Activities

Create pretend fire extinguishers to add to the dramatic play area. Cover spray bottles with red paper and masking tape to represent a fire extinguisher.

During outdoor time, have children wear firefighter jackets and hats on the playground and encourage them to put out fires. Give each child a squirt bottle as they run around to hose down the fire.

Using the first-aid bag, teach the children in small group how to care for one another during an injury. One gets a wet paper towel, one gets the Band-Aid® ready and one offers tissues. This can be done in small group.

Read Ten Little Fish by Audrey and Bruce Wood. Use felt fish or manipulative fish. Have the children take the fish away and interact with the story.

You will need a magnetic fishing rod, a small inflatable pool of water and magnetic bobble fish. The children will roll a number cube and reel in that number of fish. Ask the children how their fishing rods work.

Read 10 Little Fish by Audrey Wood. Place a small fish, such as a goldfish, in a clear bowl and invite the children to observe it. Talk about what they see. "Look at the fish. It's swimming back and forth.

Spend time with the children as they watch the classroom fish.

Cut out pictures of the children and attach a paper clip to each picture. Give the children a wooden fishing rod with a magnet attached to the end. Have them fish for a friend and tell how they are alike and how they are different.

Create a shape box out of a shoe box by cutting two geometrical holes in the lid. Provide an object to fit into each hole (such as a ball for the round hole and a block for the square hole).

Provide a variety of plastic bottles and a tub of lids in the math center. The children can work together to figure out which lids go with which bottles.

Discuss the importance of exercise with the children. Read the book Bunnies And Their Sports by Nancy Carlson and invite the children to join the outdoor exercise class, during outdoor time.

Create simple props to go along with different songs and stories. You can use five plastic frogs and a small bowl of water for this song.

There were five in the bed

(hold up 5 fingers)

And the little one said,

Roll over, roll over!

So they all rolled over

(roll one hand over the other)

And one fell out

There were four in the bed

(hold up

Sing “Five Little Babies” to the infant and move and play with the infant as you sing:
Five little babies jumping on the bed

One fell off and bumped his (her) head.

Five little birdies sitting in a tree 

(wiggle five fingers)

Teasing Mr. Alligator,

“You can't catch me!

Oh, you can't catch me!”

Along came Mr.

Act out the following song during large group:
Five little elephants went out to play,

out on a spider's web one day.

They had such enormous fun,

they called for more little elephants to come.

Add the book Five Little Monsters Went to School by Rozanne Lanczak Williams into the reading area. Add five monster puppets to act out the story.

Five little pumpkins
were sitting on a gate
(hold up five fingers) The first one said,
(hold up one finger)
"Oh my it's getting late!” The second one said,
(hold up two fingers)

Sing “Five Little Speckled Frogs” with the children:
Five little speckled frogs (Hold five fingers on top of your arm.)
Sitting on a speckled log

Eating the most delicious bugs.

Sing “Five Little Speckled Frogs.” Have the children act it out using puppets.