Activities

Make bat or bird wings from old t-shirts by cutting the shirts open up the front and leaving the sleeves in place. The children put on their wings to pretend to fly during outdoor time.

Tune: “Frere Jacques”
Be a friend, be a friend

Share your toys, share your toys

Try to be a helper, always be a helper

Girls and boys, girls and boys

Take out superhero and community character costumes.  Invite the children to dress up and discuss which are real and which are fantasy.

Set up independent activities where the children can make their own decisions with little interruption or teacher direction. Examples include puzzles, computers, sensory table and geoboards.

After the children have practicd playing outdoor games such as Tag, introduce a twist to the normal rules. For example, the children might skip or hop on one foot instead of running to tag someone.

Have the children stand in a circle, holding hands.  A beach ball is dropped into the circle and players see how many times they can keep it in the air without losing their connection, everyone in the circle must continue holding hands.

Laminate feeling faces on a poster and cut the faces out, then stick the faces on a beach ball. Have the children toss the ball to each other and share how they are feeling by pointing to the picture on the beach ball.

Blow up a large beach ball and encourage the children to push it and chase it as it rolls. You can show them how to kick it too.

Get several beach balls and blow them up. Either independently or with pairs, during outdoor time, have the children try to hit the balls to keep them in the air. Have the children count how many times they hit the balls.

Provide colored beads and pipe cleaners. Use bead pattern cards for the children to copy. Purchase them or make your own by cutting shapes from construction paper and gluing them on strips made from file folders. Laminate them for durability.

During outdoor time, take sidewalk chalk and bean bags outside. Use the sidewalk chalk to draw various shapes on the sidewalk. Encourage the children to take turns tossing the bean bag and identify the shapes.

In an open area, set out a bucket or a large box. Have the children toss a bean bag or a foam ball into the bucket or box. Let them start out standing close and then gradually move further away, making the activity more challenging.

Provide the children with beanbags printed with letters during outdoor time. Create a grid on the ground and include one letter in each space. Encourage the children to toss the beanbags into the square with the same letter.

Place a box on the floor next to a wall or the back of a shelf. Give the children beanbags to toss into the box.

Tape a large piece of construction paper to the floor. Have the children toss beanbags toward the paper, trying to land them on the paper.

Provide a large cardboard box with an archway cutout to resemble a cave. Make sure there are no staples on the box. You can have the children use markers or washable paint to color the cave. Encourage them to crawl in, out and around the cave.

Read We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Gather child-sized backpacks, flashlights, small oars and grass made of colored paper. After reading the story, provide the children with props and pretend to go on a bear hunt.

Sing the familiar song “We're Going on a Bear Hunt” and use motions to act out each part.

Lead a group of children in the song “We're Going on a Bear Hunt,” including the sounds of the journey and the motions.

After reading Bear In a Square by Stella Blackstone, the children will glue a variety of shapes onto paper, putting shapes together to form new shapes. This could be done in small group.