Activities

Review the schedule with the children. Ask the children to tell you what activities will take place throughout the day based on the daily schedule, such as breakfast is eaten first, large group comes next and then outside time.

Take pictures of the infants in the room showing a variety of emotions. Print the pictures and display them low on a wall for the infants to see. Point to the pictures and describe the emotion: "Marcus is laughing. He looks happy.

Point out letters in your classroom environment – labels on shelves, food containers in dramatic play, magazines in the collage box – and sing this rhyme to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”:
This is letter A.

Sit with the infant in your lap. Play and sing "The Baby Song: This Is Me" by ELF Learning. Guide the infant's hands to touch the body parts in the song. Encourage older infants to point to and name the different body parts.

Read This is My Family by Mercer Mayer. Talk about how family members can be different from one another yet special in their own way. Emphasize that whatever the structure, families should love each other no matter what.

Bounce the infant gently on your knees while you sing this chant:
This is the way the ladies ride...

Encourage the infant to assist you in the hand washing routine. Have the infant help turn on the water, get child-safe soap and dry hands.

Tune: "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush"
This is the way we wet our hands,

wet our hands, wet our hands  

This is the way we wet our hands to get them nice and clean
This is the way we soap our hands…

This is the way

This little piggy went to market
(touch thumb)

This little this piggy stayed home
(touch index or pointer finger)

This little piggy had roast beef
(touch middle finger)

This little piggy had

While diapering, take a few moments to do this finger-play with the infant's fingers or toes:
This little piggy went to market (Wiggle infant's thumb).

Tune: "Fingerplay" 
This old man, he played one,

he played knick-knack on my thumb,

With a knick-knack paddy-whack,

give a dog a bone,

This old man came rolling home
Additional verses:  (2) shoe (3) knee (4) door

Play the This/That game. Give children two choices and have them move to one side of the room or the other to indicate their preference. For example, have two pictures of snack choices such as round crackers and square crackers.

Give the children paper towel tubes to paint in a variety of colors. When dry, cut apart in several pieces. Twist four to five pipe cleaners together to create one long strand. Be sure to tuck in sharp ends.

Give the children props to retell the story of “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” including three goats of different sizes, blocks to make a bridge and a small doll to be the troll.

Encourage the children to help you retell a classic story, such as “Three Little Kittens,” with lots of repetitive phrases. Pause to give the children time to respond.

Invite children to reenact "The Three Little Pigs" outside.  Afterwards, discuss if this story is real or fantasy.

Create a story basket based on “The Three Little Pigs.” Include three pigs, brick builders, craft sticks, straw or raffia, play money and a toy dog or wolf.

Use props such as cardboard brick blocks, straw, craft sticks and animals with sand in the sensory table and encourage children to recreate the story of the "Three Little Pigs".

Use a visual cutout of a boy or girl and post three simple rules with visual cues for large group time, such as eyes watching, hands still and listening ears. Use sticky notes with arrows to position the rule in the right area of your cutout person.

Have a three-legged race using bandanas to keep the children's joined legs together. Offer support on the side of the children as needed.