Activities

Use a large box to create an outer space replica in the art center. Include beads, glow in the dark stars, sparkly pom-poms for “meteors,” plastic planets from a toy store and a yellow bouncy ball for the sun.

Have a variety of rocks available for the children to explore in the science center. Have the children use the magnifiers to explore the rocks and compare them to rocks in books or pictures. Use the scale to weigh the rocks and compare them.

Fill your sensory center table with water. Turn your sensory table into a polar region by freezing water in bowls; pop ice into the sensory table and it will float! Place tiny polar animals in the table to use.

Provide a large variety of blocks, such as cardboard, juice boxes, and foam, and change them regularly throughout the year.

With a small group of the children, explore a raw egg. Crack the egg into a bowl and talk about how it looks. Use words such as runny or slimy. Encourage the children to describe other features such as the egg yolk.

Provide old items for children to take apart such as a flashlight, record player, telephone, keyboard or remote control in the science center. Provide small tools, such as screwdrivers and pliers, for disassembling.

You will need jumbo marshmallows, magnifying glasses, small plates, cups of water and medicine droppers. Give each child a marshmallow to explore by smelling it and looking at it through the magnifying glass.

Show a non-fiction book on an interesting topic such as National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Bugs by Catherine Hughes or The Mystery of Magnets by Melvin Berger.

Provide old-fashioned devices, inside the dramatic play area, for the children to explore such as a manual egg beater, a rotary dial telephone or an old fashioned doll.

Provide paper squares and scissors. Demonstrate how to fold the square into simple origami figures. While in the math center encourage the children to experiment with folding the paper in various ways.

Take the infant outside, and show him/her the plants ensuring that plants are nontoxic and safe for children. Talk about what the infant sees. Describe the plant. “Here's a pink flower. These leaves are long and skinny. These leaves are smooth.

Place a variety of objects that make sounds in the science center for the children to explore. Objects could include things that click or buzz, have high or low pitches, sound alarms or are loud or quiet.

Provide a variety of objects in the science center that make noise when you strike, shake or turn them. Encourage the children to experiment.

Integrate technology by selecting videos of an airplane taking off and a space shuttle launch ahead of time. Have the children view the videos and discuss similarities and diff erences.

Provide a variety of musical instruments with different sounds and textures for the infants to explore, such as a metal triangle, a bumpy shaker or a wooden-sided drum. Encourage the infants to manipulate the instruments to hear the sounds.

Add books about affection into your reading center area, such as Hug by Jez Alborough, Hug Machine by Scott Campbell and Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. Provide discussion during and after reading the book.

Set up an eye clinic in the dramatic play area. Provide white doctor coats made by cutting the sleeves off of small-sized men's shirts. Most pretend doctor kits have an ophthalmoscope or use a small magnifying glass from the Science center.

Create an optometrist office in the dramatic play area with a selection of toy glasses, an eye chart and eye patches. Show the children how to cover one eye and read the chart, and then prescribe glasses if needed.

Create an optometrist office inside the dramatic play area with a selection of fake glasses, an eye chart and eye patches. Show the children how to cover one eye and read the chart, and then prescribe glasses if needed.

1, 2, 3 eyes on me

I'm looking to see who's looking at me

I'm listening to see who's quiet as can be!