Activities

Add a gear set to your manipulative toys and have the children experiment with arranging the gears and observe how they move.

Using pretend telephones or a curved piece of PVC pipe, engage the children in a phone conversation. Use frequent inflection. For example, ask questions where your pitch or tone goes up at the end. String many different sounds or words together.

Play the music video, “Wiggle It” by Koo Koo Kanga Roo. Let the children dance and interpret the music.  This could be done in large group.

Display dressing boards and shoe-tying boards in the math center, and encourage the children to practice these self-help skills.

During diaper change, use self-talk to describe what you are doing. Say things such as, “I am unsnapping your pants.” As the infant is able, have him/her assist you in removing clothes by raising his/her arms or bending his/her legs.

You will need a box large enough for one or two children to sit inside. Turn the box so the opening is facing out and can be easily supervised. Line the inside of the box with different textured fabrics such as burlap, carpet, velvet and silk.

Play some lively music, such as selections from Hap Palmer's CD Movin'. Show the children how to take "giant steps" as they move around the space. Demonstrate how to stretch your legs out as far as they will go.

Get some large diameter cardboard tubes such as those from rolls of laminating film or gift wrap. Place the tubes side by side at an angle. Propping them on the edge of an outdoor sensory tub works or on the rungs of a climbing structure.

Have a variety of paper available for the children to sponge paint in the art center. Use this homemade wrapping paper to wrap gifts.

Have the children help you make soft gingerbread cookies. Point out the head, arms, legs, chest and stomach. Use icing to separate the body parts and features such as eyes. Call out body parts and have the children eat one part at a time.

On the playground, give the children several pieces of PVC pipe. Encourage them to put the pipes together to make “telephones” so they can talk to each other from across the way.

While reading Glad Monster, Sad Monster by Ed Emberley, have the children differentiate their tone, pitch and facial expressions to represent the monster's feelings.

Tune: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
We're so glad to have you back, 

have you back, have you back

We're so glad to have you back

We missed you very much
Hope you're feeling better now, 

better now, better now

Ho

Use a globe or map in social studies to encourage the children to locate different places that have been discussed in class. Prompt the children to ask questions.

During outdoor time, read Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks. Have the children call out a food they don't like and say what they would rather eat.

Place a variety of objects in your water table or in individual tubs of water. Examples include small rocks, shells, plastic animals, bottle caps or large buttons. Make sure some items will float and others will sink.

Set out a large box or basket to make a “car.” Show the children how to take their favorite animals or dolls for a “ride” by pushing the box around the room.

Provide homemade pom-poms made from newspaper strips and small cardboard tubes. Roll a section of newspaper and slip through a tube. Fold over on end and secure with tape. Cut the longer end into strips.

Create a bank in the dramatic play area. Use a cash register, old checkbooks, an Open/Closed sign and expired/ old ATM cards. Use a cardboard box to create an ATM where children can withdraw or add money.

Reading books such as Go, Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman again and again gives children the confidence to read. Young children will begin to look and point at the simple text as they say the words, "Go, Dog, Go," or "Hello, Goodbye.