Activities

Make play dough and give each child a ball of dough, some pipe cleaners, wiggly eyes, plastic knives, scissors and rollers. Ask each child what he/she plans to create. Encourage all the children to create special critters and give them names.

Have the children use sand, sticks, pinecones and other items to create a critter of any size or shape.  Encourage them to find whatever extra items are needed to create their creature.

Provide grocery ads and notepads in the writing center for the children to make their own grocery list to take home

Provide the ingredients for a healthy snack and picture cards showing how to put together the ingredients to make the snack. Encourage children in the sensory center to follow the picture directions and then enjoy their snack.

Have the children act out the following rhyme as they recite or sing it: Make a circle, make a circle, Draw it in the sky. Use your finger, use your finger, Make it round as a pie. Draw a square, draw a square, Make the lines so straight.

Hook together several different combinations of LEGO®s, so that parts stick up or out to the side. Cut matching holes from the lid of a shoebox. The children must turn the LEGO® creation in the correct orientation to slip it through the hole.

Provide the children with small containers, such as Pringles® cans or yogurt containers, and have the children decorate them. Fill the containers with dried corn, pebbles or other materials that will make noise when the children shake them.

Provide small containers, such as Pringles® cans or yogurt containers, and have the children decorate them. Fill the containers with dried corn, pebbles or other materials that will make noise when the children shake them.

Laminate a photograph of each child's face. Give the children their photographs and markers. Encourage them to draw a new characteristic on their face, like a mustache or eye glasses. Ask the children what he/she would look like if he/she changed.

Provide materials for children to use to make musical instruments in the art center. For example, rice or dried beans inside a paper tube stapled at each end could make maracas.

Sit on the floor with the infant. Make a silly expression and name the expression. Encourage the infant to make a similar expression.

Use masking tape to create an island on the floor. Tell the children it is a safe place to get away from imaginary sharks in the water. Play upbeat music and have the children walk or march around the island.

Provide a variety of small figures, stuffed animals and small toys with accessories into the dramatic play area to encourage the children to make up stories for their friends or act out a familiar story or nursery rhyme.

Fold paper and staple it to create a book. Give the children pens, markers, stamps and stencils. Encourage them to be authors and write their own books.

During outdoor time, fill an assortment of glasses or jugs or both with varying levels of water. Line them up in order from least to most full.

Give the children a list page from a pad or cut 81/2" x 11" paper into thirds crosswise, creating narrow strips of paper about 31/2" x 81/2.

Provide construction paper and a variety of materials of different textures such as foil, burlap, sandpaper, smooth fabric and furry fabric in the art center. Encourage the children to make a texture book.

Have the children create props, such as headbands with animal ears or small decorated boxes, to reflect characters from familiar finger plays or songs. Use these props in the art center.

Give the children a variety of colors of pipe cleaners and straws to make bracelets in the art center.

Begin with heavy whipping cream at room temperature and discuss whether the cream is a liquid or a solid. Put the cream in a small, clear food jar and pass it around for the children to shake.