Activities

Have the children put on masks of different animals. Encourage them to create the sounds and expressions the animals might make. This can be done in small group.

Bring in small, live animals to observe such as bugs, turtles, snails, crabs, mice and lizards in the science center.  Compare the speeds of the animals as they move.

Read My Big Animal Book by Roger Priddy. Encourage the children to repeat the animal names as you say them. Discuss what makes each a living thing. For example, say, “This is a chicken. It has eyes to see just like we do.

Ask the children to draw a picture of an animal in the art center.  Give them a choice of which animal they want to draw. Provide 3-D models.

Gather some small plastic animals from your manipulatives area and some clear plastic cups. Call out positional words and have the children place the animals in a variety of positions such as on top of the cup, inside or under the cup.

Discuss the various ways animals protect themselves.

Using the dramatic play area create a restaurant for an animal based on a class pet or a book that was read.  Encourage the children to learn about the types of food that animal eats.

Gather the children in a circle and show photos of familiar animals. Have the children identify the animal and make the animal sound.

Attach bear prints or any other animal footprints to the floor, leading outside. Point to the tracks and encourage the children to follow them.

Place two small containers in the sensory center area, one with water and one with mud, on a tray. (Create bubbles by adding no-tears, child-safe shampoo to the water.

Encourage children to create animals out of plastic visors, with wiggly eyes, glued-on ears and pom-pom noses in the art center. Have the children wear these and act out songs and stories. Encourage and model voice inflections and facial expressions.

Read The Absolutely Awful Alphabet by Mordicai Gerstein. There are many new vocabulary words in this book. Read a page and ask the children questions such as, “A is an awfully arrogant amphibian who is annoyed.

After examining and discussing the black and white photography of Ansel Adams during large group time, provide the children with only white paper and black paint or vice versa and encourage them to create their own black and white pieces of art.

Play the “Ants Go Marching” song and march along a line as you do the movements mentioned in the song.This could be done in large group.

Provide picture directions and ingredients inside the sensory center for preparing a healthy snack such as arranging raisins on cream cheese and celery to look like ants on a log.

Place a variety of toy foods in front of the children. Discuss which foods are healthy choices that can be eaten "anytime" and which are less healthy that should only be eaten "sometimes." Have the children name a favorite "anytime" food.

If available, use an app, such as Preschool Animal Match, with a tablet. Have the children use their fingers or a stylus to explore the matching game of animals.

Provide yellow, green and red apples. Have the children taste each apple and graph which is their favorite by standing in a line. Count the number of responses for each apple.

You will need the following ingredients: canned biscuits, butter or margarine, peeled apples, cinnamon and sugar mix and parchment paper (optional). Give each child one biscuit on parchment paper with his/her name written on it.

Set a red, a yellow and a green apple on the table. Ask the children to name the colors. Cut the apples open and talk about how they have different colors on the outside but are the same on the inside, just like people.