Activities

During outdoor time, play a sequencing game with the children. To play, first do a movement (swing arms, wiggle bottom, nod head). Then have the children do the same action.

Give the children plates, cups, spoons and napkins to set the table for a pretend lunch. Give them fewer of some of the items than others.

Use the dramatic play area to encourage the children to discuss how they set the table or to give instructions on where to find items. For example, a child might say, “The pizza is inside the cabinet.

Read Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. Discuss rhyming words and point out nonsense words. After reading, show picture cards and encourage the children to make up their own rhyming words. This could be done in large group.

Read a Dr. Seuss book and make hat snacks – red and white – using bananas and strawberries or marshmallows and strawberries. Do this activity during small group.

You will need a large, clear plastic bottle and eight ounces of each liquid: honey, light corn syrup, child-safe dish soap, water, vegetable oil, rubbing alcohol and lamp oil.

Read the book Shades of People by Shelley Rotner. Have the children compare their skin color to their friends' skin color and talk about different characteristics.

During outdoor time, encourage the children to look for shadows and discuss what makes shadows. Encourage them to catch someone's shadow.

After reading Moonbear's Shadow by Frank Asch, provide opportunities for the children to have fun with their shadow during outdoor time.

During outdoor time, take chalk outside and make an outline of each child's shadow. Go back at a later time in the day and have the children stand in the same place, then talk about the differences in their shadow at that time.

Take chalk outside and make an outline of each child's shadow during outdoor time. Go back at a later time in the day and have the children stand in the same place, then talk about the differences in their shadow at that time.

Provide the children with shadow puppets and model how to use them. Encourage the children to retell familiar stories to friends during outdoor time.

Turn off the lights. Use a flashlight to read Whose Shadow Is This? by Claire Berge. Ask the children if they have ever used a flashlight. Show them how flashlights can also be used to create shadows.

Use a video camera to record an object in the sun. Speed up the recording and have the children observe and dictate what they see.

Make a shadowbox with a box lid filled with glue for the art center. Add small plastic toys, cars, rubber bands, nuts and bolts, wiggly eyes, rocks or other small items from a junk drawer. Let the glue dry before hanging it.

On a sunny day take sidewalk chalk and rulers outside. During outdoor time, encourage the children to trace their friends body on the sidewalk with chalk. Ask the children to estimate how many rulers long they think their friend's shadow is.

Fill a clear water bottle with beads, then tightly glue and tape it shut. Encourage the children to shake the bottle and listen to the sounds.

Provide the infant with a variety of rattles. Talk about what happens when he/she shakes the rattle. “You made a sound. Shake, shake!” Point out objects inside a clear rattle. Model shaking the rattle quickly and then slowly.

Play fast-paced multicultural music and encourage the children to dance to the beat. Notice their moves and make comments on what they are doing. “Jada is clapping her hands and Lucas is kicking his feet up.

During outdoor time, take various sound makers outside, such as shakers and musical instruments. Discuss how the instruments sound different outdoors as compared to indoors.