Activities

From magazines, have the children create a flip book illustrating different occupations. Use the children's books to discuss the different occupations.

Have a matching game of community helpers and a prop associated with respective jobs. For example, hard hat for a construction worker or a play cash register for a store clerk. Have the children match up the correct pictures.

During outdoor time, engage the children in playing Fruit Basket Turnover. Instead of assigning each child a fruit, use community helpers.

Use picture match cards of community helpers and corresponding vehicles. Have children match the community helper to the correct vehicle.

Read a book to the children about community helpers such as Al Yankovic's When I Grow Up Introduce new props and clothing in the dramatic play area.

Provide community helper uniforms/outfits. Encourage the children to dress up like the people that keep them safe and healthy.

Observe community helpers in the children's environment such as the gardener, landscaper and garbage collector. Talk to children about what each community helper is doing, such as, "I see the garbage collector.

Create a map of your local community in the science center. Use photos to represent your school and local stores that can be attached with VELCRO®. Have the children identify the location and place it in its correct place.

After reading Duncan Tonatiuh's Diego Rivera: His World and Ours, place prints of Rivera's murals of community life in the art center. Encourage the children to paint scenes of life in their communities.

Place pictures of the community businesses, along with their names, in the block center.

During outdoor time, provide signs with the names and logos of familiar businesses and public facilities for the children to use during imaginative outdoor play.

Provide audio books in the reading center, such as John Scieszka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, for the children to listen to and compare to the familiar story.

Give each child in your small group a number of Unifix® cubes or other linking cubes in two colors. Have the children link the cubes together into two “towers” and stand them side by side to discover which has more cubes.

Locate books or pictures of your community from the past. While in the reading center pair these with pictures of the locations today and encourage the children to compare the past and present buildings.

You will need magazines, scissors and three poster boards divided down the middle and labeled Heavy/Light, Big/Small, Long/Short. Have the children cut out pictures of items and place them into each category.

One child is the conductor. The others choose an instrument. Include instruments from other cultures, especially cultures represented in the classroom.

Have colored strips of paper scattered around your large group rug. When the children transition to the carpet, ask them to pick up using a pinching motion with their fingers and place in a bucket in the center of the carpet.

Before reading, explain to the children that they will be giving you a sign when they feel a connection to the story, something in the story that makes them think of something else.

Read “The Three Little Pigs” a few times until the children are familiar with the story. Introduce a new concept of houses by opening a suitcase full of straw, sticks and bricks.

Add props to the block area, such as construction hats, vests, cones, signs and flags to encourage children to build structures. Have families donate blueprints or have children design their own to document what they are building.