Activities

While outside, use a funnel or cup to pour a small amount of dry sand over the infant's hands. Provide close supervision as the infant claps his/ her hands or places his/her hands on the ground in the remaining sand.

Secure a sock at the cuff or ribbed opening with an empty duct tape roll to hold the sock open so pouring in sand is easier. Talk about the texture of the sand and how it sticks to things. Pick up the sock and feel how heavy sand can be.

Color alphabet pasta using alcohol and food coloring. Spread out to dry. Add the letters to the sensory center sand table or tub and give children magnifying glasses and tweezers. Challenge them to find all the letters in their names.

Tape pictures of school locations to blocks and place them in a sand tray. Ask the children to use their fingers to draw a path from the classroom to the playground, for example. As they progress, have them draw a path from school to home.

Cover a shallow tray or rimmed cookie sheet with sand or coarse cornmeal. Show the children how to use their fingers to make marks in the sand and how to smooth it over when done.

Provide trays filled with materials of different textures such as sand or shaving gel. Do this in the writing center and encourage the children to practice writing familiar words and letters in the materials.

After reading Shoe La La by Karen Beaumont, show pictures of different types of shoes and introduce new vocabulary words, such as sandal, pump, wedge, loafer and sneaker. After discussing the new words, play a graphing game.

During outdoor time, provide dolls and action figures of various ethnicities for children to use during imaginative play in the outdoor sandbox.

Remove typical sandbox toys like shovels and rakes and replace them with spoons and paper towel rolls. Encourage the children to use the new tools to scoop and dig in the sand.

This game is similar to “Hide and Seek.” During outdoor time, the child who is “it” hides first. Everyone else then tries to find “it.” When someone finds “it,” they hide with “it” in the same spot.

Do a picture walk of the book I Can Save the Earth!: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle by Alison Inches. Collect items around the classroom that can be reused and recycled.

Read Little Critter: Just Saving My Money by Mercer Mayer. Talk to children about earning money to save for a special toy. Discuss things the children would like to save money for.

During greeting time or group time, recite this fingerplay: “10 little fingers, 10 little toes; two little ears and one little nose. Two little eyes that shine and glow, and two little lips that say ‘hello'.

Hey! Hi! Howdy! Yo!

There are many ways to say hello!

Wave your hand. Nod your head.

Smile real big or wink instead.

Blow a kiss. Tip your hat. 

Shake your hands. Give a pat.

You will need a cookie sheet, magnetic letters and a dry erase marker. Laminate a large piece of paper with three boxes. The first says, “Say it.” The second says, “Build it.” And the third says, “Write it.

Play instrumental music that changes tempo (fast and slow). Provide the children with scarves or crepe paper streamers that they can move and wave to the pace of the music. Mix up the colors of the props based on seasonal events.

Play instrumental music that changes tempo (fast and slow). Provide the children with scarves and/or crepe paper streamers. Have them move and wave their props to the pace of the music. You can mix up the colors of the props based on seasonal events.

Sit on the floor with infants in a comfortable position. Older infants may want to stand. Turn on music and move scarves to the beat. Encourage younger infants to move toward and/or reach for the scarf.

During music and movement, give each childa bandana or scarf. Model with the children the different movements they can make with the scarf, such as fast, slow, throwing it up and letting it fall and waving it overhead.

Have the children move to a large area. Toss a beach ball in the air and show the children how to keep it moving using any part of their bodies. Challenge them to keep in the air without letting it touch the ground. This can be done in small group.