Scroll down for Infant, Toddler, Preschool, Elementary, and Thematic Ideas. HUNDREDS OF IDEAS HERE!!! A parent who plays with their child earns the priviledge of praying with them :o)
Infant Activities
The key for this age group is LOTS of communication and
LOTS of repetition. Many parents think that engaging with infants is "boring,"
but research has shown that the nerve pathways in the brains of infants light up
when they hear familiar phrases! Make those brains shine by utilizing these
activities designed to help reinforce learning goals for your baby while keeping
you from falling into boredom.
1) Outdoor Play
Take your infant outside! Place a blanket on the ground, or just sit them in your lap. Let her touch the grass and hear the sounds. I just did this with my daughter this morning while my son was playing outside in the backyard. Of course you need to supervise so she does not eat the grass, dirt, etc. It's amazing how mesmerized they can get with these simple experiences.
3) Water Play
.JPG)
Lay a towel on the floor, and fill a little bowl or small
container with water. Place your child in your lap, if they are not sitting up
on their own yet, and let him/her play in the water. I actually placed a towel over my daughter's lap as well
to minimize any wetness getting on her clothes. My daughter loved this. It only lasted 10 minutes; you
can only ask so much of an infant's attention span!
Just let them grab for the water, lightly splash, and pat at it. You can also extend the activity by placing a toy in the water when boredom sets in and then he/she may try grabbing the toy to retrieve it. Great for the eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills that you want to emphasize at this age! Always talk to them while they are playing: introduce vocabulary, tell them it's water, tell them they are splashing, things like that. Simple repetition, but it's all reinforcement.
4) Sticky Ball
Take a plastic ball (baseball size or bigger to avoid a choking hazard), and wrap tape around it sticky side out. Yes, sticky side out. Wrap it tightly so the tape does not slide off of the ball, and all around the ball as well. Watch as your infant inspects this interesting plaything! Passing objects back and forth between hands is a developmental milestone, and this adds a little more interest. Always talk to your child: tell them it's 'sticky' and a 'ball,' etc. Language is good!!
5) Homemade Shape Book
A)
You need: a black marker, scissors, plastic zip top bags, a piece of
construction paper, and packing tape.
B) Fold paper into quarters.
C) Draw a shape in each quarter, and write the name of the shape below the image.
Do you ever just sit and 'talk'
to your baby? Children LOVE to interact, and although you will not be solving
the problems of the world, you will be making your child feel very confident.
You may just be copying their sounds, creating words from their sounds or
actually chatting by talking to them with conversation directed by you.
Place a few pillows on the
floor or you can use couch cushions. Place your baby on one side of the cushions
and sit yourself on the opposite side. Encourage your infant to climb to you
over the "mountain" of cushions. Have hands ready for any dives once they start
the decline! This activity helps them develop more balance, core strength,
coordination, and encourages them to approach challenge.
Using a small travel wipes
container (empty) and ribbon scraps, you can make a smaller version: a) Tie
together the strips of ribbon being sure to double knot. b) Tape the end of the
ribbon rope to the inside bottom of the box using a piece of packaging tape or
duct tape c) Leave an inch of ribbon peeking out of the opening and close it.
Show it to your infant and encourage them to open the flap and pull the ribbon
out.
Turn your baby pool into an
indoor activity during the colder months: create a ball pit. Fill the pool with
colored plastic balls. You can find them at Wal-Mart or on Amazon. We used this
at our son's first birthday, and it was a hit! I left it in the house for a
while after, and my son loved climbing in and out.
10) Nesting Cups
No
need to buy another toy. If you have measuring cups, use them. Young children
learn that wholes have parts, and one volume can fit into a larger volume. This
play opens up math lessons of order and seriation (number 1 comes before number
2, etc.).
11) Mouthing
12) High Contrast Cards
Using index cards, draw on designs using a black marker. Start with straight bars for the newborn, and increase the complexity for your infant as they grow. You can even place these in zip top bags and make the book I describe in #5 above on this list. My son, no kidding, would just look at these cards from about birth until 3 months . After a month or two, you can add colors like red or blue to vary the interest. Talk to your child about what they are looking at to increase the learning!
13) Easy Vehicle
Push
a baby in a box. Yep! My kids had a ball with this one evening while I was
making dinner. I would only use this with an infant who is a strong 'sitter'.
Supervision definitely required! It's safest when pushed from the back. If you
tie a string to the front and pull, the risk for tipping is
greater.
14) Egg Carton Pointer
Using an empty egg carton, glue
little items in the bottom of each egg cup. I glued down pom poms of various
colors, a piece of yarn, small scrap of fabric with a pattern, small cut piece
of sponge, and a small cut piece of ribbon. I also squirted puffy paint into a
couple for texture and color, and stuck a couple colored circle stickers down as
well. This 'toy' will encourage your older infant to use their fine motor
skills to point into and feel the items in each cup. We want that skill of
pointing and moving the index fingers to be strong!
15) Peek-a-Boo Box
Using a small cardboard
box with a flap-type top, create a peek-a-boo box to encourage exploration and
further development of object permanence (knowledge that 'something'
exists even when it is not seen). I cut a piece of colored paper and glued it
to the top of the box, then wrote my child's name on the top (to further use
this as a learning tool of exposure to print, specifically her name). I taped
the tab in half (you can see this at the bottom of the picture to the right) to
create a handle that sticks off the box, but this is completely optional.
16) Natural Materials
Feely Box
If you have collected rocks, leaves, pine cones, shells, or any other larger natural materials from playtime outside, bring them inside and create a feely box. Place collected items (related, or not) in a small cardboard box, cloth bag, or other receptacle. Show them to your baby, and let them reach into the box or bag to pull out items and feel them. If you are worried about the cleanliness of the items, hand wash them prior to use. Make sure to talk about the items with your child to expand vocabulary and exposure to language.
17) Ribbon Feely Box
Infants LOVE to get their hands on things, and the more involved that the hands-on touching time can be, the better. Recently, by accident, I discovered that a box of ribbon can be a great sensory activity! While taking a few moments to blog, I gave my daughter a box of ribbons-random lengths and colors that I collected from gifts we received...yep, I "re-gift" ribbon on new gifts that I wrap! (You caught me!) The box of ribbon pieces was very entertaining as it had different colors, textures, widths and lengths. It did not get terribly tangled, until my son got involved, and it really was not my rolls of ribbon that I save for special crafty projects. Try it! Get involved too talking about color and texture.
18) Don't Underestimate the Simple Toys
You can tell from the picture
that this poster lasts, and gets used a lot...not to mention moved around and
re-taped to our wall! I made this for my now-four-year-old when he was an
infant. I use it for my one-year-old now...still. Search on-line for images of
animals, if you do not have any on your computer. Print them out, trim them and
paste them to a piece of posterboard. I labeled the poster 'Animals' as well as
labeled each animal with its name to add print awareness. I did overlay a piece
of contact paper to help preserve the piece, but that is optional. This poster
is something that you can sit and chat about with your child as a one-on-one
activity, and when kept in view of them, you will notice your child
investigating the poster on his/her own as well.
My son was sorting through the
crayon box to remove any broken pieces that were not usable any more. My
daughter helped! She loves grabbing the crayons and taking them out of the box.
(If there is a key activity for infants it is 'dump and put'!) I talked about
the colors as she looked at them and counted how many she had in her hand at
each grab. I was teaching not to put them in her mouth, and we were sorting
with my son making a pile of the broken ones, so she was exposed to that as
well. Need a quick activity to get your infant's hands exploring? Give them the
box of crayons-with supervision, of course.
Shredded paper is something we ALWAYS have
plenty of in our paper shredder bin. It can be used as a sensory bin material.
I hide magnets, small toys, or foam letters inside the paper shreds, and my
infant digs through it until she finds an item to pull out. You can make this
thematic as well by using all dinosaur toys or small toy cars, as well as Easter
eggs, or plastic Christmas ornaments.
Oh, the creativity begins!
Keeping these mobile explorers exploring the right things and not getting into
too many of the wrong ones is a challenge! Attention span plays a part too. Try
these activities with your toddler to engage them in developmentally appropriate
learning time.
1) Dump and Put:
Toddlers love to dump bins of toys all over the floor, but they love to 'put' things in containers as well. Why not make a game of it?
I store toys separated by 'type' in fabric bins so that
they are easy to locate when my son wants to play with them, and easy to put
away when he is done. I also started having him learn to put things away when he
could sit up and put toys in containers. He had one bin and a few toys that were
his responsibility and he liked putting them back in the box. Of course,
sometimes he would dump them back out, but it was the practice that
counted!
I can't say it makes him 'want' to clean up, but when he has to do it, he does. If you try this at times other than just clean up, it will be a game rather than the end to play.
2) Oats, peas, beans and barley grow:
One
of the main learning experiences in a daycare is the sensory table. It is
always a busy center. Make one at home! Children love playing with uncooked
rice, uncooked beans, dry noodles, dry rolled oats, etc. They can get their
hands in it, sharpen their fine motor skills by picking pieces up, and they can
measure, scoop, and pour. I have dry beans, and an old set of measuring cups
for my son to play with. Of course you can only use this with toddlers who are
not putting things in their mouth since this is a choking hazard for children
still in an oral stage.
My son scoops and pours with the measuring cups. They are 'nesting cups' in reality, but better since they have the measurement listed on them so this can be a math game as well. Let your child explore it. I usually set it up on our deck or in the yard so that any mess can be eaten by the birds. (Bird seed is an option as well.)
Other items we have used in my classrooms are water, snow, water and dish soap, water and food coloring (be careful with clothes), shredded paper, and sand.
3) Dance and move to music
Turn on a kids' CD, or one of those Toddler channels on the television music channels. Expose your child to music. They will move and play. Sing and dance with them. Get the wiggles out! It teaches them not only gross motor movements as they move and dance, but also language and listening skills as they listen to the words and sing along. (Add a scarf or ribbon so your child can wave it around and dance with it to add an extension.)
4) The child went over the mountain
Pile
up a few couch or bed pillows. Have your toddler try climbing over them. If
your toddler is anything like mine was, any opportunity to climb over something
is fun. A bean bag would work for this, or even a big blanket folded up. You
can add pillows or blankets to the stack depending on your child's skill level,
height, etc. Be careful for any falls or slips into a hard floor below the
'mountain.' This is a good opportunity to teach your child to keep their head up
and be careful for the floor below.
5) What animal is that?
Print
off some images of animals, paste them on a piece of cardstock or poster board,
and label them with their name: cow, goat, pig, dog, etc. Show your child the
poster, and teach them the names of the animals while pointing to each picture.
Make the animal sounds as well.
Print throughout their environment will help emphasize early language development, and its importance. Hang the poster on a wall or the refrigerator at your child's height. You can use this to 'quiz' your child as their langauge skills develop and they are able to make the animal sounds or point to each and say the names.
6)Make a puzzle
A) Save an empty cereal box or frozen waffle box (or other food box that is a favorite 'eat' of your child).
B) Cut the box into simple geometric shapes for younger children. (I draw the design that I will cut out on the back of the image and use it as my cutting guide.) The greater the number of pieces, the smaller they will be, and the more difficult the puzzle. Ease in younger children and challenge the older ones!
C) Give the puzzle to your child to put together.
They will have so much fun seeing their own face if you use a personal photo. You can include your child in the creation process so that they see this project from start to finish, or surprise them with it: a new, free, toy!
This activity is great, because store-bought puzzle pieces get lost, or damaged. I try to give puzzles a long life even if pieces are not pristine, but this project allows you to create new puzzles almost instantly if others get too shabby to keep! You can print a few images that coincide with your child's newest interest (cartoon characters, cars, horses, frogs, etc.) It's a very versatile activity and can be personalized for each child's interests.
7) Bat at the Ball
Tie a string, or piece of yarn, to a beach ball or balloon. Fasten the end of the string to the top of a doorway or the ceiling. The string should be long enough to allow your toddler to just reach the ball while they are standing up. The goal is to have your child bat at the ball while maintaining balance. Great for the early walkers who still need to work on balance. Also, for older toddlers, you can shorten the string so they have to reach higher (again, extending the balance challenge) or jump up to tap the ball which helps them learn to jump as well.
8) Bubbles
As easy as blowing bubbles and encouraging your child to 'catch' the bubble (eye-hand coordination, and gross motor movement). To extend this activity, count the bubbles out loud to expose your child to number order.
Sorting is an important skill
for young children. It helps strengthen visual discrimination skills, compare
and contrast, and is a pre-math skill that will help build on the later need to
group numbers. Try this one on laundry day: As you fold the clothes, set aside
the socks. Ask your child to help find the match for each sock. You may have
to help at first, or start with 2 pairs versus 10, but this is a great way to
initiate help with the household chores and make a learning game out of
it.
Using masking tape, place long
strip of tape on the fridge door, table top, sliding glass door or a window that
is within your toddler's reach. Criss cross the strips of tape until you have
about 5 strips stuck to the surface. Demonstrate to your child how to use their
finger/nail to pick at the tape and pull it off. This is a challenge to the
younger toddler, and is great exercise for the fine motor skill of using the
fingers.
14) Natural Materials
Feely Box
If you have collected rocks, leaves, pine cones, shells, or any other larger natural materials from playtime outside, bring them inside and create a feely box. Place collected items (related, or not) in a small cardboard box, cloth bag, or other receptacle. Show them to your baby, and let them reach into the box or bag to pull out items and feel them. If you are worried about the cleanliness of the items, hand wash them prior to use. Make sure to talk about the items with your child to expand vocabulary and exposure to language.
15) Color Circles Sticker Sort
The older toddler will have fun
sorting the colored stickers into color groups. Grab a package of the 4-color
circle stickers from an office supply store. Divide a piece of paper into 4
spaces as shown in the picture. Using colored markers, write the color words
using their respective colored marker writing one color per square. Hand one
sticker at a time to your child and say the color name. Help them match the
sticker to its corresponding place on the paper and let them stick it on the
paper. This activity teaches fine motor control, visual discrimination (the
ability to discriminate between visible similarities and differences in size,
shape, pattern, form, and color), and color recognition.
Pull out only one color of
duplos and present them to your child. Talk about them using the color word.
Variations in tone are ok: learning occurs when initial confusion leads to scaffolding and deeper
understanding
Purchase some stickers from the
dollar aisle at Target, or at your local Dollar Store and help your child use
only the letter of their first name and stick them on paper. Stickers are a
fine motor challenge for Todds, and this will help enhance their exposure to
letters.
Using sheets of craft foam in a
variety of colors, cut out one large crayon shape and 4 small crayon shapes per
color. Decorate your crayons as you choose and write the color word on each
one. Have your child place the small crayons on the large crayon that matches.
Store in a zip top bag in your 'puzzles' or 'games' bin, or a plastic page
sleeve in a binder. Can be turned into a folder game as well.
2) Arrange on a small
cookie sheet or metal pan, or even the refrigerator. Let your child explore
trying to grab the pom poms with their pincer grasp. (This is challenging, so be
patient with them.)
3) To expand for older children, using a muffin tin, line the pom poms along the edges and let your child sort them by color.
Shredded paper is something we
ALWAYS have plenty of in our paper shredder bin. It can be used as a sensory
bin material. I hide magnets, small toys, or foam letters inside the paper
shreds, and my child digs through it until she finds an item to pull out. You
can make this thematic as well by using all dinosaur toys or small toy cars, as
well as Easter eggs, or plastic Christmas ornaments.
.JPG)
Your toddler CAN begin to learn
about print. Exposure to letters and words is key to starting your child off on
a great footing for later reading readiness and success. Long before children
can 'read' they can recognize the significance of print in their environment-the
McDonalds 'M', the 'Geico' commercial, etc. This is an easy activity...SO
easy...to teach your child a bit about print. 1) Tape a piece of paper to the
high chair tray, or right to a table and 2) say the letters of the child's name
as you write them on the paper. 3) Let your child pick a few crayons-be sure to
say the color name of each-and then let your child color the paper. They are
exposed to their name-and you can really use any word you choose-as well as gain
fine motor experience while coloring, not to mention color association from the
crayons. A toddler writing center! (I expanded this a bit at other times to
include just letters-I would write 'A' and 'a' on the paper in a few places-and
shapes-draw the shapes on the paper as you name them and then let your child
color (scribble) away. You will be amazed how quickly he/she starts to focus on
individual letters by coloring on top of the letter or shape in a more focused
way.)
.JPG)
Using an alphabet board book
that you may have at your house-the one in the picture was purchased for $1 at
Target in the Dollar Aisle-and some puffy fabric paint, create a tactile letter
exploration activity. Trace the letters on each page with the puffy paint, and
let it dry based on the directions on the paint bottle. You do one page at a
time-it takes about 10 seconds to do each page of a book laid out like the one
in the picture, and then you just let it sit on the counter until dry enough to
go on to the next page. It takes a little patience, but once completed this adds
a level of interest to an ordinary ABC book. You introduce the 'shape' of each
letter through the sensory exploration that is possible after the puffy paint
dries.
23) Shape Hopscotch
.JPG)
Using a roll of butcher paper,
large pieces of packing paper, or pieces of construction paper taped together to
make a long piece of paper, you can create a shape hopscotch exploration...or a
large coloring mural! What I did was tear off a piece of butcher paper and I
drew on basic shapes and colored them in. I said the name of each shape while
pointing to them when my toddler was paying attention, and she took a crayon and
scribbled over the shapes. We also stood up and 'hopped' onto each shape saying
the name to add a little gross motor activity to the learning as well. It
eventually was torn apart, but that is fine motor and sensory play!
I noticed my children not
really paying attention to our magnetic letters that were stuck on the fridge,
so I placed them on a cookie sheet (still magnetic) and placed the cookie sheet
on a child-sized table. Because it was in a new place, it was unexpected and
became new again! This is a great way to get your child to sit at the table to
'work' for a few minutes as well when they are needing a little more structured
time. Cookie sheet+magnets=instant center!
Use empty ribbon rolls, small
lengths of straw, empty thread spools or toilet paper tubes as stampers for
paint. Little hands can work to grip the 'stamp', dip it in paint and stamp
away. Using a long piece of butcher paper taped to a table top can help a
toddler's need to spread out and expand their creativity. Biscuit cutters and
cookie cutters can work as well-just dip into paint and stamp. They can easily
be washed in soap and water afterwards. This is a great way to explore shapes
and fine motor skill exercise. (The end of a paper towel tube can be bent or
shaped into different forms for more variety.)
Place a bucket of soapy water
in front of a child, and they think 'play' not 'work', so take that outside and
wash the toys! My children washed their ride-on toys, but bring out the garage
tools too and scrub away. This is a great rainy day activity for spending time
in the garage (if you have one) cleaning up for fun...I know, it's a stretch,
but try it! This really teaches care for things and team work not to mention
that it combines fine motor and gross motor movements.
Read the book The Very
Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Create this matching activity to introduce
or reinforce number-value exploration that matches what the caterpillar eats in
the book. Print off the free felt board pattern shapes for the fruit from Making
Learning Fun (print pages 1 and 6 from the link) or draw them yourself.
Color and cut out the fruit pieces and mount each group of fruit on construction
paper together (all 3 plums together, all 4 strawberries together, etc.) to
reinforce. I then cut around each group of fruit so that all of the same fruit
was on the same piece of paper as shown in the picture with all three plums on
one piece of construction paper.
Using five paper plates, write
the number symbol and the word of the fruit that illustrates that amount on the
top of the plate. Punch a hole in the rim of the plate as shown above and tie a
piece of yarn (about 6-8 inches long) to the hole. Also punch a hole in each
fruit piece and tie the other end of the string to the fruit. Using velcro
pieces or dots, place the hook side on the plate and the loop side on the back
of the fruit. Hang the plates on the wall, or the window using tape. Let the
fruit pieces dangle below their plate and encourage your child to place the
fruit on the plate where it belongs. (You can extend this for older children by
not including the string and having the child solely rely on counting to match
up the fruit with its matching plate.)
I started off with a plastic
mat on the floor and a cookie sheet as the surface to contain the shave cream. I
drew some circles on a piece of construction paper (the red in the picture to
the left) and slipped the paper into a zip top bag so that my daughter could
place shave cream in each circle and try to form the circle with her fingers
(sensory, geometry and fine motor). Shave cream was squirted in a big mound on
the cookie sheet for her to explore on her own with her hands. I showed her how
to mold the shave cream into a circle shape following the pattern in the bag,
and then she tried. Eventually she just played with it between her fingers and
liked to spread it around with her hands on the cookie sheet. I wrote her name
on the cookie sheet with my finger and she then 'erased' it with her hands by
moving the shave cream around. We 'wrote' letters, shapes, etc. to add to her
exploration. A good 30 minutes went by. I did plan this activity for a day when
I had to mop the floors anyway, but you could take it outside on a deck or in
the yard so all you have to do is turn on the hose to clean up. The shave cream
rinsed right off of the bag so I can use the circle paper again in or out of the
bag.
1) Outdoor Play
Take your infant outside! Place a blanket on the ground, or just sit them in your lap. Let her touch the grass and hear the sounds. I just did this with my daughter this morning while my son was playing outside in the backyard. Of course you need to supervise so she does not eat the grass, dirt, etc. It's amazing how mesmerized they can get with these simple experiences.
2) What is
inside
You need a box with an opening in the
top. Any kind of opening large enough to place toys inside and remove them. (I
have used a cardboard box that held garbage bags. It had a pre-made opening that
was perforated so I could rip an opening to remove the bags.) Place a few toys
that make noise into the box and present it to your baby. Ask them, "What's
inside?" You may have to pull out one toy to model the action for them. Your
baby will enjoy the mystery of what is inside and will try to dig inside the box
to find the toys.
There are pre-made
versions of this toy at stores like Lakeshore Learning: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CproductSubCat~~p%7CJJ909~~f%7C/Assortments/Lakeshore/ShopByAgeOrGrade/018moinfant/infantstoddlers.jsp
3) Water Play
.JPG)
Just let them grab for the water, lightly splash, and pat at it. You can also extend the activity by placing a toy in the water when boredom sets in and then he/she may try grabbing the toy to retrieve it. Great for the eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills that you want to emphasize at this age! Always talk to them while they are playing: introduce vocabulary, tell them it's water, tell them they are splashing, things like that. Simple repetition, but it's all reinforcement.
4) Sticky Ball
Take a plastic ball (baseball size or bigger to avoid a choking hazard), and wrap tape around it sticky side out. Yes, sticky side out. Wrap it tightly so the tape does not slide off of the ball, and all around the ball as well. Watch as your infant inspects this interesting plaything! Passing objects back and forth between hands is a developmental milestone, and this adds a little more interest. Always talk to your child: tell them it's 'sticky' and a 'ball,' etc. Language is good!!
5) Homemade Shape Book
A)
You need: a black marker, scissors, plastic zip top bags, a piece of
construction paper, and packing tape.B) Fold paper into quarters.
C) Draw a shape in each quarter, and write the name of the shape below the image.
D) Cut along the fold lines to
separate the shape 'pages' and place each shape page into a zip bag. Seal the
bag. (Note: You may want to tape the paper inside the bag with a small piece of
packing tape before you seal the bag. This will help keep the paper in place in
the bag.)
E) Lay the bags on
top of one another and tape the 'bind' or edges together with the packing tape.
I recommend folding each page over and taping along the bind in between each
page to reinforce the book.
F) Voila! You have a
book. They can mouth it, crinkle it, and you can read it to them. You can make
one of these with numbers, family members [print out pics and tape them to the
paper pieces], or use animal images from the web.
NOTE: Please do not
give this to infants with teeth unsupervised. They could bite the plastic.
Supervise and teach! My daughter has been playing with her book for two days
now, and it is still in good shape. Remember, it's a cheap throw away if it
becomes too 'used', unlike board books from the book store. Enjoy!
6) Have a
Conversation:
Do you ever just sit and 'talk'
to your baby? Children LOVE to interact, and although you will not be solving
the problems of the world, you will be making your child feel very confident.
You may just be copying their sounds, creating words from their sounds or
actually chatting by talking to them with conversation directed by you.
Here is what I mean: As in the photo above, sit
with your baby, and if she makes any sounds, you can 'say' them back to her.
You can also take the sound she makes and expand on it. I am working with my 6
month old to teach her the names of the members of our family, so I try to
associate her sounds with our names. If she says, "Bah," I say, "Brother" or
"Maybelle" (our dog). If she says, "Mah," I say, "Momma."
Additionally, when I
am holding her, I will talk to her about what I am doing. If I am working on
laundry, I will say, "We need to put the wet clothes in the dryer. Let's get
them all in and turn it on. Oh, listen to that loud dryer. It makes a loud
noise." Or if I am cooking, I will use similar conversation: "We need to stir
the pot. Do you hear the noise of the food cooking? It's crackling."
Whenever I am holding
my daughter or she is in the room with me, I talk to her. She hears language
and gets used to conversational tone. Also, and here is the big point, she
learns that she is important to me. I am including her. Particularly when she
makes a noise and I respond. She learns that she has something valuable to
contribute.
7) The Baby Climbed Over the
Mountain:
Place a few pillows on the
floor or you can use couch cushions. Place your baby on one side of the cushions
and sit yourself on the opposite side. Encourage your infant to climb to you
over the "mountain" of cushions. Have hands ready for any dives once they start
the decline! This activity helps them develop more balance, core strength,
coordination, and encourages them to approach challenge.
8) Wipes Box
Pull-Out
Using an empty diaper
wipes box or facial tissues box, create a pull-out toy. Infants and young
toddlers love to pull wipes out of the box. At some point, almost every mom
finds the tissues all over the floor and an innocent-faced child sitting a
midst a sea of white. You can make this in less than 5 minutes!
Here's what to
do:
1. Take a light
scarf, or sew or tie together squares of scrap fabric at the corners to make a
long fabric 'scarf''.
2. Gently stuff the
scarf in the bottom of an empty wipes box or tissue box.
3. Pull out a corner
of the scarf through the opening in the box lid and show it to your baby.
4. Close the lid flap
(wipes box only) and let your child try to push the release button to open the
flap and view the scarf.
5. Encourage your
child to pull out the scarf.
*Note: As your child
grows, you can use this same 'toy' to teach them to 'put' back into the box.
Teach them to put the scarf back into the box through the lid opening or tissue
box opening.
You can use
bandannas, scrap fabric, or strips of construction paper taped together to make
a longer strip. For younger infants, use pieces of
white construction paper with designs drawn on them with a black marker. This
will increase the visual/mental interest as well as keep them pulling out of the
box to improve their fine motor skills and understanding of
cause-and-effect relationships.
8A) 'Travel'
Wipe Box Pullout
Using a small travel wipes
container (empty) and ribbon scraps, you can make a smaller version: a) Tie
together the strips of ribbon being sure to double knot. b) Tape the end of the
ribbon rope to the inside bottom of the box using a piece of packaging tape or
duct tape c) Leave an inch of ribbon peeking out of the opening and close it.
Show it to your infant and encourage them to open the flap and pull the ribbon
out.
9) Ball
Pit
Turn your baby pool into an
indoor activity during the colder months: create a ball pit. Fill the pool with
colored plastic balls. You can find them at Wal-Mart or on Amazon. We used this
at our son's first birthday, and it was a hit! I left it in the house for a
while after, and my son loved climbing in and out.10) Nesting Cups
No
need to buy another toy. If you have measuring cups, use them. Young children
learn that wholes have parts, and one volume can fit into a larger volume. This
play opens up math lessons of order and seriation (number 1 comes before number
2, etc.).11) Mouthing
I
can't tell you how many times I hear parents tell their infant, "Don't put that
in your mouth." Infants NEED to mouth items. You of course can pick which
items you would like your child to access and which they need to not touch, but
allow your infant to put safe toys that are not a choking hazard in their mouth.
An infant's most sensitive sensory input receptor is her mouth. It is how they
feel. As your infant reaches 9 months old, their need to mouth will probably
start to decrease, especially if you have allowed them to use that 'tool' to
explore. Their hands and fingers will become stronger receptors and less will
go in their mouth.
12) High Contrast Cards
Using index cards, draw on designs using a black marker. Start with straight bars for the newborn, and increase the complexity for your infant as they grow. You can even place these in zip top bags and make the book I describe in #5 above on this list. My son, no kidding, would just look at these cards from about birth until 3 months . After a month or two, you can add colors like red or blue to vary the interest. Talk to your child about what they are looking at to increase the learning!
13) Easy Vehicle
Push
a baby in a box. Yep! My kids had a ball with this one evening while I was
making dinner. I would only use this with an infant who is a strong 'sitter'.
Supervision definitely required! It's safest when pushed from the back. If you
tie a string to the front and pull, the risk for tipping is
greater.14) Egg Carton Pointer
Using an empty egg carton, glue
little items in the bottom of each egg cup. I glued down pom poms of various
colors, a piece of yarn, small scrap of fabric with a pattern, small cut piece
of sponge, and a small cut piece of ribbon. I also squirted puffy paint into a
couple for texture and color, and stuck a couple colored circle stickers down as
well. This 'toy' will encourage your older infant to use their fine motor
skills to point into and feel the items in each cup. We want that skill of
pointing and moving the index fingers to be strong!15) Peek-a-Boo Box
Inside the box, using clear packaging
tape, I affixed a picture of my child to encourage her to open the box. She
will learn face recognition, self-esteem since we get to celebrate seeing her
every time she looks in the box, and the fine motor skill of opening the top.
You can make one for each family member, or wrap tape around different images,
place a velcro dot on the back of each picture, and place one in the box so you
can stick a picture to the velcro and easily change out the images to expand
the interest of this game.
16) Natural Materials
Feely BoxIf you have collected rocks, leaves, pine cones, shells, or any other larger natural materials from playtime outside, bring them inside and create a feely box. Place collected items (related, or not) in a small cardboard box, cloth bag, or other receptacle. Show them to your baby, and let them reach into the box or bag to pull out items and feel them. If you are worried about the cleanliness of the items, hand wash them prior to use. Make sure to talk about the items with your child to expand vocabulary and exposure to language.
17) Ribbon Feely BoxInfants LOVE to get their hands on things, and the more involved that the hands-on touching time can be, the better. Recently, by accident, I discovered that a box of ribbon can be a great sensory activity! While taking a few moments to blog, I gave my daughter a box of ribbons-random lengths and colors that I collected from gifts we received...yep, I "re-gift" ribbon on new gifts that I wrap! (You caught me!) The box of ribbon pieces was very entertaining as it had different colors, textures, widths and lengths. It did not get terribly tangled, until my son got involved, and it really was not my rolls of ribbon that I save for special crafty projects. Try it! Get involved too talking about color and texture.
18) Don't Underestimate the Simple Toys
We do a great disservice
to our children when all we give them are toys with lots of functions, buttons,
and noises. The simple toys that have been around FOREVER are the
best-particularly for infants and toddlers. Remember, a foundation of learning
is not built with complicated structure, but simple and sturdy repetition. The
toy pictured may seem boring to some, but it teaches number names, number order,
fine motor movements of the wrist and fingers that require coordination and
strength, and cause and effect. It can also teach animal names (vocabulary)
since there is a different animal under every door. When using simple toys,
expand on them. With this toy, when I open each door (to expose my daughter to
the 'how to' since she can't complete it yet) I count. I count forwards with it
when the doors open, I count as she closes the doors whether in order or out of
order, and I discuss the motion of opening each door whether 'push' or
'turn'.
19) Wrap, Unwrap
We all know that at gift-giving times our infants tend to enjoy unwrapping a package more than discovering what is inside the box or bag. Turn this into an activity: Wrap a few boxes, simply, and stuff a few gift bags with colorful tissue paper. Allow your infant to pull out the tissue and unwrap the paper by ripping it apart. After one time, place the shreds of paper in the box, wrap again-if you desire-and let her unwrap another time discovering the previously shredded paper pieces inside. (Reaction should look like: "Hey! I've seen these before!") Great for motor control of the hands, fingers and wrist as well as eye hand coordination and sensory exploration. As your infant reaches 9-11 months, he/she will start putting the tissue back in the bag as well.
20) Flour Sensory
While my son and I were making
two different kinds of play dough one morning, I had to give my daughter an
opportunity to be near us and occupied. Since we were using flour in our play
dough recipes, I added a few teaspoons of flour to her high chair tray so she
could explore. It kept her attention, in between watching us, and if she tasted
it it was safe. Great fine motor exercise as well as cause-and-effect
exploration since she was using her finger to drag through the flour while
seeing the lines remaining.
21) Monochromatic Duplos
Pull out only one color of
duplos and present them to your child. Talk about them using the color word.
Variations in tone are ok: learning occurs when initial confusion leads to scaffolding and deeper
understanding!
19) Wrap, Unwrap
We all know that at gift-giving times our infants tend to enjoy unwrapping a package more than discovering what is inside the box or bag. Turn this into an activity: Wrap a few boxes, simply, and stuff a few gift bags with colorful tissue paper. Allow your infant to pull out the tissue and unwrap the paper by ripping it apart. After one time, place the shreds of paper in the box, wrap again-if you desire-and let her unwrap another time discovering the previously shredded paper pieces inside. (Reaction should look like: "Hey! I've seen these before!") Great for motor control of the hands, fingers and wrist as well as eye hand coordination and sensory exploration. As your infant reaches 9-11 months, he/she will start putting the tissue back in the bag as well.
20) Flour Sensory
While my son and I were making
two different kinds of play dough one morning, I had to give my daughter an
opportunity to be near us and occupied. Since we were using flour in our play
dough recipes, I added a few teaspoons of flour to her high chair tray so she
could explore. It kept her attention, in between watching us, and if she tasted
it it was safe. Great fine motor exercise as well as cause-and-effect
exploration since she was using her finger to drag through the flour while
seeing the lines remaining.21) Monochromatic Duplos
Pull out only one color of
duplos and present them to your child. Talk about them using the color word.
Variations in tone are ok: learning occurs when initial confusion leads to scaffolding and deeper
understanding!
22) Animal Names Poster
You can tell from the picture
that this poster lasts, and gets used a lot...not to mention moved around and
re-taped to our wall! I made this for my now-four-year-old when he was an
infant. I use it for my one-year-old now...still. Search on-line for images of
animals, if you do not have any on your computer. Print them out, trim them and
paste them to a piece of posterboard. I labeled the poster 'Animals' as well as
labeled each animal with its name to add print awareness. I did overlay a piece
of contact paper to help preserve the piece, but that is optional. This poster
is something that you can sit and chat about with your child as a one-on-one
activity, and when kept in view of them, you will notice your child
investigating the poster on his/her own as well.
23) Infants Can
Paint!
I know it's a scary
topic to bring up infants and paint, but do it! I undress my child down to the
diaper, place her in her high chair (which is all plastic/vinyl/wipe-able) and
prepare her 'work surface.' On the tray, I tape a piece of construction paper
using a few small strips of masking tape. I place a small bit of paint on the
paper directly, and she moves it around using her fingers. Keep extra pieces of
paper handy so you can simply peel off the painted paper, replace it with a
clean sheet, and let your child paint until they are tired of it. This
obviously is art exploration, fine motor, sensory, gift-giving (since you can
send the additional paintings to family members), attention span (keep them
painting as long as they are focused on it), as well as direction-learning since
you will be saying things like, "Paint on the paper," "Use your hands to paint,"
"Keep the paint on the paper [not in your mouth]," etc. These make great
Christmas gifts: Themed
Activities page, scroll down to Winter section and look at #17.
24) Crayon
Sensory
My son was sorting through the
crayon box to remove any broken pieces that were not usable any more. My
daughter helped! She loves grabbing the crayons and taking them out of the box.
(If there is a key activity for infants it is 'dump and put'!) I talked about
the colors as she looked at them and counted how many she had in her hand at
each grab. I was teaching not to put them in her mouth, and we were sorting
with my son making a pile of the broken ones, so she was exposed to that as
well. Need a quick activity to get your infant's hands exploring? Give them the
box of crayons-with supervision, of course.
25) Shredded
Paper Sensory
Shredded paper is something we ALWAYS have
plenty of in our paper shredder bin. It can be used as a sensory bin material.
I hide magnets, small toys, or foam letters inside the paper shreds, and my
infant digs through it until she finds an item to pull out. You can make this
thematic as well by using all dinosaur toys or small toy cars, as well as Easter
eggs, or plastic Christmas ornaments.  |
| Letter and number magnets pulled from the paper shreds. |
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Toddler Activities
1) Dump and Put:
Toddlers love to dump bins of toys all over the floor, but they love to 'put' things in containers as well. Why not make a game of it?
I can't say it makes him 'want' to clean up, but when he has to do it, he does. If you try this at times other than just clean up, it will be a game rather than the end to play.
2) Oats, peas, beans and barley grow:
My son scoops and pours with the measuring cups. They are 'nesting cups' in reality, but better since they have the measurement listed on them so this can be a math game as well. Let your child explore it. I usually set it up on our deck or in the yard so that any mess can be eaten by the birds. (Bird seed is an option as well.)
Other items we have used in my classrooms are water, snow, water and dish soap, water and food coloring (be careful with clothes), shredded paper, and sand.
3) Dance and move to music
Turn on a kids' CD, or one of those Toddler channels on the television music channels. Expose your child to music. They will move and play. Sing and dance with them. Get the wiggles out! It teaches them not only gross motor movements as they move and dance, but also language and listening skills as they listen to the words and sing along. (Add a scarf or ribbon so your child can wave it around and dance with it to add an extension.)
4) The child went over the mountain
5) What animal is that?
Print throughout their environment will help emphasize early language development, and its importance. Hang the poster on a wall or the refrigerator at your child's height. You can use this to 'quiz' your child as their langauge skills develop and they are able to make the animal sounds or point to each and say the names.
6)Make a puzzle
A) Save an empty cereal box or frozen waffle box (or other food box that is a favorite 'eat' of your child).
B) Cut the box into simple geometric shapes for younger children. (I draw the design that I will cut out on the back of the image and use it as my cutting guide.) The greater the number of pieces, the smaller they will be, and the more difficult the puzzle. Ease in younger children and challenge the older ones!
C) Give the puzzle to your child to put together.
They will have so much fun seeing their own face if you use a personal photo. You can include your child in the creation process so that they see this project from start to finish, or surprise them with it: a new, free, toy!
This activity is great, because store-bought puzzle pieces get lost, or damaged. I try to give puzzles a long life even if pieces are not pristine, but this project allows you to create new puzzles almost instantly if others get too shabby to keep! You can print a few images that coincide with your child's newest interest (cartoon characters, cars, horses, frogs, etc.) It's a very versatile activity and can be personalized for each child's interests.
7) Bat at the Ball
Tie a string, or piece of yarn, to a beach ball or balloon. Fasten the end of the string to the top of a doorway or the ceiling. The string should be long enough to allow your toddler to just reach the ball while they are standing up. The goal is to have your child bat at the ball while maintaining balance. Great for the early walkers who still need to work on balance. Also, for older toddlers, you can shorten the string so they have to reach higher (again, extending the balance challenge) or jump up to tap the ball which helps them learn to jump as well.
8) Bubbles
As easy as blowing bubbles and encouraging your child to 'catch' the bubble (eye-hand coordination, and gross motor movement). To extend this activity, count the bubbles out loud to expose your child to number order.
9) Towel Tube
Bowling
Using paper towel
tubes or toilet paper tubes, line them up on the floor in a bowling arrangement.
Demonstrate to your child how to roll the ball at the tubes to knock them over.
Count how many are 'down'.
10) Sock
Sort
Sorting is an important skill
for young children. It helps strengthen visual discrimination skills, compare
and contrast, and is a pre-math skill that will help build on the later need to
group numbers. Try this one on laundry day: As you fold the clothes, set aside
the socks. Ask your child to help find the match for each sock. You may have
to help at first, or start with 2 pairs versus 10, but this is a great way to
initiate help with the household chores and make a learning game out of
it.
11) Sock Toss
Once the socks are
folded/tucked, use them as soft 'balls' for a tossing activity. Using the
laundry basket or a small box, demonstrate to your child how to toss the sock
ball into the basket. Let them try it. Be patient, they may walk to the basket
and just drop in the sock! This is an easy activity to pull out and put away
when the playing is done.
12) Table
Top Tape Removal
Using masking tape, place long
strip of tape on the fridge door, table top, sliding glass door or a window that
is within your toddler's reach. Criss cross the strips of tape until you have
about 5 strips stuck to the surface. Demonstrate to your child how to use their
finger/nail to pick at the tape and pull it off. This is a challenge to the
younger toddler, and is great exercise for the fine motor skill of using the
fingers.
13) Rip It
Up
Give your toddler a
piece of the newspaper, scrap advertisement, or other scrap paper and let them
rip it apart. Toddlers are at an age where things are not going in their mouths
as often as infants, and it takes coordination and fine motor movement to rip
the paper into long strips and even smaller pieces. Let them help clean it up
when they are done by counting the pieces as you put them in the recycling
box...or save them and expose your child to gluing (with your help) and make the
scraps into a collage. You can place a dot of glue on a piece of paper and your
child can put the paper scrap onto the glue. Teamwork!
14) Natural Materials
Feely BoxIf you have collected rocks, leaves, pine cones, shells, or any other larger natural materials from playtime outside, bring them inside and create a feely box. Place collected items (related, or not) in a small cardboard box, cloth bag, or other receptacle. Show them to your baby, and let them reach into the box or bag to pull out items and feel them. If you are worried about the cleanliness of the items, hand wash them prior to use. Make sure to talk about the items with your child to expand vocabulary and exposure to language.
15) Color Circles Sticker Sort
The older toddler will have fun
sorting the colored stickers into color groups. Grab a package of the 4-color
circle stickers from an office supply store. Divide a piece of paper into 4
spaces as shown in the picture. Using colored markers, write the color words
using their respective colored marker writing one color per square. Hand one
sticker at a time to your child and say the color name. Help them match the
sticker to its corresponding place on the paper and let them stick it on the
paper. This activity teaches fine motor control, visual discrimination (the
ability to discriminate between visible similarities and differences in size,
shape, pattern, form, and color), and color recognition.
 |
16)
Monochromatic Duplos
Pull out only one color of
duplos and present them to your child. Talk about them using the color word.
Variations in tone are ok: learning occurs when initial confusion leads to scaffolding and deeper
understanding
17) Single
Letter Sticker Collage
Purchase some stickers from the
dollar aisle at Target, or at your local Dollar Store and help your child use
only the letter of their first name and stick them on paper. Stickers are a
fine motor challenge for Todds, and this will help enhance their exposure to
letters.
18) Foam Crayon
Color Sort
Using sheets of craft foam in a
variety of colors, cut out one large crayon shape and 4 small crayon shapes per
color. Decorate your crayons as you choose and write the color word on each
one. Have your child place the small crayons on the large crayon that matches.
Store in a zip top bag in your 'puzzles' or 'games' bin, or a plastic page
sleeve in a binder. Can be turned into a folder game as well.
19) Pom Pom
Magnets Pincer Practice
I had a small
collection of pom poms left over from previous craft activities, so I made a
game out of them! All you need are pom poms of various colors and a roll of
magnetic strip tape (costs 5-8 dollars at your local hardware store).
1) Cut a small
piece of magnet tape, peel off the paper backing and stick onto the pom pom
well. Repeat for the other pom poms.
3) To expand for older children, using a muffin tin, line the pom poms along the edges and let your child sort them by color.
20) Shredded Paper
Sensory
Shredded paper is something we
ALWAYS have plenty of in our paper shredder bin. It can be used as a sensory
bin material. I hide magnets, small toys, or foam letters inside the paper
shreds, and my child digs through it until she finds an item to pull out. You
can make this thematic as well by using all dinosaur toys or small toy cars, as
well as Easter eggs, or plastic Christmas ornaments. 
21) Awareness
of Print
.JPG)
Your toddler CAN begin to learn
about print. Exposure to letters and words is key to starting your child off on
a great footing for later reading readiness and success. Long before children
can 'read' they can recognize the significance of print in their environment-the
McDonalds 'M', the 'Geico' commercial, etc. This is an easy activity...SO
easy...to teach your child a bit about print. 1) Tape a piece of paper to the
high chair tray, or right to a table and 2) say the letters of the child's name
as you write them on the paper. 3) Let your child pick a few crayons-be sure to
say the color name of each-and then let your child color the paper. They are
exposed to their name-and you can really use any word you choose-as well as gain
fine motor experience while coloring, not to mention color association from the
crayons. A toddler writing center! (I expanded this a bit at other times to
include just letters-I would write 'A' and 'a' on the paper in a few places-and
shapes-draw the shapes on the paper as you name them and then let your child
color (scribble) away. You will be amazed how quickly he/she starts to focus on
individual letters by coloring on top of the letter or shape in a more focused
way.)
22) Tactile
Alphabet Book
.JPG)
Using an alphabet board book
that you may have at your house-the one in the picture was purchased for $1 at
Target in the Dollar Aisle-and some puffy fabric paint, create a tactile letter
exploration activity. Trace the letters on each page with the puffy paint, and
let it dry based on the directions on the paint bottle. You do one page at a
time-it takes about 10 seconds to do each page of a book laid out like the one
in the picture, and then you just let it sit on the counter until dry enough to
go on to the next page. It takes a little patience, but once completed this adds
a level of interest to an ordinary ABC book. You introduce the 'shape' of each
letter through the sensory exploration that is possible after the puffy paint
dries.23) Shape Hopscotch
.JPG)
Using a roll of butcher paper,
large pieces of packing paper, or pieces of construction paper taped together to
make a long piece of paper, you can create a shape hopscotch exploration...or a
large coloring mural! What I did was tear off a piece of butcher paper and I
drew on basic shapes and colored them in. I said the name of each shape while
pointing to them when my toddler was paying attention, and she took a crayon and
scribbled over the shapes. We also stood up and 'hopped' onto each shape saying
the name to add a little gross motor activity to the learning as well. It
eventually was torn apart, but that is fine motor and sensory play!
24) Cookie
Sheet Magnet Games
I noticed my children not
really paying attention to our magnetic letters that were stuck on the fridge,
so I placed them on a cookie sheet (still magnetic) and placed the cookie sheet
on a child-sized table. Because it was in a new place, it was unexpected and
became new again! This is a great way to get your child to sit at the table to
'work' for a few minutes as well when they are needing a little more structured
time. Cookie sheet+magnets=instant center!
25) Easy
Stampers
Use empty ribbon rolls, small
lengths of straw, empty thread spools or toilet paper tubes as stampers for
paint. Little hands can work to grip the 'stamp', dip it in paint and stamp
away. Using a long piece of butcher paper taped to a table top can help a
toddler's need to spread out and expand their creativity. Biscuit cutters and
cookie cutters can work as well-just dip into paint and stamp. They can easily
be washed in soap and water afterwards. This is a great way to explore shapes
and fine motor skill exercise. (The end of a paper towel tube can be bent or
shaped into different forms for more variety.)
26) Outdoor Wash
Time
Place a bucket of soapy water
in front of a child, and they think 'play' not 'work', so take that outside and
wash the toys! My children washed their ride-on toys, but bring out the garage
tools too and scrub away. This is a great rainy day activity for spending time
in the garage (if you have one) cleaning up for fun...I know, it's a stretch,
but try it! This really teaches care for things and team work not to mention
that it combines fine motor and gross motor movements.
27) The Very
Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Plates
Read the book The Very
Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Create this matching activity to introduce
or reinforce number-value exploration that matches what the caterpillar eats in
the book. Print off the free felt board pattern shapes for the fruit from Making
Learning Fun (print pages 1 and 6 from the link) or draw them yourself.
Color and cut out the fruit pieces and mount each group of fruit on construction
paper together (all 3 plums together, all 4 strawberries together, etc.) to
reinforce. I then cut around each group of fruit so that all of the same fruit
was on the same piece of paper as shown in the picture with all three plums on
one piece of construction paper. 
Using five paper plates, write
the number symbol and the word of the fruit that illustrates that amount on the
top of the plate. Punch a hole in the rim of the plate as shown above and tie a
piece of yarn (about 6-8 inches long) to the hole. Also punch a hole in each
fruit piece and tie the other end of the string to the fruit. Using velcro
pieces or dots, place the hook side on the plate and the loop side on the back
of the fruit. Hang the plates on the wall, or the window using tape. Let the
fruit pieces dangle below their plate and encourage your child to place the
fruit on the plate where it belongs. (You can extend this for older children by
not including the string and having the child solely rely on counting to match
up the fruit with its matching plate.)
28) Shave Cream Is Not Just
Sensory
 |
| Water-tight tracing mat |
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Preschool Activities
Now the teacher will be formed in you. Part of our job
as SAHMs is preparing our children for school. Yep, soon enough your little
angel will be engaged in your official homeschool activities, or wearing a
backpack and headed into the world of 'standardized' education. You can do so
much, and already have, but here is a little more creativity and guidance to
make this prep time fun for you both! As SAHMs we are homeschooling from birth,
so add a little cheap learning into your day to continue the
teaching.
1) If You Take a Mouse to School
Read 'If You Take a Mouse to School' by Laura Numeroff. Then do the things the mouse did in the story:
A) Build a mouse house using blocks. We even used playdough to mold furniture.
B) Perform the volcano experiment on the kitchen table or counter. Place a cup on a cookie sheet, fill cup with some baking soda, and then pour in vinegar. The cookie sheet keeps vinegar/soda mix from spilling all over.
C) Have your child write a story. They can tell you the words while you write, or they can 'journal' by drawing a picture of what happened during the volcano experiment.
D) Read the book again and point out each of the activities that you did when the mouse performs them.
2) Cardboard box creations
I never met a preschooler who couldn't be creative using
a cardboard box! My son climbs into any empty box that happens to be on the
floor and immediately is 'racing in a car,' 'flying to the moon,' or 'mailing
himself to his grandparents'! My husband has turned cardboard boxes into a
train engines and a fort. If you have one lying around it could be a hideout,
or a doll's house. Don't be too quick to throw it away before letting your
child give it a new life!
3) Counting with stickers!
Count everything, all of the time. If you are reading a
book about numbers, don't just read through the words, actually point to each
amount and show the association between the number symbol and 'how
many'.
You will need a piece of paper and some stickers-I save them when they come in the mail whether they are address labels we don't need, or the ones from the children's movie club companies. Write numbers 1-5, or higher depending on how big your paper is, but leave a good amount of space around each number symbol to allow for stickers. The picture below illustrates it. Point to number 1, and have your child place 1 sticker under it. Point to '2', and have them place 2 stickers there, etc., etc., until you have completed each number. We had to do this activity twice!
4) Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
One of the main learning experiences in a daycare is the
sensory table. It is always a busy center. Make one at home! Children love
playing with uncooked rice, uncooked beans, dry noodles, dry rolled oats, etc.
They can get their hands in it, sharpen their fine motor skills by picking
pieces up, and they can measure, scoop, and pour. I have dry beans, and an old
set of measuring cups for my son to play with. Of course you can only use this
with toddlers who are not putting things in their mouth since this is a choking
hazard for children still in an oral stage.
My son scoops and pours with the measuring cups. They are 'nesting cups' in reality, but better since they have the measurement listed on them so this can be a math game as well. Let your child explore it. I usually set it up on our deck or in the yard so that any mess can be eaten by the birds. (Bird seed is an option as well. )
Other items we have used in my classrooms are water, snow, water and dish soap, water and food coloring (be careful with clothes), shredded paper, and sand.
5) Alphabet book
Get a plastic folder that has closures in the middle to hold plastic sleeves. Go to www.drjean.org and click on "Free Activities", then "Letter Vests", and download the groups of letters. Print off the letters (upper and lower case) and put one letter paper into each plastic sleeve. I have one organized where the upper case 'A' and the lower case 'a' can both be seen at the same time: 'A' on the left side and 'a' on the right. As we work on the alphabet, I write words that start with each letter (that we discover over time) on the back side of the lower case letter. That is our 'Aa' words page.
So, if your version looks like mine, you will open the
folder cover to the back of the 'A' page, then turn the page to see 'A' on your
left and 'a' on your right. Turn the page again and you will have the back of
the 'a' page on your left to be used as your page for 'Aa' words, and then on
the right will be the back of the 'B' page. You
don't have to use printed out letters; you can just write each letter on paper
and staple it all together. I wanted something a little more durable. It's a
work in progress as you study the letters and find words that start with letters
of the alphabet. This is one of those activities we spend time on during rainy
days, or when my son discovers something outside like a leaf or an acorn. A
good grasp of the alphabet is a goal for 4 year olds.
6) Make a puzzle
It is very easy to make a puzzle and you have everything you need at home.
A) Print off a picture on photo paper. (I use 8x11 size, but you could also print onto regular paper, cardstock or construction paper.) If you have it, you can cover the printout with clear contact paper, but don't worry if you don't have this on-hand.
B) Cut the picture into puzzle shapes for older kids, or simple squares for younger ones. Keep in mind that the more pieces you cut, the smaller they will be and the greater the challenge to put them together.
C) Give your child the puzzle to put together.
They will have so much fun seeing their own face if you use a personal photo. You can include your child in the creation process so that they see this project from start to finish, or surprise them with it: a new, free, toy!
This activity is great,
because store-bought puzzle pieces get lost, or damaged. I try to give puzzles
a long life even if pieces are not pristine, but this project allows you to
create new puzzles almost instantly if others get too shabby to keep! You can
print a few images that coincide with your child's newest interest (cartoon
characters, cars, horses, frogs, etc.) It's a very versatile activity and can
be personalized for each child's interests.
7) Coloring Crafts
I love these and they keep my 3
1/2 year old busy at the table for at least an hour..no kidding! They are
little craft kits you can find at your local Craft Store. They cost about $1.
The kit comes with a wooden item (monster truck, pumpkin, animal, etc.) a
wooden stand for the completed item, and little markers to use for coloring it.
There are holiday-themed kits and others. When your child finishes coloring,
the wooden stand fits into a notch in the bottom of the item and you can stand
it up for display. Grab a few for those rainy days and days when Mom may be
under the weather! A great table activity.
As an extension, you can always glue craft materials onto these wooden cut-outs as well in case you want to add an element. Use orange yarn to decorate the pumpkin, or pieces of aluminum foil to cover the hub caps of a monster truck cut-out. Lots of avenues for use.
I am a huge fan of basic,
simple activities that allow your child to direct the creativity. Watercolors
fulfill that bill. You can find the water color paints at a dollar store, the
grocery store or a department store. Lay a towel down on the surface where your
child will paint to help absorb spills and drips, and let your child create
away. This a great activity for exploring color mixing as well in case you want
to work in a little adult-directed learning.
9) Fort and Tunnels
Using blankets in your home, place them over the top of your dining room table so they hang over the edges creating a fort under your table. You can also turn the chairs backwards and push the backs up to the side of the table to help hold the blankets in place. We have also draped a blanket from the couch to the coffee table to create a tunnel. Children have fun hiding out in hidden spaces, and having 'their' space. My son always wants me to play with him: he brings toys in the fort, and loves when my daughter crawls in to hide out with him. We take a flashlight inside and read books, etc. This is a great change-up for a rainy day stuck inside.
10) Cardboard box creations, part 2
Don't just make a
cardboard box creation and use it for a day! Extend the play by having your
child paint their box toy. Whether it's a fort or a train engine (as in the
picture here), your child will have fun 1) painting, 2) personalizing, and 3)
enjoying another layer of fun with the cardboard box.
11) Alphabet Match
I had a supply of upper and lower case letter cards that I purchased for my teaching collection back when I was in college. After rummaging through some bins of materials, I came up with a game to utilize them, but you can make your own letter cards with index cards or construction paper.
12) Letter Tracing sheets
Create your own letter tracing
sheets for your child. Make dotted outlines of each letter, or word, that you
want your child to practice writing. Make photocopies of your 'master' sheet so
that you have a quick, easy way to make extras-my son wanted to do this twice in
a row, and I did not want to sit and make the dotted letters again! Hand your
child a crayon, pen, pencil, or marker, and teach them the correct way to write
their letters. I use upper case first since they are generally easier to write,
but you could combine both.
13)
Magnetic Letter Match
On a magnetic white
board, write the alphabet in whichever case you prefer. Using letter magnets
(you can find them in the dollar aisle at Walmart, or at the Dollar Store among
other retailers), have your child place the magnetic letter over the written
letter. Repeat as necessary or interested!
14) Dress Up!
Create a dress-up bin or
collection for your child using items that you have in the house. First, old
Halloween costumes are great for this, and then you get more use than one night!
Also, my son in the picture is wearing an old button-down shirt with a men's
necktie tied around his waist as a belt. We happened to have the tricorn hat
and voila! a dress-up pirate. (He is making his 'pirate face'.) Add hats you
find in the dollar aisle at Target, or old items that would otherwise be
donated. Even old tank tops can be 'dresses' for little girls, and you know
they love wearing adult shoes, so let them explore with what you already have
and don't want anymore.
15) Invisible Appearing Picture
Start with a white piece of
construction paper. Have your child color a design on the paper using a white
crayon. After your child has colored, give them water color paints and let them
paint over the paper. As they cover the paper with paint, the white crayon
picture will be revealed! (Tip: Place a towel or a paper bag that has been cut
to lay flat, on your table or work surface to help absorb the extra water and
drips from the painting process.)
16) Letter (reversal) Sort
Many young children need practice to avoid reversals,
or mistaking one letter for another that looks like its mirror image, or that
looks like it in reverse. For example, in the pictures below, 'b' and 'd', and
even 'p' can be mistaken for each other. This will help work out that error and
solidify the letters in your child's memory.
A) Take two empty facial tissue boxes, and cut out the plastic that lines the opening in the top.
B) Write the two letters, or numbers, to be practiced on a piece of paper. Cut them out as the picture shows and tape or glue one letter to each box as in Figure 1. (Numbers are shown in Figure 2.)
C) Make copies of each letter on sentence strips
(Figure 3) or construction paper (Figure 4). Index cards can work as well. Cut
apart the letters as shown in Figure 5.
D) Make a mixed pile of the letter cards and show
your child how to hold the card up next to the box to compare the letters.
Place the card into its correct box.
This is a great table activity when you
are making dinner. Make sure you observe the first time; I found that my son
was making mistakes when I was not paying attention, but it's an easy game to
check since you can look through the cards that are in each box to determine if
your child has secured this visual discrimination skill, or if he needs more
work. You can use all four sides of the tissue boxes as well. Just place the
two sides that you want your child to work with in front of them, and you have a
4-way game all in one!
18) Milk Cap Name
A) Write your child's name on an index card and tape the card to a zip top bag.
B) Write each of the
letters in the name on milk caps.
C) Show your child how to place the milk caps under their corresponding letter on the card so they spell out their name.
1) If You Take a Mouse to School
Read 'If You Take a Mouse to School' by Laura Numeroff. Then do the things the mouse did in the story:
A) Build a mouse house using blocks. We even used playdough to mold furniture.
B) Perform the volcano experiment on the kitchen table or counter. Place a cup on a cookie sheet, fill cup with some baking soda, and then pour in vinegar. The cookie sheet keeps vinegar/soda mix from spilling all over.
C) Have your child write a story. They can tell you the words while you write, or they can 'journal' by drawing a picture of what happened during the volcano experiment.
D) Read the book again and point out each of the activities that you did when the mouse performs them.
2) Cardboard box creations
I never met a preschooler who couldn't be creative using
a cardboard box! My son climbs into any empty box that happens to be on the
floor and immediately is 'racing in a car,' 'flying to the moon,' or 'mailing
himself to his grandparents'! My husband has turned cardboard boxes into a
train engines and a fort. If you have one lying around it could be a hideout,
or a doll's house. Don't be too quick to throw it away before letting your
child give it a new life!3) Counting with stickers!
Count everything, all of the time. If you are reading a
book about numbers, don't just read through the words, actually point to each
amount and show the association between the number symbol and 'how
many'. You will need a piece of paper and some stickers-I save them when they come in the mail whether they are address labels we don't need, or the ones from the children's movie club companies. Write numbers 1-5, or higher depending on how big your paper is, but leave a good amount of space around each number symbol to allow for stickers. The picture below illustrates it. Point to number 1, and have your child place 1 sticker under it. Point to '2', and have them place 2 stickers there, etc., etc., until you have completed each number. We had to do this activity twice!
4) Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
One of the main learning experiences in a daycare is the
sensory table. It is always a busy center. Make one at home! Children love
playing with uncooked rice, uncooked beans, dry noodles, dry rolled oats, etc.
They can get their hands in it, sharpen their fine motor skills by picking
pieces up, and they can measure, scoop, and pour. I have dry beans, and an old
set of measuring cups for my son to play with. Of course you can only use this
with toddlers who are not putting things in their mouth since this is a choking
hazard for children still in an oral stage.My son scoops and pours with the measuring cups. They are 'nesting cups' in reality, but better since they have the measurement listed on them so this can be a math game as well. Let your child explore it. I usually set it up on our deck or in the yard so that any mess can be eaten by the birds. (Bird seed is an option as well. )
Other items we have used in my classrooms are water, snow, water and dish soap, water and food coloring (be careful with clothes), shredded paper, and sand.
5) Alphabet book
Get a plastic folder that has closures in the middle to hold plastic sleeves. Go to www.drjean.org and click on "Free Activities", then "Letter Vests", and download the groups of letters. Print off the letters (upper and lower case) and put one letter paper into each plastic sleeve. I have one organized where the upper case 'A' and the lower case 'a' can both be seen at the same time: 'A' on the left side and 'a' on the right. As we work on the alphabet, I write words that start with each letter (that we discover over time) on the back side of the lower case letter. That is our 'Aa' words page.
So, if your version looks like mine, you will open the
folder cover to the back of the 'A' page, then turn the page to see 'A' on your
left and 'a' on your right. Turn the page again and you will have the back of
the 'a' page on your left to be used as your page for 'Aa' words, and then on
the right will be the back of the 'B' page. You
don't have to use printed out letters; you can just write each letter on paper
and staple it all together. I wanted something a little more durable. It's a
work in progress as you study the letters and find words that start with letters
of the alphabet. This is one of those activities we spend time on during rainy
days, or when my son discovers something outside like a leaf or an acorn. A
good grasp of the alphabet is a goal for 4 year olds. 6) Make a puzzle
It is very easy to make a puzzle and you have everything you need at home.
A) Print off a picture on photo paper. (I use 8x11 size, but you could also print onto regular paper, cardstock or construction paper.) If you have it, you can cover the printout with clear contact paper, but don't worry if you don't have this on-hand.
B) Cut the picture into puzzle shapes for older kids, or simple squares for younger ones. Keep in mind that the more pieces you cut, the smaller they will be and the greater the challenge to put them together.
C) Give your child the puzzle to put together.
They will have so much fun seeing their own face if you use a personal photo. You can include your child in the creation process so that they see this project from start to finish, or surprise them with it: a new, free, toy!
7) Coloring Crafts
I love these and they keep my 3
1/2 year old busy at the table for at least an hour..no kidding! They are
little craft kits you can find at your local Craft Store. They cost about $1.
The kit comes with a wooden item (monster truck, pumpkin, animal, etc.) a
wooden stand for the completed item, and little markers to use for coloring it.
There are holiday-themed kits and others. When your child finishes coloring,
the wooden stand fits into a notch in the bottom of the item and you can stand
it up for display. Grab a few for those rainy days and days when Mom may be
under the weather! A great table activity.As an extension, you can always glue craft materials onto these wooden cut-outs as well in case you want to add an element. Use orange yarn to decorate the pumpkin, or pieces of aluminum foil to cover the hub caps of a monster truck cut-out. Lots of avenues for use.
8) Water Colors
I am a huge fan of basic,
simple activities that allow your child to direct the creativity. Watercolors
fulfill that bill. You can find the water color paints at a dollar store, the
grocery store or a department store. Lay a towel down on the surface where your
child will paint to help absorb spills and drips, and let your child create
away. This a great activity for exploring color mixing as well in case you want
to work in a little adult-directed learning.Using blankets in your home, place them over the top of your dining room table so they hang over the edges creating a fort under your table. You can also turn the chairs backwards and push the backs up to the side of the table to help hold the blankets in place. We have also draped a blanket from the couch to the coffee table to create a tunnel. Children have fun hiding out in hidden spaces, and having 'their' space. My son always wants me to play with him: he brings toys in the fort, and loves when my daughter crawls in to hide out with him. We take a flashlight inside and read books, etc. This is a great change-up for a rainy day stuck inside.
10) Cardboard box creations, part 2
11) Alphabet Match
I had a supply of upper and lower case letter cards that I purchased for my teaching collection back when I was in college. After rummaging through some bins of materials, I came up with a game to utilize them, but you can make your own letter cards with index cards or construction paper.
 |
| A-Using index cards, write letters and make a mark on the 'bottom' so that the correct orientation is known. (i.e. You want to know which way to hold the 'p' card so that you do not mistake it for 'd'.) |
 |
| B-Tape two pieces of construction paper together and write the letters. I have lower case on the cards, and upper case on the paper for my son, but you can have both the same case depending on what your child needs to learn. |
 |
| C-Demonstrate with one card, and then let your child take over matching. |
Create your own letter tracing
sheets for your child. Make dotted outlines of each letter, or word, that you
want your child to practice writing. Make photocopies of your 'master' sheet so
that you have a quick, easy way to make extras-my son wanted to do this twice in
a row, and I did not want to sit and make the dotted letters again! Hand your
child a crayon, pen, pencil, or marker, and teach them the correct way to write
their letters. I use upper case first since they are generally easier to write,
but you could combine both.
14) Dress Up!
Create a dress-up bin or
collection for your child using items that you have in the house. First, old
Halloween costumes are great for this, and then you get more use than one night!
Also, my son in the picture is wearing an old button-down shirt with a men's
necktie tied around his waist as a belt. We happened to have the tricorn hat
and voila! a dress-up pirate. (He is making his 'pirate face'.) Add hats you
find in the dollar aisle at Target, or old items that would otherwise be
donated. Even old tank tops can be 'dresses' for little girls, and you know
they love wearing adult shoes, so let them explore with what you already have
and don't want anymore.15) Invisible Appearing Picture
Start with a white piece of
construction paper. Have your child color a design on the paper using a white
crayon. After your child has colored, give them water color paints and let them
paint over the paper. As they cover the paper with paint, the white crayon
picture will be revealed! (Tip: Place a towel or a paper bag that has been cut
to lay flat, on your table or work surface to help absorb the extra water and
drips from the painting process.)16) Letter (reversal) Sort
 |
| Figure 1 |
A) Take two empty facial tissue boxes, and cut out the plastic that lines the opening in the top.
B) Write the two letters, or numbers, to be practiced on a piece of paper. Cut them out as the picture shows and tape or glue one letter to each box as in Figure 1. (Numbers are shown in Figure 2.)
 |
| Figure 2 |
 |
| Figure 3 |
 |
| Figure 4 |
 |
| Figure 5 |
 |
| My son comparing the card to the box. |
 |
| Placing the card into its correct box. |
17) Egg Carton Number Find
Using a 12-count or 18-count egg
carton, write a number in the bottom of each egg cup. You can either use the
plastic Easter eggs or a clothespin to create a matching game, or use one
clothespin to use this as a counting and quiz game.
If using the Easter eggs, write one number on each egg so that you have one
egg per egg cup in the carton. Your child can match the egg to its
corresponding numbered cup, and the eggs can store in the carton when not in
use.
For the clothespin version, write a number on each clothespin, and have
your child clip the clothespin to the egg cup as pictured. This will really
challenge their fine motor skills, visual discrimination, and counting ability!
To store, place the clothespins in a zip top bag, or plastic
container/bowl.
To quiz your child, give them the clothespin and ask, "Where is ten?" See
if they can correctly clip the clothespin to the number 10 cup.
18) Milk Cap Name
A) Write your child's name on an index card and tape the card to a zip top bag.
C) Show your child how to place the milk caps under their corresponding letter on the card so they spell out their name.
D) You can even create bags of milk cap letter for other members of the
family or other words for favorite toys, etc. Make a set of these to use for
word making as your child gets older as well!
19) Letter Sticker Collage
I bought stickers from the
dollar aisle at Target, and my son created a collage using the first letter of
his name. Great workout for the fine motor skills of trying to pick up the
sticker and stick it on the paper as well as the literacy exercise of
reinforcing the first letter of his name.
For more letter work: buy a package of alphabet stickers, write the letters from A to Z and have your child place the matching stickers on the written letters for more one-to-one correspondence practice, or just try a letter a day to teach one letter at a time!
20) Color Circles Sticker Sort
The younger preschooler will
have fun sorting the colored stickers into color groups. Grab a package of the
4-color circle stickers from an office supply store. Divide a piece of paper
into 4 spaces as shown in the picture. Using colored markers, write the color
words using their respective colored marker writing one color per square. Let
your child take a sheet of stickers and place the corresponding sticker in its
matching square on the paper. This activity teaches visual discrimination
(the
ability to discriminate between visible similarities and differences in size,
shape, pattern, form, and color), and color recognition.
22) Beverage Box Matching
Toilet paper rolls and beverage boxes (see Fig. 1)
are perfect partners for this versatile matching activity. You need an empty
beverage box that has the 12 part divider in the bottom (generally for 12
bottles), 12 toilet paper rolls (empty), glue, and scissors. You will also need
12 different scraps of paper, wrapping paper, or different colors of
paint.
First step is to cut down the sides of the box
to the level of the top of the divider insert just to make it easier to place
the tubes in the sections and retrieve them. Secondly, glue construction paper
to the sides of the box so that no logos or labels are showing. I wrote
"Pattern/Color Sorting Game" on one of the finished sides to label it.
Second, wrap each toilet paper tube with a piece of paper, or paint each with a different color. Also, cut a small square of each paper to match the tube.
Third, glue a piece of
paper around one tube wrapping the paper around completely. Glue the matching
square piece of paper to the bottom of one of the sections in the box as shown
in the picture. Repeat 11 more times so that each tube is covered by a different
color or patterned paper, or painted a different color, and each tube has a
matching section in the box.
Depending on your child's skill level, use plain colored paper or patterned paper as I have shown here. You can even wrap each tube in the same color paper and draw shapes on the tubes and corresponding shapes drawn on the square pieces that get glued into the box. This exercises eye-hand coordination, knowledge of one-to-one correspondence, visual discrimination, and if you use numbers or shapes on the tubes, the names of them as well. It's a great way to get rid of those last wrap scraps without just throwing them away.
23) Easy Dry Erase Tracing
Make a dotted tracing sheet for
you child. I quickly create a numbers tracing sheet and alphabet tracing sheet
on construction paper, and slip the sheets into gallon zip top bags. Using dry
erase markers, your child can trace the dotted numbers or letters to practice
writing. The marker wipes off with a paper towel. It will stain a bit, but
takes a nice amount of pressure to erase so it helps with extra pent up energy
too! (To really clean it, use a little window cleaner on a paper towel.)
Reusable and can travel: clip to a clipboard and you have a car activity
too!
24) Cutting Practice
When supervising, let your
child use scissors. They will need to use this skill in school or at home
when completing craft projects. It is a skill that is checked during assessment
time in preschool. Create your own assessment/practice sheet by drawing lines
on a piece of construction paper as in the picture below. It takes practice,
but let your child learn and try.
25) Domino Counting Match
I happened to get a set of
paper dominoes from a Christmas cracker over this past holiday season. (You know
the ones you pull apart and there is a crown, fortune, and little trinket
inside?) Well, I created a little matching game (that I use as a 'station' or
table activity). I traced around the dominoes on a piece of paper. Wrote the
numbers 1-12, one number for each rectangle, and wrote the number word as well.
The goal is for your child to count the dots on a domino and match it to the
correct rectangle. This helps associate an amount with its symbol, i.e.
*****=5. If you don't have paper or plastic dominoes, make some out of black
construction paper and a correction fluid pen, or white paint, or just cut some
small rectangles out of index cards and make black dots for each number amount.
Store the dominoes in a zip-top bag and you can even glue the paper into a file
folder to create an easy storage method...a file folder game.
26) Sensory Bean Sort
Using a plastic apple container, muffin tin, or egg carton, sort a mixture of seeds and beans. You can start with the mixed items in a small bowl and sort into the carton or tin. My son was very focused on this! It is great for fine motor control, visual discrimination, and encourages organization.
In the book, by Laura Numeroff,
a kite gets tangled in a tree. I used some quick thinking one rainy day to come
up with this book extension activity:
28) Seed Counting
After making acorn squash as
the veg one night for dinner, I saved and washed the seeds (because they had to
be used for something). I created a counting activity for my preschooler: As in
the picture below, Write the numbers from 1 on up to as high as you can fit on
the paper you are using. Draw a circle below each number to be used as the
'amount' location. Have your child count out the right amount of seeds to place
in each circle. Glue them on the paper. Teaching numbers is not just about
identification; it's important to teach the amount of each as well.
I call this a 'keeper', because
it is a great learning activity but also one to keep for posterity! Trace your
hand and your child's hand as well as that of a sibling, stuffed animal, or dad.
Discuss which one is the biggest, which is the smallest and which is in the
middle. Assign/teach the terms small, medium and large or big. Write the words
next to each hand that fits the description as in the picture. Write names and
the date as well so you can look back on the little hand prints long after they
are bigger than yours.
30) Moon Phase Cracker Bites
At lunch one day, my son bit
into his cracker and said, "Look! The moon is half quarters full." Obviously we
needed to discuss the terms and not using them all together, so we did, using
our crackers. I bit into mine to show 1/4 full, 1/2 full and full (obviously no
bite, just a full cracker). I then talked about how when the moon gets 'more
white', it is 'waxing' and when it gets 'more black,' it is 'waning.' Don't be
afraid to follow your child's lead and discuss complex phenomenon on simple
terms. It's exposure, which is what childhood should be!
31) Swat It!
I learned this trick from a
master teacher when I was in college: Use a fly swatter as a pointer. Cut out a
rectangle in the middle of a fly swatter (unused...aka clean). (Cut horizontally
as in the picture for words and vertically for single letters or numbers). Have
your child swat at numbers on the white board, letters on the chalkboard, or
words that he can find around the house. Go on a letter/number/word scavenger
hunt. This activity is great for releasing focused energy through the swatting
motion, and it is still teaching!
32) Make-Your-Own Sewing
Cards
Starting with construction
paper, have your child paint a design on the paper. You can also use an already
painted project as well. Cut the paper into a definite shape or item-square,
heart, boot, mitten. Punch holes along the outside edge (all the way around the
item) using a hole punch. Cut a length of yarn that will weave in and out around
the entire cutout. Cover the paper cutout with clear contact paper, lamination,
or clear packaging tape. Re-punch the holes. Tie one end of yarn to one hole,
and wrap masking tape around the opposite end of the yarn (the untied end) to
make a needle. Model for your child how to sew around the homemade sewing card.
Away your child goes on their fine motor experience!
Shredded paper is something we
ALWAYS have plenty of in our paper shredder bin. It can be used as a sensory
bin material. I hide magnets or foam letters inside the paper shreds. The
letters can be pulled out and arranged in alphabetical order, or can be matched
to letters written on a dry erase board. Do the same with number magnets or foam
numbers.
B) Print off the pictures in wallet size, cut out, mount on construction paper or cover with contact paper/packing tape to protect.
C) Arrange the pics in an order and have your child use the actual train cars (or toys) to arrange the toys in the order of the pictures.
D) Once your child has created the arrangement, rearrange and try it again in another sequence. Have your child arrange the pictures and you arrange the toys to switch roles and let your child have some control of the game.
35)
ABC book Word Match
Turn a simple ABC book into an advanced activity for your preschooler. Write words on sticky notes or pieces of masking tape. (You need one word for each letter of the alphabet. If the book has pictures near each letter, write the word of the item pictured.)
Show your child the words, and
ask them to find the letter that begins each word. Stick the word next to the
letter. Continue until all of the words are stuck in the book. Read through the
book to 'check' their work.
36) Color-Change Flowers
My preschoolers always loved this experiment. Using white flowers, or celery, color water in two containers with food coloring and leave the water in one container clear. Place a flower (or stalk of celery) in each glass.
Create a simple chart
labeled "What will happen to the flowers?" Make two columns and three rows as
pictured. I labeled one column "Guess" and one column "Actual." My son made his
prediction for each flower, and we watched them over 3 days. On the last day
(you can watch them however long you want) we recorded his words for what
happened to each flower in the last column. This is a simple way for a child to
be introduced to the structure of the scientific method as well as be exposed to
a project that takes more than one sitting to complete.
37) Cotton Swab Writing
This activity started as a dot-dot activity of the letters. My son decided after a few letters that simply 'writing' the letters with the cotton swab was more industrious. You can do this with smaller children with one letter at a time, or as it is pictured here. My emphasis was ob the direction of writing the letters (starting at the top, crossing from left to right, etc.) Just another way to explore and write the letters...or numbers.
38) Felt Board Yarn Letters
Getting children hands-on for letter exploration is exciting for them and breaks up their learning to not only involve tracing or writing on paper. I like this activity for the child that is not so keen on sitting and writing.
First, make your own mini-felt board. Using the insert that comes inside a new or dry-cleaned mens dress shirt (that hard thin board) or a piece of cardboard, hot glue a scrap piece of felt or fleece on it. On the back I glued a small piece of rug-grip to help keep the felt board in place on a table since it will tend to slide due to the fabric.
Second, cut a piece of yarn long enough to form letters and numbers. Starting at the top left of the letter, as you would in writing, form the letter with the yarn. Double back as needed (and as you would when writing) to show that you don't lift up your pencil when writing. The yarn really shows the path of creating a letter. Cut small pieces of yarn to use when 'crossing' the A or the 'T'.
39)
Bean Reveal Puzzle
Using a quilt, or picture, cover a defined object with sensory material like beans or rice. Slowly move the beans off of the object as your child tries to guess what is being revealed. Little by little increase the amount of the object seen until your child guesses what the object is. We used a quilt that had many different construction trucks pictured. You could use pages of a book as well. Have your child turn as you cover a picture, and then they get to look as you slowly move the beans in this guessing game.
40) Focus Words Trace
After playing outside one day, my son and I were talking about all the things we saw outside. I wrote down the words on sentence strips in highlighter and then had my son trace over my writing with a marker of his choice. We read the word as he wrote it. It was simple, quick letter writing practice/exposure and it was relevant to what we had just been doing. This technique is very handy for making quick tracing sheets: use highlighter! Your child then writes over in a darker or different color to allow them to see formed letters and follow them a little easier than dotted letter tracing sheets.
To expand, I underlined
the beginning letter in each word and he told me what the letter was: I said,
"Sand. What letter is first in 'sand'?" He would answer, "'S'!"
Have a child that likes to
bang? Give them a reason to and a productive activity that requires burning a
little energy. Using a scrap piece of wood, write letters, numbers, a name, etc
on the board and demonstrate to your child how to use a hammer to tap nails
along the written symbols. Your child will be tracing the symbols using the
nails. This is a great activity to do in the garage on a rainy day, or even
outside on a nice one. Provide safety gear-goggles-and a lesson on only hitting
the nail or wood with the hammer. You can eliminate any letters or numbers and
still this activity exercises eye-hand coordination, gross and fine motor
skills, and utilizes that focused energy that can really allow a child to expel
'the wiggles.'
.JPG)
All children love to hold on to
treasures they locate at the playground, in the backyard or on a trail walk. My
son collected some leaves at our neighborhood playground, and wanted to take
them home. After we got them home, he glue them on a piece of paper-so we could
hang them on the fridge-and I asked him a few questions about the leaves. I
told him we could write a story about the leaves and that I could write what he
told me. I asked some focused questions to get him started such as: "Where did
you find these leaves?" "How many are there?" "What do they feel like?" "What
sound do they make when you touch them?" After we were done, I re-read what he
had dictated so he understood the written word connection to his spoken words.
We even included some pictures and basic facts that made this little piece of
dictation look like a scientific report. You can extend any activity in this
way-paintings, block creations (take a picture, print it out and attach
dictation to it), etc.
43) Make a Globe
.JPG)
Long-term projects teach
patience and perseverance. We used paper mache to make a globe (since we did not
have one at the time that my son was interested in learning about the Earth and
where we are located on it). I blew up a balloon, and layered on some paper
mache. My son tried to help, but he got bogged down by the messiness of it at
the time. I took over and completed the layers of paper-letting each layer dry
before adding more. I did have to remind my son that it took time for each layer
to dry and harden, and it was a hard concept to grasp, but he saw the globe
taking shape and eventually he painted it blue for the oceans. I did my best to
outline the continents and then my son painted in the green land masses. It is
not perfect, but it works. It fulfilled my son's interest in completing a
'project' and allowed me to provide him with some Space exploration at home.
Don't be afraid of long-term projects that require a few days or a couple weeks
to complete. It is not only teaching the lesson of its subject matter but is
also teaching patience!
44) Colored Tape Pattern Play
At your local hardware
store near the electrical supplies, you can find colored electrical tape. It
costs about $3 for about 5 rolls. I created some patterns using the tape and
left them on the dining room table for my son in the morning. He immediately
started using the safety scissors to cut small strips that mimicked the patterns
I created for him to follow. Cheap, easy pattern practice and scissor practice
as well.
We have a small plastic
skeleton model that breaks apart and a book that talks about the bones. I
printed off a full body picture of my son standing up and he can lay the bones
over his picture to locate where each bone is located in his own body. I found a
printable skeleton that you can print off and cut apart to do the same thing at
your home! Print off this skeleton
worksheet, cut it apart-arms, thighs, lower legs, upper arms, lower arms,
hands, etc.
46) Shave Cream is Not Only for Toddlers
I created a shave cream play
area by placing a small plastic mat on the floor (you could use a plastic
tablecloth) and providing some cookie sheets as palettes. My preschooler enjoyed
the sensory experience and even skating in it on the mat! (Be cautious-he fell
down quite a bit, but loved it!) I also provided one of his letter tracing
sheets in a plastic baggie so that he could use the shaving cream and his finger
to trace the letters. Something to break up the play anyway. He preferred
getting his hands and feet in it-it was a hit! I did plan this on a day when I
had to mop the floors anyway, so it was too much extra clean up, but it was easy
to clean up and wash off.
.JPG)
For an older preschooler who
has mastered their alphabet and its order, try changing things up and checking
their mastery of their letters. I created a simple mixed-up letter mat and taped
it to the fridge so that my son could match the letter magnets to the letters,
but could not rely on singing the ABC song or reciting the traditional order to
solve the puzzle. This makes the letters fresh for a child who has seen them on
the front of the fridge for 3 or 4 years running!
______________________________________________________________________________________
19) Letter Sticker Collage
I bought stickers from the
dollar aisle at Target, and my son created a collage using the first letter of
his name. Great workout for the fine motor skills of trying to pick up the
sticker and stick it on the paper as well as the literacy exercise of
reinforcing the first letter of his name.For more letter work: buy a package of alphabet stickers, write the letters from A to Z and have your child place the matching stickers on the written letters for more one-to-one correspondence practice, or just try a letter a day to teach one letter at a time!
20) Color Circles Sticker Sort
The younger preschooler will
have fun sorting the colored stickers into color groups. Grab a package of the
4-color circle stickers from an office supply store. Divide a piece of paper
into 4 spaces as shown in the picture. Using colored markers, write the color
words using their respective colored marker writing one color per square. Let
your child take a sheet of stickers and place the corresponding sticker in its
matching square on the paper. This activity teaches visual discrimination
(the
ability to discriminate between visible similarities and differences in size,
shape, pattern, form, and color), and color recognition. |
| Paper divided into four parts and color words written on each part. |
21) Tree Parts Diagram
Using sticks, twigs, and leaves, glue
parts on a piece of paper and label the parts of a tree. Talking with your
child as you work on this, tell them the biggest stick will be the trunk, the
smaller twigs are like the branches, and add the leaves. Draw on roots, and
label all the parts to encourage literacy! We underlined the first letter of
each tree part to identify which letters started each word.
22) Beverage Box Matching
 |
| Figure 1-divided beverage box |
 |
| Handy toilet paper tubes! |
Second, wrap each toilet paper tube with a piece of paper, or paint each with a different color. Also, cut a small square of each paper to match the tube.
That's the
game!
It's your
child's job to match the tube to the corresponding section in the box.
Depending on your child's skill level, use plain colored paper or patterned paper as I have shown here. You can even wrap each tube in the same color paper and draw shapes on the tubes and corresponding shapes drawn on the square pieces that get glued into the box. This exercises eye-hand coordination, knowledge of one-to-one correspondence, visual discrimination, and if you use numbers or shapes on the tubes, the names of them as well. It's a great way to get rid of those last wrap scraps without just throwing them away.
23) Easy Dry Erase Tracing
Make a dotted tracing sheet for
you child. I quickly create a numbers tracing sheet and alphabet tracing sheet
on construction paper, and slip the sheets into gallon zip top bags. Using dry
erase markers, your child can trace the dotted numbers or letters to practice
writing. The marker wipes off with a paper towel. It will stain a bit, but
takes a nice amount of pressure to erase so it helps with extra pent up energy
too! (To really clean it, use a little window cleaner on a paper towel.)
Reusable and can travel: clip to a clipboard and you have a car activity
too!24) Cutting Practice
When supervising, let your
child use scissors. They will need to use this skill in school or at home
when completing craft projects. It is a skill that is checked during assessment
time in preschool. Create your own assessment/practice sheet by drawing lines
on a piece of construction paper as in the picture below. It takes practice,
but let your child learn and try.25) Domino Counting Match
I happened to get a set of
paper dominoes from a Christmas cracker over this past holiday season. (You know
the ones you pull apart and there is a crown, fortune, and little trinket
inside?) Well, I created a little matching game (that I use as a 'station' or
table activity). I traced around the dominoes on a piece of paper. Wrote the
numbers 1-12, one number for each rectangle, and wrote the number word as well.
The goal is for your child to count the dots on a domino and match it to the
correct rectangle. This helps associate an amount with its symbol, i.e.
*****=5. If you don't have paper or plastic dominoes, make some out of black
construction paper and a correction fluid pen, or white paint, or just cut some
small rectangles out of index cards and make black dots for each number amount.
Store the dominoes in a zip-top bag and you can even glue the paper into a file
folder to create an easy storage method...a file folder game.26) Sensory Bean Sort
Using a plastic apple container, muffin tin, or egg carton, sort a mixture of seeds and beans. You can start with the mixed items in a small bowl and sort into the carton or tin. My son was very focused on this! It is great for fine motor control, visual discrimination, and encourages organization.
27) 'If
You Give a Dog a Doughut' Detangle
In the book, by Laura Numeroff,
a kite gets tangled in a tree. I used some quick thinking one rainy day to come
up with this book extension activity:
A) Cut a diamond shape out of paper,
glue straws or craft sticks to the back that have been cut to fit for
stability.
B) Glue or tape a string to the
bottom of the kite, and tangle the string around a toy tree. Don't have a toy
tree? Use a toilet paper tube as the trunk, cut slits in the side so you can
slide straws or craft sticks in as branches and then tangle the string around
it.
The tougher the tangle the more this
turns into a fine motor and problem solving exercise.
28) Seed Counting
After making acorn squash as
the veg one night for dinner, I saved and washed the seeds (because they had to
be used for something). I created a counting activity for my preschooler: As in
the picture below, Write the numbers from 1 on up to as high as you can fit on
the paper you are using. Draw a circle below each number to be used as the
'amount' location. Have your child count out the right amount of seeds to place
in each circle. Glue them on the paper. Teaching numbers is not just about
identification; it's important to teach the amount of each as well.
29) Small,
Medium, Large Keeper!
I call this a 'keeper', because
it is a great learning activity but also one to keep for posterity! Trace your
hand and your child's hand as well as that of a sibling, stuffed animal, or dad.
Discuss which one is the biggest, which is the smallest and which is in the
middle. Assign/teach the terms small, medium and large or big. Write the words
next to each hand that fits the description as in the picture. Write names and
the date as well so you can look back on the little hand prints long after they
are bigger than yours.30) Moon Phase Cracker Bites
At lunch one day, my son bit
into his cracker and said, "Look! The moon is half quarters full." Obviously we
needed to discuss the terms and not using them all together, so we did, using
our crackers. I bit into mine to show 1/4 full, 1/2 full and full (obviously no
bite, just a full cracker). I then talked about how when the moon gets 'more
white', it is 'waxing' and when it gets 'more black,' it is 'waning.' Don't be
afraid to follow your child's lead and discuss complex phenomenon on simple
terms. It's exposure, which is what childhood should be!31) Swat It!
 |
| Using the swatter to smack the numbers as we counted. |
 |
| Looking for words in our house. |
Starting with construction
paper, have your child paint a design on the paper. You can also use an already
painted project as well. Cut the paper into a definite shape or item-square,
heart, boot, mitten. Punch holes along the outside edge (all the way around the
item) using a hole punch. Cut a length of yarn that will weave in and out around
the entire cutout. Cover the paper cutout with clear contact paper, lamination,
or clear packaging tape. Re-punch the holes. Tie one end of yarn to one hole,
and wrap masking tape around the opposite end of the yarn (the untied end) to
make a needle. Model for your child how to sew around the homemade sewing card.
Away your child goes on their fine motor experience!
33) Shredded
Paper Sensory
Shredded paper is something we
ALWAYS have plenty of in our paper shredder bin. It can be used as a sensory
bin material. I hide magnets or foam letters inside the paper shreds. The
letters can be pulled out and arranged in alphabetical order, or can be matched
to letters written on a dry erase board. Do the same with number magnets or foam
numbers.
34) Toy
Sequencing
A very important
skill for preschoolers to develop is following multi-step directions. Teaching
this can be verbal (just asking your child to do things teaches listening to and
following directions) but it can be fun to enhance this skill through hands-on
and visual experiences. Here is one idea I thought up:
A) Take pictures of
individual train cars (or small toys if your child does not have trains). I
took pics of about 6 train cars.
B) Print off the pictures in wallet size, cut out, mount on construction paper or cover with contact paper/packing tape to protect.
C) Arrange the pics in an order and have your child use the actual train cars (or toys) to arrange the toys in the order of the pictures.
D) Once your child has created the arrangement, rearrange and try it again in another sequence. Have your child arrange the pictures and you arrange the toys to switch roles and let your child have some control of the game.
Turn a simple ABC book into an advanced activity for your preschooler. Write words on sticky notes or pieces of masking tape. (You need one word for each letter of the alphabet. If the book has pictures near each letter, write the word of the item pictured.)
Show your child the words, and
ask them to find the letter that begins each word. Stick the word next to the
letter. Continue until all of the words are stuck in the book. Read through the
book to 'check' their work.36) Color-Change Flowers
My preschoolers always loved this experiment. Using white flowers, or celery, color water in two containers with food coloring and leave the water in one container clear. Place a flower (or stalk of celery) in each glass.
37) Cotton Swab Writing
This activity started as a dot-dot activity of the letters. My son decided after a few letters that simply 'writing' the letters with the cotton swab was more industrious. You can do this with smaller children with one letter at a time, or as it is pictured here. My emphasis was ob the direction of writing the letters (starting at the top, crossing from left to right, etc.) Just another way to explore and write the letters...or numbers.
38) Felt Board Yarn Letters
Getting children hands-on for letter exploration is exciting for them and breaks up their learning to not only involve tracing or writing on paper. I like this activity for the child that is not so keen on sitting and writing.
First, make your own mini-felt board. Using the insert that comes inside a new or dry-cleaned mens dress shirt (that hard thin board) or a piece of cardboard, hot glue a scrap piece of felt or fleece on it. On the back I glued a small piece of rug-grip to help keep the felt board in place on a table since it will tend to slide due to the fabric.
Second, cut a piece of yarn long enough to form letters and numbers. Starting at the top left of the letter, as you would in writing, form the letter with the yarn. Double back as needed (and as you would when writing) to show that you don't lift up your pencil when writing. The yarn really shows the path of creating a letter. Cut small pieces of yarn to use when 'crossing' the A or the 'T'.
Using a quilt, or picture, cover a defined object with sensory material like beans or rice. Slowly move the beans off of the object as your child tries to guess what is being revealed. Little by little increase the amount of the object seen until your child guesses what the object is. We used a quilt that had many different construction trucks pictured. You could use pages of a book as well. Have your child turn as you cover a picture, and then they get to look as you slowly move the beans in this guessing game.
40) Focus Words Trace
After playing outside one day, my son and I were talking about all the things we saw outside. I wrote down the words on sentence strips in highlighter and then had my son trace over my writing with a marker of his choice. We read the word as he wrote it. It was simple, quick letter writing practice/exposure and it was relevant to what we had just been doing. This technique is very handy for making quick tracing sheets: use highlighter! Your child then writes over in a darker or different color to allow them to see formed letters and follow them a little easier than dotted letter tracing sheets.
41) Nailing Letters and
Numbers
Have a child that likes to
bang? Give them a reason to and a productive activity that requires burning a
little energy. Using a scrap piece of wood, write letters, numbers, a name, etc
on the board and demonstrate to your child how to use a hammer to tap nails
along the written symbols. Your child will be tracing the symbols using the
nails. This is a great activity to do in the garage on a rainy day, or even
outside on a nice one. Provide safety gear-goggles-and a lesson on only hitting
the nail or wood with the hammer. You can eliminate any letters or numbers and
still this activity exercises eye-hand coordination, gross and fine motor
skills, and utilizes that focused energy that can really allow a child to expel
'the wiggles.'
42) Write About it with
Dictation
.JPG)
All children love to hold on to
treasures they locate at the playground, in the backyard or on a trail walk. My
son collected some leaves at our neighborhood playground, and wanted to take
them home. After we got them home, he glue them on a piece of paper-so we could
hang them on the fridge-and I asked him a few questions about the leaves. I
told him we could write a story about the leaves and that I could write what he
told me. I asked some focused questions to get him started such as: "Where did
you find these leaves?" "How many are there?" "What do they feel like?" "What
sound do they make when you touch them?" After we were done, I re-read what he
had dictated so he understood the written word connection to his spoken words.
We even included some pictures and basic facts that made this little piece of
dictation look like a scientific report. You can extend any activity in this
way-paintings, block creations (take a picture, print it out and attach
dictation to it), etc.43) Make a Globe
.JPG)
Long-term projects teach
patience and perseverance. We used paper mache to make a globe (since we did not
have one at the time that my son was interested in learning about the Earth and
where we are located on it). I blew up a balloon, and layered on some paper
mache. My son tried to help, but he got bogged down by the messiness of it at
the time. I took over and completed the layers of paper-letting each layer dry
before adding more. I did have to remind my son that it took time for each layer
to dry and harden, and it was a hard concept to grasp, but he saw the globe
taking shape and eventually he painted it blue for the oceans. I did my best to
outline the continents and then my son painted in the green land masses. It is
not perfect, but it works. It fulfilled my son's interest in completing a
'project' and allowed me to provide him with some Space exploration at home.
Don't be afraid of long-term projects that require a few days or a couple weeks
to complete. It is not only teaching the lesson of its subject matter but is
also teaching patience!44) Colored Tape Pattern Play
45) Skeleton
Exploration
We have a small plastic
skeleton model that breaks apart and a book that talks about the bones. I
printed off a full body picture of my son standing up and he can lay the bones
over his picture to locate where each bone is located in his own body. I found a
printable skeleton that you can print off and cut apart to do the same thing at
your home! Print off this skeleton
worksheet, cut it apart-arms, thighs, lower legs, upper arms, lower arms,
hands, etc.
Your child can lay
each cut out part over his or her own picture to see what their bones look like
inside their body. Reading books about the body and bones are helpful and an
interesting companion activity.
46) Shave Cream is Not Only for Toddlers
I created a shave cream play
area by placing a small plastic mat on the floor (you could use a plastic
tablecloth) and providing some cookie sheets as palettes. My preschooler enjoyed
the sensory experience and even skating in it on the mat! (Be cautious-he fell
down quite a bit, but loved it!) I also provided one of his letter tracing
sheets in a plastic baggie so that he could use the shaving cream and his finger
to trace the letters. Something to break up the play anyway. He preferred
getting his hands and feet in it-it was a hit! I did plan this on a day when I
had to mop the floors anyway, so it was too much extra clean up, but it was easy
to clean up and wash off.
47) Mixed-Up
Letter Magnets
.JPG)
For an older preschooler who
has mastered their alphabet and its order, try changing things up and checking
their mastery of their letters. I created a simple mixed-up letter mat and taped
it to the fridge so that my son could match the letter magnets to the letters,
but could not rely on singing the ABC song or reciting the traditional order to
solve the puzzle. This makes the letters fresh for a child who has seen them on
the front of the fridge for 3 or 4 years running!Early Elementary Activities
These are a few activities that have been used in the
early elementary grades. I created them to help me implement state education
standards while still putting my spin on my students' learning. I hope they can
be of help as home support for your child that goes to school, or add-on
activities for your homeschool lessons. These would even be great supplements
as summer practice when school may not be in session.
1) Geometry Exploration: (Originally created as a Kindergarten-level exploration)
Part of learning about the
shapes is exploring their characteristics in order to compare them to one
another. Go beyond the simple identification of each shape, and play with them
to better grasp their construction. Using Wikki Stix and drawn or printed shapes on
index cards or cardstock, let your child explore how many sides each shape has
as well as the differences in lengths of each side (for example in the 3
different types of triangles).
A) Using Microsoft Paint, or
other computer drawing program, create shapes and print them onto index cards or
cardstock. You could also use a stencil or ruler and just hand draw them onto
regular paper.
B) Laminate the cards, or slip full sheets of paper with printed shapes into a page protector sleeve. You could also use clear contact paper as an inexpensive lamination alternative.
C) Cut lengths of Wikki Stix to match each side of each shape. (i.e. Circles will have one long Wikki Stix length, squares will have 4 pieces of the same length, etc.)
D) Your child can match the lengths of Stix to each shape, count the individual Stix pieces to explore how many sides each shape has, or compare lengths of sides to learn which shapes have equal sides and which do not. A great fine motor, hands-on, learning experience for sensory-motivated children!
Cut a rectangle in the middle of
a new fly swatter and you have a 'word search tool'! Walk around your home with
your child and have them 'swat' words as they see them. Carry along a piece of
paper on a clipboard and have your child write each words he/she finds on their
paper as a log of words. After finishing the search, review the words, explore
what sounds are in the beginning, middle and end of the words, look for patterns
in word families, and draw pictures to create a symbol association with the
words. You could even turn this into a book!
3) Letter Tiles:
I do my best on this blog to not
refer you to items that need to be purchased, but rather to make items you would
like to purchase out of materials already in your home. The pictured letter
tiles were purchased while I was teaching, and I used some of them during Guided
Reading groups and Centers in a First Grade classroom. You can make these at
home using milk caps. Check out the Facebook
page Wall Photos album for the picture of my homemade milk cap letter
tiles...you can even magnetize them to put on a cookie sheet work surface or on
the fridge!
4) Is it Magnetic?
Children love to explore with
magnets. I found some simple, inexpensive horseshoe magnets from a Dollar Store
a few years back, and created a lesson using them:
A) Draw a horseshoe magnet on two separate pieces of paper. Mark the 'N' and 'S' poles on each magnet, and draw an 'X' through one of the magnets. The 'x' magnet will be the non-magnetic pile, and the other magnet will be the pile for the magnetic items.
B) Have your child test items that you gathered, placing the items that are magnetic on the correct paper, and the others on the non-magnetic pile. You may find your child grabbing a magnet and traveling around the house on a rainy day experimenting further!
5) Sparkle Words Tactile Thesaurus:
This is perfect for children who are being challenged to use creative writing strategies.
A) Using a piece of small
poster board, glue on library pockets or small envelopes, decorate according to
your taste with a label and any color, and laminate, cover with clear contact
paper or tape a piece of plastic sheet protector cut to fit over the envelopes
to make a dry erase surface. Write over-used words on the pockets/envelopes,
i.e. 'big', 'happy', 'sad', etc.
B) Using a permanent marker and popsicle sticks, write synonyms of each over-used word on each popsicle stick.
C) Place the synonym sticks in the pocket of
their respective over-used word so that your child can edit his or her writing
in a tactile way so their writing will 'sparkle'!
6) Make It Rain..Indoors!
I carried out this little demonstration for First Graders when we were learning about the States of Matter and the Water Cycle. Try this with the accompanying song by Dr. Jean.
YOU NEED: an electric skillet, plastic cups or wood blocks, a cookie sheet, ice and water.
A) Plug in the skillet and fill
with water.
B) Stabilize the cookie sheet over the skillet by placing it on wooden blocks or, as I have done here, using plastic cups taped together to give enough height.
C) Place ice on the cookie sheet, and be patient!
D) Watch for the evaporation (steam), condensation (on bottom of cookie sheet), precipitation (droplets form on cookie sheet), and accumulation (water collecting together in the skillet after it rains down.
*Note: This does require patience as the skillet heats up the water. But, you can set it up before lunch, make lunch, and by the time you are done eating (check on it to be sure you don't over boil the water) you will have rain inside.
7) Build-A-Word
Families
This activity uses old DVD cases and the scratched or worn out CDs or DVDs that you would normally just throw away. Using any word family, or letter, you can create a build-a-word box. Find lists of word families here: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/!
Simply write the word
family ending chunk on the DVD case, and on a CD write letters that create words
when added to the beginning of the chunk. For example in the picture below, I
chose to make an '-at' family. Letters that can be added to '-at' to make a
word are written on the disc. Your child opens the box, and turns the disc to
match one letter to the ending chunk. On a piece of paper, they write down the
word. Turn the CD, and write another word.
This picture shows 'c'
words that start with the hard 'c' sound such as 'can' (not words that start
with the soft 'c' sound like cereal). After writing down all of the words that
can be built from the box, they have created a word family list that can be used
again as a reference. To extend this activity at the table, your child can draw
a picture of each word next to the words on their list.
.JPG)
You will need 2 pieces of paper, a gallon zip top bag (if desired), a bunch of pom poms or other small manipulative (Lego bricks work well), scissors and a rubber band or piece of yarn with the two ends tied to form a loop large enough to encircle a group of pom poms.
On one piece of paper write each number three times as shown on the yellow piece of construction paper in the picture. Cut apart the numbers so that each number is on its own square as below. Secondly, make a template for an addition problem as shown on the red piece of paper to the left. Slip the template paper into the bag, and have your child sort the number cards so they are in piles of the same number.
.JPG)
[I am using the pom poms from one of my Toddler Activities, so these activities can grow as your child does!] Show your child how to place one number card in the first blank, to the left of the addition symbol, and another number card on the second blank. They should then identify each number and arrange the same number of pom poms below each addend.
.JPG)
Using the rubber band or yarn loop, lasso the pom poms together to move them into one group (combine them, so to speak) like the picture below. After this action, your child counts the pom poms altogether, and locates the number card to place in the sum blank (the blank after the equal sign).
I like keeping this all in the zip top bag so my son can grab the whole bag and have access to all the parts of the 'game.' It is great manipulative-based exploration of addition for older preschoolers or Kindergarten students who are just learning about the concept. This can EASILY be modified for subtraction.
*Other options: Use dice to find the two addends-roll one dice and the child writes the number in the first blank with a dry erase marker, and then roll the second dice to get the second number. This helps the writing practice and you won't need to make the number cards!
9) Them Bones
I have a
booklet from a Scholastic book order that discusses bones. It came with a little
plastic skeleton kit so that a child can see how the bones connect together and
where they all fit. I expanded this activity for my son so he could concretely
see where the bones are located in his body. You may not have a plastic skeleton
kit, but I have a solution for you! Here is how it goes:
1-Take a full-length
picture of your child (see right).
2-Print off the picture of your child in 5x7 size and slide it into a zip top bag or a plastic page protector sleeve.
3-Print off this worksheet from kbteachers.com: The Skeletal System
4-Glue the skeleton picture to cardstock or other paper to give it some strength.
5-Cut the skeleton apart in sections: cut at wrist joint, ankle joint, elbow, shoulder, etc. to separate the bones/sections of bones. (Don't cut the hand apart by finger bones or you'll be dealing with pieces that are too tiny to handle).
6-With your child, lay the bone sections on top of their picture so they can see which bones are located where in their body. You can place a piece of rolled masking tape on the back of each bone piece to help it adhere to the picture (while in the sleeve) and not slide around.
[I love The Magic School Bus books and their descriptions of the human body. My son even as a preschooler loves them and asks to read them all the time. They would be a great addition to this activity.]
10) Make a Globe
Long-term projects teach
patience and perseverance. We used paper mache to make a globe (since we did not
have one at the time that my son was interested in learning about the Earth and
where we are located on it). I blew up a balloon, and layered on some paper
mache. My son tried to help, but he got bogged down by the messiness of it at
the time. I took over and completed the layers of paper-letting each layer dry
before adding more. I did have to remind my son that it took time for each layer
to dry and harden, and it was a hard concept to grasp, but he saw the globe
taking shape and eventually he painted it blue for the oceans. I did my best to
outline the continents and then my son painted in the green land masses. It is
not perfect, but it works. It fulfilled my son's interest in completing a
'project' and allowed me to provide him with some Space exploration at home.
Don't be afraid of long-term projects that require a few days or a couple weeks
to complete. It is not only teaching the lesson of its subject matter but is
also teaching patience!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1) Geometry Exploration: (Originally created as a Kindergarten-level exploration)
Part of learning about the
shapes is exploring their characteristics in order to compare them to one
another. Go beyond the simple identification of each shape, and play with them
to better grasp their construction. Using Wikki Stix and drawn or printed shapes on
index cards or cardstock, let your child explore how many sides each shape has
as well as the differences in lengths of each side (for example in the 3
different types of triangles). 
A) Using Microsoft Paint, or
other computer drawing program, create shapes and print them onto index cards or
cardstock. You could also use a stencil or ruler and just hand draw them onto
regular paper.B) Laminate the cards, or slip full sheets of paper with printed shapes into a page protector sleeve. You could also use clear contact paper as an inexpensive lamination alternative.
C) Cut lengths of Wikki Stix to match each side of each shape. (i.e. Circles will have one long Wikki Stix length, squares will have 4 pieces of the same length, etc.)
D) Your child can match the lengths of Stix to each shape, count the individual Stix pieces to explore how many sides each shape has, or compare lengths of sides to learn which shapes have equal sides and which do not. A great fine motor, hands-on, learning experience for sensory-motivated children!
2) Fly Swatter Word
Search:
Cut a rectangle in the middle of
a new fly swatter and you have a 'word search tool'! Walk around your home with
your child and have them 'swat' words as they see them. Carry along a piece of
paper on a clipboard and have your child write each words he/she finds on their
paper as a log of words. After finishing the search, review the words, explore
what sounds are in the beginning, middle and end of the words, look for patterns
in word families, and draw pictures to create a symbol association with the
words. You could even turn this into a book!
3) Letter Tiles:
I do my best on this blog to not
refer you to items that need to be purchased, but rather to make items you would
like to purchase out of materials already in your home. The pictured letter
tiles were purchased while I was teaching, and I used some of them during Guided
Reading groups and Centers in a First Grade classroom. You can make these at
home using milk caps. Check out the Facebook
page Wall Photos album for the picture of my homemade milk cap letter
tiles...you can even magnetize them to put on a cookie sheet work surface or on
the fridge!4) Is it Magnetic?
Children love to explore with
magnets. I found some simple, inexpensive horseshoe magnets from a Dollar Store
a few years back, and created a lesson using them:
A) Draw a horseshoe magnet on two separate pieces of paper. Mark the 'N' and 'S' poles on each magnet, and draw an 'X' through one of the magnets. The 'x' magnet will be the non-magnetic pile, and the other magnet will be the pile for the magnetic items.
B) Have your child test items that you gathered, placing the items that are magnetic on the correct paper, and the others on the non-magnetic pile. You may find your child grabbing a magnet and traveling around the house on a rainy day experimenting further!
5) Sparkle Words Tactile Thesaurus:
This is perfect for children who are being challenged to use creative writing strategies.
A) Using a piece of small
poster board, glue on library pockets or small envelopes, decorate according to
your taste with a label and any color, and laminate, cover with clear contact
paper or tape a piece of plastic sheet protector cut to fit over the envelopes
to make a dry erase surface. Write over-used words on the pockets/envelopes,
i.e. 'big', 'happy', 'sad', etc.B) Using a permanent marker and popsicle sticks, write synonyms of each over-used word on each popsicle stick.
 |
| Synonyms for 'happy' |
6) Make It Rain..Indoors!
I carried out this little demonstration for First Graders when we were learning about the States of Matter and the Water Cycle. Try this with the accompanying song by Dr. Jean.
YOU NEED: an electric skillet, plastic cups or wood blocks, a cookie sheet, ice and water.
A) Plug in the skillet and fill
with water.B) Stabilize the cookie sheet over the skillet by placing it on wooden blocks or, as I have done here, using plastic cups taped together to give enough height.
C) Place ice on the cookie sheet, and be patient!
D) Watch for the evaporation (steam), condensation (on bottom of cookie sheet), precipitation (droplets form on cookie sheet), and accumulation (water collecting together in the skillet after it rains down.
*Note: This does require patience as the skillet heats up the water. But, you can set it up before lunch, make lunch, and by the time you are done eating (check on it to be sure you don't over boil the water) you will have rain inside.
 |
| Condensation and Precipitation |
This activity uses old DVD cases and the scratched or worn out CDs or DVDs that you would normally just throw away. Using any word family, or letter, you can create a build-a-word box. Find lists of word families here: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/!
8) Addition
Exploration with Manipulatives
.JPG)
You will need 2 pieces of paper, a gallon zip top bag (if desired), a bunch of pom poms or other small manipulative (Lego bricks work well), scissors and a rubber band or piece of yarn with the two ends tied to form a loop large enough to encircle a group of pom poms.
On one piece of paper write each number three times as shown on the yellow piece of construction paper in the picture. Cut apart the numbers so that each number is on its own square as below. Secondly, make a template for an addition problem as shown on the red piece of paper to the left. Slip the template paper into the bag, and have your child sort the number cards so they are in piles of the same number.
.JPG)
[I am using the pom poms from one of my Toddler Activities, so these activities can grow as your child does!] Show your child how to place one number card in the first blank, to the left of the addition symbol, and another number card on the second blank. They should then identify each number and arrange the same number of pom poms below each addend.
.JPG)
Using the rubber band or yarn loop, lasso the pom poms together to move them into one group (combine them, so to speak) like the picture below. After this action, your child counts the pom poms altogether, and locates the number card to place in the sum blank (the blank after the equal sign).
I like keeping this all in the zip top bag so my son can grab the whole bag and have access to all the parts of the 'game.' It is great manipulative-based exploration of addition for older preschoolers or Kindergarten students who are just learning about the concept. This can EASILY be modified for subtraction.
*Other options: Use dice to find the two addends-roll one dice and the child writes the number in the first blank with a dry erase marker, and then roll the second dice to get the second number. This helps the writing practice and you won't need to make the number cards!
9) Them Bones
2-Print off the picture of your child in 5x7 size and slide it into a zip top bag or a plastic page protector sleeve.
3-Print off this worksheet from kbteachers.com: The Skeletal System
4-Glue the skeleton picture to cardstock or other paper to give it some strength.
5-Cut the skeleton apart in sections: cut at wrist joint, ankle joint, elbow, shoulder, etc. to separate the bones/sections of bones. (Don't cut the hand apart by finger bones or you'll be dealing with pieces that are too tiny to handle).
6-With your child, lay the bone sections on top of their picture so they can see which bones are located where in their body. You can place a piece of rolled masking tape on the back of each bone piece to help it adhere to the picture (while in the sleeve) and not slide around.
[I love The Magic School Bus books and their descriptions of the human body. My son even as a preschooler loves them and asks to read them all the time. They would be a great addition to this activity.]
10) Make a Globe
Long-term projects teach
patience and perseverance. We used paper mache to make a globe (since we did not
have one at the time that my son was interested in learning about the Earth and
where we are located on it). I blew up a balloon, and layered on some paper
mache. My son tried to help, but he got bogged down by the messiness of it at
the time. I took over and completed the layers of paper-letting each layer dry
before adding more. I did have to remind my son that it took time for each layer
to dry and harden, and it was a hard concept to grasp, but he saw the globe
taking shape and eventually he painted it blue for the oceans. I did my best to
outline the continents and then my son painted in the green land masses. It is
not perfect, but it works. It fulfilled my son's interest in completing a
'project' and allowed me to provide him with some Space exploration at home.
Don't be afraid of long-term projects that require a few days or a couple weeks
to complete. It is not only teaching the lesson of its subject matter but is
also teaching patience!_____________________________________________________________________________________
Thematic Activities
SPRING:
1) Easter egg number
match: Using plastic Easter eggs, write one number from 1-12 or up to 18
on each egg. Also, write one number on the bottom of each cup in an egg carton.
Your child can match the eggs to the numbers in the carton. To increase
difficulty, write the numbers in the carton out of order!
2) Easter egg sensory in Easter grass: Create a sensory bin with plastic Easter eggs, Easter grass or shredded paper, and any small Spring-themed toys to dig for in the grass. Split the eggs apart and make it a matching activity, or place small objects in the eggs so your child can open them to reveal what is inside.
3) Vegetable stamping:
A-Take a bunch of celery and
tie it together around the mid-point of the stalks or wrap a rubber band around
to hold the stalks together. Cut the bottom inch or two off of the stalks. Dip
in paint and stamp on paper: you have a flower! For a color matching activity
for toddlers, pre-stamp different colored flowers on paper and let them dry.
Using colored paper that matches the stamped celery flowers, make simple
butterflies-one to match each flower. Have your child land each butterfly on
its respective flower.
B-Using a bell pepper, cut off the bottom 1/2 inch. Dip in green paint and stamp on paper to reveal a shamrock! You can make flowers, as well, if the pepper has four bumps on the top rather than three. Create a counting activity by writing numbers on a paper. Have your child use the shamrock pepper stamp to stamp the amount under each number-1 stamp under '1', 2 stamps under '2', etc.
4) Seed Sort: Buy packages of seeds at the garden store, and dump them all together in a bowl. Using small cups, bowls or an egg carton, have your child sort the seeds. Arrange from smallest to largest for an ordering lesson. Count how many in each group as well for more learning. You can then plant them to see what grows and label which seed grew into which flower/plant.
5) Plant a garden: using an egg carton or rinsed egg shells, plant seeds. When they begin to sprout, you can transplant them into a pot or bed by burying the entire paper egg cup (if a paper egg carton is used), or plant the entire half shell with the sprout in it. The carton or shell will degrade in the soil and become fertilizer.
6) Egg Carton Amount Match: Using plastic Easter eggs
and an empty egg carton, create a number symbol-number amount matching game.
Write the number symbol on the top half of an egg. Represent the number amount
on the bottom half of the egg using dots, x's, or another small mark. 'Crack
open' the eggs and lay them on a table. Your child matches the top halves to
the bottom halves by counting the dots on the bottoms. (I left the egg bottoms
in the carton cups so my son picked up the bottom, counted the dots, and then
found the egg top that matched.) Place in the carton to store. (You can even
write the number words on the carton cups so that early readers can identify,
count, and read to match.)
***This plastic egg/carton match idea can be expanded to match letters, create word families-the tops of the eggs having one letter written on them and the bottoms having word endings written on them-or two other great ideas from these mom bloggers: This Reading Mama and Ready. Set. Read!.
7) Color Match for Toddlers: Present 'cracked open'
plastic eggs to your older toddler and model how to match the tops and bottoms
by color. This is not only a visual discrimination activity, but also a fine
motor exercise if your child does the 'cracking' and attempts to reconnect tops
and bottoms as they make the matches. Make it a
language/communication experience by naming the colors as the matches are
made.
8) Easter Egg Infant Sensory: Using the plastic eggs, let your child explore them, discuss the colors, how the tops connect to the bottoms, and fill a few to make shakers (see next).
9) Egg Shakers: I used dry tri-color rotini pasta, and sorted it in front of my infant into three piles: I only used a few noodles of each color, but made a pile of 'orange,' 'green,' and 'yellow.' I then put the green noodles in a green egg and closed it up, and placed the orange in an orange egg as well as the yellow noodles in a yellow egg. I talked to my child explaining what I was doing as I stuffed the eggs with their matching-color noodles. You can use a piece of packaging tape or scotch tape to circle the seam in order to prevent the egg from breaking open and spilling noodles, but I left them unsealed and did not have too much of an issue with noodles spilling out. If the noodles make there way out of the eggs, it is just another sensory experience!
10) Decorate Foam Eggs: Using cutouts of egg shapes
(I found a pack of 8-9 in the dollar aisle at Target), provide stickers, glitter
glue/puffy paint and sequins or pom poms so your child can decorate Easter eggs
without using the kitchen. My son decorated one egg for each grandparent and we
sent them as a little 'Easter hello.' I placed a strip of magnetic tape in the
back of each egg before he decorated them so that we (and the grandparents)
could hang the eggs on the refrigerator-makes them more usable.
AUTUMN:
1) Pumpkin Patch Exploring what abounds in the Fall is just plain fun. Visit your local pumpkin patch. Many are family farms with markets attached. I love buying from the source! Ride the hayrides, pony rides or 'cow trains' in our case and let each member of the family pick a pumpkin to take home for Halloween. Grab a gourd or two as well. Many of these farms don't charge admission so the price tag can be a bit more manageable for those of us on a budget.
2) Pumpkin Guts After you get the pumpkins home, maybe you have an extra one you can spare, or wait until you carve (if you do), but open one up. Cut it open and let your child see what is inside. If you scoop out the insides, place them in a bag, dishpan, or baking dish so your child can get their hands in them. Children love playing with 'pumpkin guts'! Be careful with little ones who are still mouthing everything, but they can touch too. This is a sensory activity, a fine motor exercise (using those fingers to pull at the guts and seeds), and a science exploration. If your children are too young to carve yet, this is a great diversion to keep them occupied while the adults take care of the cutting.
3) Seed Estimation In addition to #2 above, pick out some seeds and save them to count. You can have your child guess (estimation) how many seeds they think are in the pumpkin. You can then test that hypothesis by counting the ones that were saved.
4) Seed Counting To extend #3, use the seeds in place of stickers for the Sticker Counting activity listed on the Preschool Activities page: Write numbers 1-5 or 1-10+ on a piece of paper, and glue one seed under '1', two seeds under '2', etc. Children should understand not only the order of numbers, but the associated amount of each number symbol (e.g. 1=*, 2=**,etc.).
5) Paint-a-Pumpkin If you are not carving the pumpkin that your child picked, or have an extra, let your child paint the outside of the pumpkin. Tape newspaper to your table top, or cut open a paper bag from your local grocery store as your drop cloth. Secure the paper to your table with masking tape, and let your child use tempera paints and a brush to create their own design on the pumpkin.
6) Paint the Autumn Use Autumn colors to paint a picture. Red, brown, orange, yellow: provide these colors, or any combination of the list to your child and let them paint 'Fall'. Have them make extra paintings to send to grandparents or other family. You could even frame one and hang it up with your Autumn decorations every year.
7) Make a leaf collage. With
the breeze loosening many leaves from branches, there are leaves to be
collected, and when we collect leaves, we take them home to make a collage.
Children need to learn how to glue. Starting at 2-3years old you can introduce
this. Using white glue, help your child place a dot of glue on a piece of paper
for each leaf they collected outside. I started by squeezing the glue myself
where my son pointed on the paper so he could see how much glue I was squeezing
out. Now that he is over 3, I hold my hand over his on the bottle and we
squeeze together. You can squeeze some glue onto a paper plate and your child
can scoop some glue using a craft stick or straw and then dot it on their
paper.
So many kids in my preschool classes did not have the skill of "a dab'll do ya" or "dot, dot, not a lot." Your child will be gluing galore in school, so teach them the skill with this activity that brings the outdoors indoors. (You can also place the leaves between sheets of wax paper and iron them in order to laminate the leaves. The directions for this are on many sites. Once the leaves are 'waxed' you can glue them onto the paper.)
8) Feed the Birds Place the remains of a cut pumpkin outside for the birds and squirrels. You could put the pieces out on a feeder platform if you have one. Children love watching the habits and activities of animals. Grab the binoculars and watch!
9) Eeeww! Mold! For the truly daring, you can put on your 'Ms. Frizzle' hat (teacher from The Magic School Bus books) and explore decay. My very patient teacher colleagues put up with me doing this in one of my preschool rooms. The kids were intrigued by watching a pumpkin decay over time. It was an investment of a couple of wee. It's easier in a classroom than a home to take this on, but you could place a mini pumpkin in a gallon sized zip top bag, and place the bag into a plastic container or bowl. Observe each day how the pumpkin looks, take pictures, and even make it into a book at the end of the process. We often explore how plants grow in the spring, but not often do we touch on decay. It's interesting to watch, if you are so inclined! Definitely do not let your child touch the moldy pumpkin without latex gloves on their hands. You could keep this outside in a garage if you have one.
10) Compare, Contrast and Classify If they are available, purchase a few gourds and mini pumpkins for a compare/contrast activity. Discuss with your child the similarities and differences of each. You can even chart the characteristics of a couple using descriptive words. Classification is a key skill for future science and math lessons in school, and children love to play 'guessing games', so have them study the mini pumpkins and gourds and tell you about them: What colors/markings are on each? Which are small or large? Arrange them into groups by size, or line them up from smallest to largest. I would even jump on-line and search 'gourds' and 'pumpkins' to see what else we can learn.
11) Try a 'pumpkin rubbing.' Lay a piece of paper over the side of a pumpkin, and using the side of a crayon, rub the crayon the paper to reveal the texture of the pumpkin. (Just like a leaf rubbing.)
12) Apple Stamping If you picked some apples while at
the farm/orchard, cut one open and paint with it. We cut the apple in half, and
then cut one half into quarters, so that a full print and a half print can be
achieved. Push a plastic fork into the apple pieces as a handle, dip the apple
into paint, and stamp it on paper several times. Dip it back into the paint as
needed to achieve a good print. After the painting dries, your child can add
painted or drawn stems and leaves, if desired. You can extend this by using
other items to stamp such as celery stalks, corn on the cob (roll the cob) or
acorn squash.
13) Infants and Toddlers Even the littlest ones can explore the fruits of Fall. Find some bumpy gourds, pieces of hay, Indian corn, or apples, and let the little ones feel the different textures. My daughter was enthralled with a bumpy gourd we picked up at our favorite orchard/farm market. I let her sit in the grass and touch the gourd. It was a great sensory experience for an infant.
14) Pretend Play At your local craft store you can find autumn-colored leaves on a stem, plastic pumpkins, etc. I have some of these items in a bin in our playroom. It adds a new element that is seasonal. My son likes matching the leaves by colors-he piles them up based on which leaves are only red, which have red and orange, and which have red, orange and yellow. Let your child use their imagination with some indoor-friendly objects of the Fall.
15) Nature Walk A great time of year to walk around your neighborhood, state park, or local wooded area to look at all the colors! Pick up some leaves for #7 above, talk about what colors you see, look for animals, acorns, trees that stay green, etc.
16) Library Time If you don't have an extensive children's library in your home, or even if you do, head to your local library to grab a few seasonal reads. Libraries always arrange a table or area of interest for the current season or holiday. You can find a few books on leaves, cute stories for Halloween, or attend a storytime! Definitely reinforce the Fall activities with reading.
17) Dryer Sheet Ghosties: Take a used dryer sheet, lay it flat on a table, and place a balled-up kleenex, piece of tissue paper, or paper (wadded up into the size of a ping pong ball) in the center of it. Wrap string or a rubber band below the kleenex 'head', and draw a face. You can tie string to the rubber band and hang them, or let your child play with them. If you make multiple ghosties, you can use them for counting, a tossing activitiy (see how far the ghost flies: #18 below) or play.
1) Easter egg number
match: Using plastic Easter eggs, write one number from 1-12 or up to 18
on each egg. Also, write one number on the bottom of each cup in an egg carton.
Your child can match the eggs to the numbers in the carton. To increase
difficulty, write the numbers in the carton out of order!
2) Easter egg sensory in Easter grass: Create a sensory bin with plastic Easter eggs, Easter grass or shredded paper, and any small Spring-themed toys to dig for in the grass. Split the eggs apart and make it a matching activity, or place small objects in the eggs so your child can open them to reveal what is inside.
3) Vegetable stamping:
A-Take a bunch of celery and
tie it together around the mid-point of the stalks or wrap a rubber band around
to hold the stalks together. Cut the bottom inch or two off of the stalks. Dip
in paint and stamp on paper: you have a flower! For a color matching activity
for toddlers, pre-stamp different colored flowers on paper and let them dry.
Using colored paper that matches the stamped celery flowers, make simple
butterflies-one to match each flower. Have your child land each butterfly on
its respective flower.B-Using a bell pepper, cut off the bottom 1/2 inch. Dip in green paint and stamp on paper to reveal a shamrock! You can make flowers, as well, if the pepper has four bumps on the top rather than three. Create a counting activity by writing numbers on a paper. Have your child use the shamrock pepper stamp to stamp the amount under each number-1 stamp under '1', 2 stamps under '2', etc.
4) Seed Sort: Buy packages of seeds at the garden store, and dump them all together in a bowl. Using small cups, bowls or an egg carton, have your child sort the seeds. Arrange from smallest to largest for an ordering lesson. Count how many in each group as well for more learning. You can then plant them to see what grows and label which seed grew into which flower/plant.
5) Plant a garden: using an egg carton or rinsed egg shells, plant seeds. When they begin to sprout, you can transplant them into a pot or bed by burying the entire paper egg cup (if a paper egg carton is used), or plant the entire half shell with the sprout in it. The carton or shell will degrade in the soil and become fertilizer.
6) Egg Carton Amount Match: Using plastic Easter eggs
and an empty egg carton, create a number symbol-number amount matching game.
Write the number symbol on the top half of an egg. Represent the number amount
on the bottom half of the egg using dots, x's, or another small mark. 'Crack
open' the eggs and lay them on a table. Your child matches the top halves to
the bottom halves by counting the dots on the bottoms. (I left the egg bottoms
in the carton cups so my son picked up the bottom, counted the dots, and then
found the egg top that matched.) Place in the carton to store. (You can even
write the number words on the carton cups so that early readers can identify,
count, and read to match.)***This plastic egg/carton match idea can be expanded to match letters, create word families-the tops of the eggs having one letter written on them and the bottoms having word endings written on them-or two other great ideas from these mom bloggers: This Reading Mama and Ready. Set. Read!.
7) Color Match for Toddlers: Present 'cracked open'
plastic eggs to your older toddler and model how to match the tops and bottoms
by color. This is not only a visual discrimination activity, but also a fine
motor exercise if your child does the 'cracking' and attempts to reconnect tops
and bottoms as they make the matches. Make it a
language/communication experience by naming the colors as the matches are
made.8) Easter Egg Infant Sensory: Using the plastic eggs, let your child explore them, discuss the colors, how the tops connect to the bottoms, and fill a few to make shakers (see next).
9) Egg Shakers: I used dry tri-color rotini pasta, and sorted it in front of my infant into three piles: I only used a few noodles of each color, but made a pile of 'orange,' 'green,' and 'yellow.' I then put the green noodles in a green egg and closed it up, and placed the orange in an orange egg as well as the yellow noodles in a yellow egg. I talked to my child explaining what I was doing as I stuffed the eggs with their matching-color noodles. You can use a piece of packaging tape or scotch tape to circle the seam in order to prevent the egg from breaking open and spilling noodles, but I left them unsealed and did not have too much of an issue with noodles spilling out. If the noodles make there way out of the eggs, it is just another sensory experience!
10) Decorate Foam Eggs: Using cutouts of egg shapes
(I found a pack of 8-9 in the dollar aisle at Target), provide stickers, glitter
glue/puffy paint and sequins or pom poms so your child can decorate Easter eggs
without using the kitchen. My son decorated one egg for each grandparent and we
sent them as a little 'Easter hello.' I placed a strip of magnetic tape in the
back of each egg before he decorated them so that we (and the grandparents)
could hang the eggs on the refrigerator-makes them more usable.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTUMN:
1) Pumpkin Patch Exploring what abounds in the Fall is just plain fun. Visit your local pumpkin patch. Many are family farms with markets attached. I love buying from the source! Ride the hayrides, pony rides or 'cow trains' in our case and let each member of the family pick a pumpkin to take home for Halloween. Grab a gourd or two as well. Many of these farms don't charge admission so the price tag can be a bit more manageable for those of us on a budget.
2) Pumpkin Guts After you get the pumpkins home, maybe you have an extra one you can spare, or wait until you carve (if you do), but open one up. Cut it open and let your child see what is inside. If you scoop out the insides, place them in a bag, dishpan, or baking dish so your child can get their hands in them. Children love playing with 'pumpkin guts'! Be careful with little ones who are still mouthing everything, but they can touch too. This is a sensory activity, a fine motor exercise (using those fingers to pull at the guts and seeds), and a science exploration. If your children are too young to carve yet, this is a great diversion to keep them occupied while the adults take care of the cutting.
3) Seed Estimation In addition to #2 above, pick out some seeds and save them to count. You can have your child guess (estimation) how many seeds they think are in the pumpkin. You can then test that hypothesis by counting the ones that were saved.
4) Seed Counting To extend #3, use the seeds in place of stickers for the Sticker Counting activity listed on the Preschool Activities page: Write numbers 1-5 or 1-10+ on a piece of paper, and glue one seed under '1', two seeds under '2', etc. Children should understand not only the order of numbers, but the associated amount of each number symbol (e.g. 1=*, 2=**,etc.).
5) Paint-a-Pumpkin If you are not carving the pumpkin that your child picked, or have an extra, let your child paint the outside of the pumpkin. Tape newspaper to your table top, or cut open a paper bag from your local grocery store as your drop cloth. Secure the paper to your table with masking tape, and let your child use tempera paints and a brush to create their own design on the pumpkin.
6) Paint the Autumn Use Autumn colors to paint a picture. Red, brown, orange, yellow: provide these colors, or any combination of the list to your child and let them paint 'Fall'. Have them make extra paintings to send to grandparents or other family. You could even frame one and hang it up with your Autumn decorations every year.
So many kids in my preschool classes did not have the skill of "a dab'll do ya" or "dot, dot, not a lot." Your child will be gluing galore in school, so teach them the skill with this activity that brings the outdoors indoors. (You can also place the leaves between sheets of wax paper and iron them in order to laminate the leaves. The directions for this are on many sites. Once the leaves are 'waxed' you can glue them onto the paper.)
8) Feed the Birds Place the remains of a cut pumpkin outside for the birds and squirrels. You could put the pieces out on a feeder platform if you have one. Children love watching the habits and activities of animals. Grab the binoculars and watch!
9) Eeeww! Mold! For the truly daring, you can put on your 'Ms. Frizzle' hat (teacher from The Magic School Bus books) and explore decay. My very patient teacher colleagues put up with me doing this in one of my preschool rooms. The kids were intrigued by watching a pumpkin decay over time. It was an investment of a couple of wee. It's easier in a classroom than a home to take this on, but you could place a mini pumpkin in a gallon sized zip top bag, and place the bag into a plastic container or bowl. Observe each day how the pumpkin looks, take pictures, and even make it into a book at the end of the process. We often explore how plants grow in the spring, but not often do we touch on decay. It's interesting to watch, if you are so inclined! Definitely do not let your child touch the moldy pumpkin without latex gloves on their hands. You could keep this outside in a garage if you have one.
10) Compare, Contrast and Classify If they are available, purchase a few gourds and mini pumpkins for a compare/contrast activity. Discuss with your child the similarities and differences of each. You can even chart the characteristics of a couple using descriptive words. Classification is a key skill for future science and math lessons in school, and children love to play 'guessing games', so have them study the mini pumpkins and gourds and tell you about them: What colors/markings are on each? Which are small or large? Arrange them into groups by size, or line them up from smallest to largest. I would even jump on-line and search 'gourds' and 'pumpkins' to see what else we can learn.
11) Try a 'pumpkin rubbing.' Lay a piece of paper over the side of a pumpkin, and using the side of a crayon, rub the crayon the paper to reveal the texture of the pumpkin. (Just like a leaf rubbing.)
12) Apple Stamping If you picked some apples while at
the farm/orchard, cut one open and paint with it. We cut the apple in half, and
then cut one half into quarters, so that a full print and a half print can be
achieved. Push a plastic fork into the apple pieces as a handle, dip the apple
into paint, and stamp it on paper several times. Dip it back into the paint as
needed to achieve a good print. After the painting dries, your child can add
painted or drawn stems and leaves, if desired. You can extend this by using
other items to stamp such as celery stalks, corn on the cob (roll the cob) or
acorn squash.
13) Infants and Toddlers Even the littlest ones can explore the fruits of Fall. Find some bumpy gourds, pieces of hay, Indian corn, or apples, and let the little ones feel the different textures. My daughter was enthralled with a bumpy gourd we picked up at our favorite orchard/farm market. I let her sit in the grass and touch the gourd. It was a great sensory experience for an infant.
14) Pretend Play At your local craft store you can find autumn-colored leaves on a stem, plastic pumpkins, etc. I have some of these items in a bin in our playroom. It adds a new element that is seasonal. My son likes matching the leaves by colors-he piles them up based on which leaves are only red, which have red and orange, and which have red, orange and yellow. Let your child use their imagination with some indoor-friendly objects of the Fall.
15) Nature Walk A great time of year to walk around your neighborhood, state park, or local wooded area to look at all the colors! Pick up some leaves for #7 above, talk about what colors you see, look for animals, acorns, trees that stay green, etc.
16) Library Time If you don't have an extensive children's library in your home, or even if you do, head to your local library to grab a few seasonal reads. Libraries always arrange a table or area of interest for the current season or holiday. You can find a few books on leaves, cute stories for Halloween, or attend a storytime! Definitely reinforce the Fall activities with reading.
17) Dryer Sheet Ghosties: Take a used dryer sheet, lay it flat on a table, and place a balled-up kleenex, piece of tissue paper, or paper (wadded up into the size of a ping pong ball) in the center of it. Wrap string or a rubber band below the kleenex 'head', and draw a face. You can tie string to the rubber band and hang them, or let your child play with them. If you make multiple ghosties, you can use them for counting, a tossing activitiy (see how far the ghost flies: #18 below) or play.
18) Ghostie
Toss: Make #17 above. Place a piece of masking tape, or a yard stick on the
floor as the starting point. Your child should stand at the tape line and toss
their ghostie. (This can be done indoors or out depending on your preference.)
Using a measuring tape or yard stick, measure how far the ghostie flew. Count
as you measure, pointing to each number on the measuring tape, so that your
child hears the number order. Have them count with you!
WINTER:
11) Read Gingerbread
Baby by Jan Brett and bake gingerbread baby cookies. I use All Recipes and Food Network for most of my recipe searches.
Either will have a gingerbread recipe...honestly, I have a mix right now, but
maybe next year I will venture to make my own!
__________________________________________________________________
WINTER:
There are many craft projects our there on the internet particularly for
holiday-themed creations. I tend to pick projects that teach something (a skill
or concept) rather than just being 'cute'. Cute is nice, and generally there
are steps that need to be followed which helps teach 'following directions', but
I enjoy art projects and craft projects that allow my child's creativity to be
exercised. Below is a list of my favorite holiday/winter-themed activities. I
can not take credit for creating all of these ideas: teachers share and I am
sure some of them were passed to me by great teachers that I had the opportunity
to work with during my time teaching. I hope they will be enjoyed by you and
your children as well. They are simple (that's how I operate) and easy to
do.
1) Hand-Print Wreaths: Draw a circle on piece of construction paper.
Have your child spread out their fingers and paint their hand with green paint.
When coated, place their hand on the circle to make a print. Continue this
method around the circle until the circle is covered by green hand prints. You
can glue on a red bow after the paint has dried and frame it. Give it as a gift
to family or keep it as a decoration in your own home. Include date and
age!
2) Santa Beard Hand Print Picture: Use the same process as above,
but make a print of the hand using white paint, with the fingers pointing to the
bottom of the paper. Paint a circle of 'skin color' on top of the hand print
(hand is the beard), and when all is dry glue on a hat (cut out of paper),
cotton ball for pom pom on the hat, and draw a face. Another great option for
home decor made by your child, or stamp a bunch of them to use as Christmas
cards-fold the paper in half, create the Santa print, and write inside then
send!
3) Hand Print Ornament in plaster, or paper. Trace your child's
hand, if you are using paper (or if they are old enough they can complete this
on their own), cut out the hand print. Using a hole punch, punch a hold in the
'top' of the hand print ornament (the palm is the top in this case) and tie a
little piece of ribbon through the hole as a hanger. Your child can also make a
hand print, cut it out after it is dry, and decorate with glitter (while paint
is still wet), or other craft materials.
4) Footprint Reindeer: Using brown paint, paint the bottom of your
child's foot with a paintbrush and stamp their footprint on paper-the toes will
be the 'antlers' so you know how to place the print. Add a red puff ball and
face after the print is dry to create a 'Rudolph'. Again, this would be a great
option for homemade Christmas cards.
5) Chain-Link Christmas Countdown (or Hannukah): Make a chain out of
strips of paper to count down to your respective holiday, and rip off one link
each day to count the remaining days left until the 'big day'!
6) Candy Calendar Counting: 25 candy pieces in a jar, your child
gets one each night as you countdown to Christmas. You could use this activity
to count down to the new year instead.
7) Pine Cone Collection:
A) Sort them by size, count them.
B) Arrange them from smallest to largest.
C) Paint with them by dipping one side in paint and stamping or
rolling them on paper.
D) Make into bird feeders to hang outdoors: Spread peanut butter on
the pine cone and roll it in bird seed.
8) Shave Cream and Glue 'Snow': I first learned this combination
from a teachers' magazine called "The Mailbox" back in 2004. Mix one part shave
cream (not the gel, but plain non-menthol shave cream) and one part white glue
in a disposable bowl or paper plate using a craft stick or plastic spoon. When
mixed, your child can scoop the mix onto construction paper and make a snow
scene, or a snowman.
A) For snow scene, cut out squares, rectangles and triangles to make
paper buildings and houses. Glue the pieces on the paper to create a 'city'
scene. Then the child can scoop the 'snow' onto the buildings, ground,
etc.
B) For a snowman: Cut out small shapes like black circles for pieces
of 'coal', and a long orange triangle as a 'carrot' nose, etc. Have child scoop
the 'snow' onto the paper in three circles to create a snowman, add the paper
pieces to make a face and hat, etc., you can add craft sticks or small pretzel
rods as the arms.
When dry, this feels like dried snow. It dries puffy and foamy!
9) Write a Letter to Santa: dictated or actually written by your
child if they are old enough. Help them sign their name and mail it off. Some
post offices have a postmark for the 'North Pole', but letters have to
be received by a certain date-based on availability. I take a picture of the
letter to save for years to come.
10) Coffee Filter Snow Flakes: fold them in half and quarters, then
cut out notches and shapes. Unfold and tape to windows, or around the
house.
12) Make Play Dough and use cookie cutters to cut out. You can let
the play dough dry (after using a straw to punch a hole in the top of the shape,
and paint to make ornaments. Just tie a ribbon through the hole.
13) Read Seasonal Books: group books related to Christmas, Hannukah,
etc, and winter together in a basket to make them the center of attention over
the holidays and cold months.
14) Snow Melt/Ice Melt Demonstration: If you live in a climate where
snow is present, grab some and place it in a plastic container or a bowl. Bring
it inside and allow your child to periodically check it as it melts. You can
make a simple chart with the time and whether it is still snow or water, and
keep a running list of each time you check the snow to watch how long it takes
to melt. If you do not have snow in your area use an ice cube from the freezer.
Place the cube in a cup or bowl and observe it every few minutes writing down
the observations on a chart.
15) Iceberg Model: If you happen to read about ice and icebergs, or
read a book about animals that live in cold climates like the Antarctic, you can
make a model of an iceberg using a cup of water and an ice cube. This model
displays how the majority of the iceberg actually floats under the water. This
idea came from a Scholastic children's encyclopedia and I used this model when
I was teaching in a first grade classroom.
16) Attend Events in Your Local Community:
A) Tree lighting ceremonies.
B) Caroling
C) Christmas/Holiday parades.
D) Live nativity scenes.
E) Zoo lighted displays.
17) Create Homemade Gifts: I had my children each complete a finger
painting at about 6 months old. It was called "First Painting". They each
painted on multiple sheets of paper so that I could frame them and hang one in
our home and send a copy to each set of grandparents. I made a little label on
the computer and then glued it to the painting that stated: NAME, TITLE, DATE,
AGE. This makes a cute little keepsake for you as well as a great gift idea for
family!
Additionally, I took pictures of each of my children completing their
painting and printed them off in wallet size. I picked up a few acrylic
wallet-size magnetic frames from a craft store, and included a magnet with my
child completing their painting as part of the gift as well. We had to have one
for our fridge at home too!
18) Discuss 'Giving' Over the Holidays: We give our children gifts,
and give to others, so talk about that. Give to Toys for Tots, or clean out some of your
used toys to donate to The Salvation
Army or local thrift stores-include your children in this process. Your
child may not understand why he/she is not getting to keep the toy you are
buying, but over time they will learn that giving is important. You could even
sell the older toys that your child no longer plays with and talk about giving
the money to a charity or church as you choose. We always talk about making
others happy by giving to them during this holiday (and throughout the year) as
well.
19) Visit Santa...a no-brainer for those of us that celebrate
Christmas and include Santa in the celebrations. It is ok if your child does
not want to sit on his lap. Remember, he is a 'stranger'.
20) Other Make-It-Yourself Gifts:
A) Paint pottery (ornaments, plates, mugs, etc) at a local
paint-your-own store. Include date and age!
B) Buy a patio stone kit from a craft store and let your child make a
creation. Include date and age!
C) Decorate a wooden frame with paint, glitter or other craft
materials and include a picture.
D) Bake cookies and give them as gifts.
21) Graham Cracker Gingerbread House:
Using graham crackers, frosting, and candy pieces, create a house. Use the
glue to stick the graham cracker walls together. (You can use a milk carton or
small box for more support-stick the graham crackers to the box using the
frosting.) Decorate the house with candy pieces to create a winter
scene.
No comments:
Post a Comment