Activities

Have the children help pass out items for snack. You can lead a discussion about making sure everyone has the same amount and what will happen if there are extras.

During snack, place a numeral down to represent how many of the snack choices each child will get. For example, place the numeral three on the table and tell the children, “Everyone will get three crackers.

Have one child pass out snack and snack materials such as napkins and cups to the other children. Make sure the helper is giving everyone the same amount.

Offer a snack to the children that is typical of a different culture. You may include hummus and pita chips or tortillas with cheese. You could also include unusual fruit, such as papaya, guava or pomegranate.

Bring in a variety of fruits that the children may be unfamiliar with, such as kiwi, mango, papaya and pineapple, for them to try.

As you serve the children snack, create a pattern on a plate or tray. Make a row of celery stick, carrot stick, celery stick, carrot stick; or place crackers in a pattern: square cracker, circle cracker, square cracker, circle cracker.

Sneaky, sneaky alligator

Sneaky as can be

Sneaky, sneaky alligator

Come and follow me

Quiet as can be

Write a simple line of text on two sentence strips. Space the words evenly on each strip. Cut one strip apart into individual words and mix them up. The children match the individual words to the ones in the sentence.

Put contact paper on a table sticky side up in the art center. Start a snowflake design by making a hexagon in the center with craft sticks. Create one “arm” of the snowflake with more sticks. Have the children replicate the design.

Show the children pictures or drawings of several differently-sized snowmen. Encourage them to estimate the height of the snowmen using Unifix® cubes as the measuring tool.

Provide each child with a soft, stuffed animal as you read the book Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton. Encourage the children to snuggle with their animals as you read. At the end of the book, have the children blow kisses to their animals.

Hold the infant on your lap and lift his/her arms in the air.

On a fall day, during outdoor time, encourage the children to pick up leaves. Talk to them about whether they are real or pretend, using examples of artificial leaves to compare them to. Have them talk about how they know which ones are real.

You will need a balance scale, measuring tools and a magnifying glass. Go on a walk, during outdoor time, and collect different sticks. Have the children compare their objects using various attributes.

Have the children create a simple dance routine by putting together a series of 8-counts. They could step side-to-side for an 8-count and then do heel-to-toe for an eight-count. Let them help in choosing the movements.

Place several absorbent items in a tub of water, such as different sizes or colors of sponges, a small washcloth and some large pom-poms. Encourage the children to soak them in the water and then squeeze the water out.

On the playground, encourage the children to kick the ball back and forth to each other or to a teacher. You can also encourage them to kick the ball toward a net or fence.

Collect a variety of colored socks ensuring that you have more than two or three sets of the same color. Place the socks all around the room. Call out a color and have the children look for the matching-colored sock.

Roll a pair of adult tube socks into a ball. Toss the “sock ball” to a child. Encourage him/her to toss it back to you. Encourage the children to come up with other uses for the tube socks.

Using white tube socks and a variety of collage materials (wiggle eyes, crinkle paper, pom-poms, glue and markers), have the children create a puppet and name it, during small group.