Activities

Using hula-hoops, balance beams and large boxes, set up indoor obstacle courses. Use directional words as you have the children climb under, over and through.   This could be done in large group.

As you are feeding or changing infants, play "I Spy" using the infant's name and individual characteristics. Say, "I spy a little boy in a green shirt. Tug has brown hair and brown eyes. I see you, Tug.

Offer an infant two food choices, for example green beans or carrots, during mealtime. Have the infant make the choice of which item he/she will eat.

Take a photo of each infant in the classroom and create a class book. Mimic the text from Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle, substituting the children's names.

You will need magnifying glasses, insect catchers, tweezers and a camera. Take the children outdoors to collect insects. The children can use magnifying glasses to see insects up close. Ask them to describe what they see, “Count the legs.

Write different body parts on sticky notes. Read Body Parts by Bev Schumacher. After reading the book, give the children the sticky notes to stick on the teacher where they think it belongs.

Use plastic eggs and place various shapes inside the eggs. You can use felt shapes, shape stickers or tangrams. Hide the eggs outside, during outdoor time, and encourage the children to hunt for the eggs.

Provide a hoop for each child. Encourage the children to put one foot in and one foot out and walk around the hoop. Now stomp around the hoop. Now jump in and out of the hoop. Have the children come up with ways to move on their own.

Give each child a shoebox and a small block. Demonstrate the concepts of inside and outside with your shoe box and block. Call out positions, “Put your block inside the box,” and encourage the children to copy you.

Gather some of your rhythm instruments and use them for this counting activity. Lay out two different groups of instruments, such as four rhythm sticks and two shakers.

Bring in an item new to the classroom, such as a bathroom scale. Encourage the children to share ways the item can be used in the classroom.

Add interesting or unusual items to the sensory center tub, such as an ice cream scoop or a large makeup brush. Encourage children to talk about where they have seen these items and how they are normally used.

Add several food items from a variety of cultures into the dramatic play area. Encourage the children to set up the area as an international market or buffet.

Read Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein. This is a great book to add to a unit on fairy tales. Talk with the children about the different vocabulary words, such as interrupt, panic, involved and nibble.

Make a pretend microphone by stuffing a ball of aluminum foil into one end of a cardboard tube

or use a store-bought one. Give one child the microphone and ask two or three of the other children to “interview” him.

Provide clipboards inside the writing center made from cardboard, paper, and butterfly clips. Encourage the children to interview classmates or families as they enter the classroom.

Have fun by practicing writing in the air with your index finger. The children can pretend to write their names or whatever they like.

Plan to invite people that help protect the environment to come to your class to talk to the children about the outdoor environment. Some ideas include professional gardeners to take the children outdoors to discuss what plants need.

Read Is It Living or Nonliving? by Rebecca Rissman. Talk about how you can tell if something is alive. Put two hula-hoops on the floor. Label one “Yes” and one “No.

After introducing the children to the basic characteristics of living and nonliving things, use a large piece of butcher paper divided into two sections, “Living” and “Nonliving.