Activities

This can take place indoors or out.  The class will work together to find all items within a given time frame.

Using a map of the playground or classroom, invite the children to search for various items by following the map.

Invite the children to choose a letter to find in the school. Give each child a clipboard made of cardboard and clips to secure the paper. Ask them to write their letter at the top of the paper.

Use scented play dough to keep the children's hands and minds alert and busy. Make or purchase scented play dough. You can make scented play dough by adding flavored drink mix.

Add scented extracts or oils to easel paint in the art center. Provide chart paper and list the various scents. Encourage the children to paint a dot next to the scent they smell.

Post a daily schedule in the classroom with pictures and a movable marker to follow the day. Assign a child to move the marker as the day progresses. This could be done in large group.

Take a walk around the school to identify petsin the various classrooms. Discuss with the children why the pets are living things. List the characteristics that the children point out. Next, make a list of characteristics of nonliving objects.

Turn the dramatic play area into a science sensory lab. Provide lab coats, gloves, goggles, magnifying glasses, scented bottles and natural items such as pinecones, tree bark, soil samples and insects.

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

Listen to Greg & Steve's song “Scat Like That.” Encourage children to listen and repeat the words. Talk about other songs or books with silly words, such as Dr. Seuss. Take turns making up your own nonsense words and repeating them to each other.

Put Unifix® cubes or counting bears in a bowl. Use a large spoon to dip into the bowl and scoop out some bears or cubes and place them on a plate. Scoop out the cubes or bears again, trying to scoop less this time, and put them on another plate.

Give the children a large bowl with an assortment of plastic eggs or ping-pong balls inside. Provide a ladle for scooping. Encourage the children to pour the eggs into a second bowl.

Provide children with letter tiles that spell out their names. Have them line up the letters in their name and then count the number of letters.

Write sentences on sentence strips. Read each sentence out loud to the children and have them cut each sentence strip into words, keeping each sentence in its own pile.

Cover the table with butcher paper. Put out large crayons and encourage the children to scribble all over. Show them how to make dots and circles or big, long lines. Comment on their work. Say, “You are making the crayon go dot, dot, dot.

Have each child bring an empty water bottle to the classroom. Read One Small Place by the Sea by Barbara Brenner. Talk about things that you find in the sea and how the water in the sea moves from one place to another.

Create search-and-find games by placing a variety of small objects on a poster board and then photographing the collection. Use buttons or other small math center manipulatives, LEGOS,® small block figures, vehicles or magnet letters.

Fill the sensory center table with beans or rice and items that are magnetic. Use large magnets or magnetic wands to search for items. Create cards with pictures of magnetic items hidden.

Place sand and seashells in the sensory table and invite the children to explore the items and feel the texture of the seashells.

Provide a seasonal clothing prop box in the dramatic play area. Have rain boots, raincoats, umbrellas, scarves, gloves, hats, shorts, sunglasses, a sun hat and other seasonal clothing for the children to wear.