Activities

Play “Simon Says” using positional words in your directions, such as “Simon Says put your hands behind your back,” or “Simon Says point your toe in front of you.

Give each child a counting bear and a cup. Tell the children a story about the bear that includes positional words. Have them move their bear to the correct position. For example, “The bear woke up INSIDE his cave and was hungry.

Create a scavenger hunt that uses positional words in the clues. After the children get the idea, give them the opportunity to create their own scavenger hunt and clues for friends. This could be done in large group.

Add envelopes, cards, paper, markers, pens and pencils to the dramatic play area. Have stickers be stamps. One child can be the person who sells the stamps. Another can be the postal worker who delivers the letters to all of his/her classmates.

During a math center activity have markers and small Post-it® notes available for the children to write numbers.

Show the children the work of various artists in books or on the computer. Engage the children in conversation about the exhibit.

Display a poster reflecting the work of an artist, such as Van Gogh's The Starry Night, and ask the children to help you write a story about the picture. This could be done in large group.

Encourage the in the writing center children to create posters about keeping the school clean and recycling. Hang the posters around the school.

Provide metal pots, pans, lids, pie pans, wooden spoons and coffee cans. Sing “The Ants Go Marching One by One” and encourage the children to play the instruments. The children can take turns using different noisemakers as they march.

Provide a Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head in the science center that the children can use to identify body parts. You could also give the children the body parts to stick in their own play dough creations.

Provide a shallow container such as a pie tin to hold paint and several different kinds of potato mashers including some with a grid design and others that are curvy and snake-like.

Read a book such as Dora's Potty Book by Melissa Torres or Fuzzy Bear's Potty Book by Dawn Bentley. Explain that everyone uses the bathroom. Take a few children on a tour of the bathroom.

Read a book relevant to an upcoming field trip; for example read, Show Me Your Teeth! A Visit to the Dentist! by Christine Ricci.

During outdoor time, take the children outside for a large group experience. Use a two liter bottle of diet soda and a full pack of Mentos. Ask the children to observe what happens when the Mentos are dropped into the diet soda.

Provide a newspaper template and support the children in drawing pictures or writing headlines about the events of the day or week.  This can be done in small group.

Provide “lab books” in the science center where the children can document steps and results of a simple science experiment in pictures or words. For example, “Document what happens as ice melts.

Set up a Pre-K office with the keyboard from an old computer, a phone, an appointment book, desk calendar and a variety of pens in the writing center. Talk with the children to facilitate play.

Tune: “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around”
Pre-K, Pre-K touch your nose.

Pre-K, Pre-K touch your toes.

Pre-K, Pre-K pat your hair.

Pre-K, Pre-K find your square.

Read a book with a predictable sequence of events such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr. Read the book several times. After they hear the story a few times, have the children predict what character will appear next in the story.

Provide several containers with different amounts of money. Have the children guess how much is in each jar and what they think they could buy with the money.