each side of the rug in the block area using masking tape or a small container. Encourage the children to use the noodle to hit the ball into the goal.

Take pool noodles and slice them into round pieces. Provide the children with lengths of rope and have them lace the pool noodles onto the rope.

You will need pool noodles cut in half and medium-size foam balls for this activity. Have the children use the pool noodle as a club to hit the ball, similar to hitting a golf ball.