-Preschool Idea Swap! – Vol. 3 · -Preschool Idea Swap! – Vol. 3 ... When they bring it back we share it during circle time our preschoolers love showing the pictures and telling

-Preschool Idea Swap! – Vol. 3 Idea Sharing With Preschool Teachers and Providers

From around the World

From Peggy…

One of the most important things about my daycare is keeping everything simplified. The

kids like to know that when some things belong to them it is theirs and theirs alone. That

is why a lot of things in my daycare is colour coded, or symbolized.

Every child has their own colour and animal symbol. I use these colours or pictures to

show the children responsibility, belonging , and order. Some of the things I use this for

are washcloths, hangers, drawer belonging to each child, workshops, job distribution and

much more.

--//--

From Sherrin…

My idea is--

• photo copy pictures of fish in different coloured paper

• cut

• laminate

• put magnet on the fish

• make rods out of dowling

• tie string on the end

• add magnet to string

Aim of the game each child has a turn of catching the fish.

The teacher asks the child to catch me a red fish and they have to catch a red fish etc.....

Or you could put the alphabet on the fish, or numbers etc....

The kids really love this game for circle time

--//--

From Wendy…

Here's one of mine.

Playtime outside in our big garden - nature time - let's collect snail houses

(or snail shells).

Water play let's wash them - then after wiping clean lets count

them – 3 activities in one

--//--

From Barbara…

Make posters with Uppercase letters and a photo of a word that begins with that letter.

Write the word under the picture. Let your students draw a picture of the photo and write

the word in their own handwriting on the poster. Laminate them and hang them on the

fence with plastic ties or on a wall outside. Make matching lowercase cards they can

attach with clothespins. Give them clipboards with paper to copy different posters.

Use a white shower curtain liner and make squares in a trail with upper and lowercase

letters out of sequence (similar to a gameboard). Make a large die with numbers. Allow

the student to roll the die and move his own bosy on the curtain the number of spaces

corresponding to the die. If he knows the letter, he can remain on the space. If not, he

counts back to where he was. First one to the end wins. Outside or rainy day game for

practicing numbers and letters.

--//--

From Theresa…

HERES ONE FOR CIRCLE TIME:

TO LEARN EACH OTHERS NAME. WE SING THERE WAS A MAN WHO HAD A

DOG AND BINGO WAS HIS NAME-O. WE SAY THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME

WAS TAMMY AND TAMMY WAS HER NAME-O( BUT TAMMY IS NOT HER

NAME ITS REALLY THERESA.) SO THE CHILDREN WILL SCREAM NO ITS

THERESA. AND WE CONTINUE THE SONG. THEY LOVE IT. ITS OUR SONG

AFTER GOOD MORNING. THIS IS HOW WE LEARN EACH OTHER NAME.

THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME IS THERESA AND THERESA WAS HER

NAMEO. THERESA, THERESA, THERESA,THERESA, THERESA, THERESA AND

THERESA WAS HER NAME-O.

ALWAYS USE ANOTHER NAME FOR CHILD THAT. (LIKE TAMMY WITH A T-

FOR THERESA WITH A T)

--//--

From Kristen…

Here’s a cute little song to teach the children about money:

Penny, Penny easily spent

copper brown worth one cent

Nickle, Nickle thick and fat

Your worth 5 cents I know that

Dime, Dime little and thin

I remember your worth 10

Quater ,Quater big and bold

your worth 25 that I'm told

--//--

From Cheryl…

To get parents involved with our program we send home a family bay with our class

mascot ( Clifford; Curious George; Dinosaur...) the bag has the stuffed mascot; a story

book or two about the mascot; a file folder game and a composition book with

instructions that the mascot is visiting and should do whatever the family is doing. They

should write in the composition book about the mascots adventures and if possible take or

draw pictures.

When they bring it back we share it during circle time our preschoolers love showing the

pictures and telling their story. Families really got into it and we now have several class

books from the past few years.

--//--

From Serena…

I have a few tricks up my sleeve for wet weather activities and this is one all the children

I have minded love. I buy sensitive shaving foam. I get the play table out and give the

children sponges, plastic knives, spoons, pots and bowls. I give each child (not babies or

very young toddlers) a bowl full of the foam and allow them to spread it over the sponges

like icing a cake. They spread, mix and sculpt the foam. It doesn't matter how messy it

gets because it just all wipes away and the children are lovely and clean.

--//--

From Roslyn…

My children made a fathers day craft that allowed them to use their hand eye

coordination and complete something they had never done before. The idea came from

the game "tap tap" where children have geometric shapes, cork board, hammers and small

nails. They hammer them in to make a picture. What we did for fathers day was grab

small pieces of wood (Around half an A4 sheet size), cover them in black material

(painting works better, but depends on the time as you need at least 2 coats) and using a

template, hammered nails on the crosses (i designed the template prior which was

basically a dot to dot template of I LOVE DAD) then the children got some wool and

circled it around the nails to form the word. This was obviously a 3-5year old project and

needs close supervision, but with some creativity, could be an open ended craft

experience to make any picture imaginable.

* If this all seems too difficult, grab yourself some Hama beads. These are the beads

which you put onto a pinned template and then once the design is finished, iron it to melt

the beads and make a picture (see website www.hamabeads.com). This involves

awesome fine motor skills, but always seems to keep children busy!

* A simple game is that of whats in the bag. This is a talking and listening activity where

an object is placed in a bag, 3 questions are asked by varying children, answered then the

object guessed. Child who guesses right, picks the next object. This is an easy and fun

game and teaches the children new questions etc for news (So you don't get the standard

"Why do you like it").

--//--

From Linda…

For circle time to get the children to stay in one spot we use carpet samples. They each

choose one when circle time starts and they are to keep their bottom on the carpet square

until circle time is over. We then put all carpet samples in a box until next time. Stores

that are discontinuing carpet samples will gladly give them away.

--//--

From Lucy…

We celebrate the harvest in our school and decorate our room to look like a market place.

I really enjoy doing paper Mache with the children. We use balloons in various sizes and

paint them different colors to represent fruit and vegetables.

--//--

From Wendy…

Children in Kindergarten are learning to tie shoes. So, during our Winter sports week, I

made a skate out of thin cardboard and hole punched in the laceholes. The kids had fun

colouring and using yarn to try to lace up their skates! It brought on lots of conversations

with them about hockey and learn to skate programs that many had started that year. I

put them up on display. They weren't laced perfectly so each one was unique. Parents

and other coworkers commented on how 'cool' the skates looked. I was smiling from ear

to ear!

--//--

From Wendy…

Here's another idea- I made ladybugs to help with math skills. I used a big black ladybug

shape and stuck on a number (eg. 7). Then I made slightly larger red 1/2 circles for

wings and put 3 black dots on one wing and 4 on the other. I laminated them and put the

wings on with a fastener. The children could count the dots on the outside then open the

wings to see the correct number. I increased the challenge and put 3+4=? on the back.

The children enjoyed opening the wings. I had lots of volunteers who wanted to guess in

our circle time. -Wendy

Another - I photocopied a nice picture of a frog and a little fly for the children to colour.

I helped them to cut them out. Then I curled a red strip of paper and inserted it through a

slit in the frogs' mouth and taped it to the back. They glued the fly on the end of his

tongue. We then sang froggie songs and read Froggie books holding up our own frogs -

Wendy

A friend of mine had many spindles of wood she was getting rid of. I held on to them

until I found a use for them. We made totem poles with them and they turned out very

well! The children painted them and when they were dry we added foam wings or arms

or whatever they decided. Googlie eyes were added along with beaks onto a big pompom

for the head, Some children made one whole body, others made several heads. They

were proud of their unique totem poles and we talked about some Indian customs, too. -

Wendy

Our children really enjoy the game 'Doggie, doggie who has your bone?' I made up

different words to change it up a bit. Around Christmas it was-

"Santa, Santa who has your sled?

Somebody stole it from your shed!

Guess who? Maybe you know!

Maybe it's a reindeer from the snow!?!"

Another funny version-

"Froggie, froggie, who has your fly?

Somebody stole it from your side!

Guess who? Maybe you!

Maybe you squashed it with your shoe!?!"

There are so many possibilities if you're creative and can rhyme. This simple song and

game is so fun, they never get tired of it! –Wendy

--//--

From Kellie…

My craft idea is for a beautiful fall tree, a definite keepsake.

I usually do this project outside on my easel, with a bowl of warm soapy water for quick

and easy clean up. You will need a large piece of paper( sometimes I will use the back of

old ugly wallpaper rolls )

Paint a Tree trunk,

Have shallow trays of fall colours ( Orange, brown, red and yellow )

have children make hand prints all over to make the fall leaves

Parents and children say WOW when they see the finished product!

--//--

From Laury…

This is a listening game:

Loud sounds

teaches about sounds

Think about things that makes a loud sounds, show kidos pictures of firecrackers,

motorcycles, drum etc, after all children have acted out the sounds let them add more

sounds to the list.

Language game.

Encourage Imagination

Acting out sounds

Let the chidren act out words-like thunder, fire engine,or drums that imply

sounds, make up a sentence using such words, instead of saying the word ask

the children to make the sound and move accordingly for example:

First there were small raindrops and then there was

loud--------------------(thunder sounds)

I see a fire. Here comes the-------------(fire engine sounds)

The drummer played on the-------------------(drum sounds) and so on

Relaxation

Teaches about relaxation

Rag doll 2

Ask children to lie on their backs on the floor, tell them that each time you name a body

part they are to let it hang limp like a rag doll, start with the toes and work your way up to

head, be sure to include mouth and eyes, playing soft instrumental music in the

background will add to the mood.

Thinking game

Button fun

Teaches cooperation

Save or buy buttons of various colors and sizes in a container, tell the children to each

choose a button, ask them to compare buttons to decide who has the biggest, suggest

other classifications for the children to try.

Thinking game

Can you find it? Builds observational skills

Lie 5 objects out on a table infront of the children. Choose recognizable objects like a

crayon, a paintbrush, etc.

Name each object to make sure that all children know the names, ask them to cover their

ayes as you remove one object. Ask them to tell you which object is missing, repeat the

game but at this time remove 2, rearrange the objects and repeat the game again.

Hot letters

Teaches about letter recognition

This is a variation of the game Hot potato

Sit children in a circle and pass out cards with one letter on each card, tell them that you

are going to play music, ask them to pass their cards around the circle while the music is

playing, tell them to stop passing the cards when the music stops. Be sure to practice the

direction in which way they should pass the cards. Play the game and when the music

stops, ask each child to name the letter on his card, you can paly this game for numbers,

shapes and colors recognition

--//--

From Trish…

HALLOWEEN IDEA

I cut out pumpkins (size of a placemat) from orange felt and we decorated each one

differently with black fabric paint. When dry we use them throughout October as our

"seats" for circle time. The kids love it....in December we do trees and decorate, in

January we do snowmen, February is hearts, March is shamrocks, April is raindrops, May

is flowers, June is suns, July is flags, and so on.......

The kids look forward to the beginning of the month to decorate our "seats" for the

month.

--//--

From Kathy…

The book "Mouse Paint" I have my parents make white paper mice. Then I have the

children count out three mice each. We have our paint in three different containers and

discuss the three colors. The three mice "climb" into one of the three colors and then step

into a color to make a new color. When we are done the kids paint with the mice, using

all the colors.

--//--

From Sybil…

Here is a great idea for your preschoolers to take home and

do with the parents.

We took a piece of poster board and draw out a silhouette of

a child.

Then they took it home to decorate it like them.

The theme is It's all about me. They have to bring the silhouette back decorated and tell

about themselves.

The children really enjoy this activity. So did I. It tells you a

little about what their family life is about at home.

--//--

From Carol…

Craft: Paper bag friend. Have children decorate a paper bag (small lunch size), then

have them glue onto a precut head shape, eyes, nose, mouth, and hair. Next, help them to

cut out arms and legs. Now, using a stapler, staple the arms and legs to the paper bag.

The legs go on the bottom of the bag, the arms on the sides of the bag. Once this is done,

have each child crunch up newspaper and fill the bag, stapling it shut on the top while

attaching the head. You now have made a "paper bag" friend at school. Cute first week

activity as they "made a friend at school".

Activity/idea: We talk about being a good friend at circle. Once a list of "what a good

friend is" has been compiled we go to work being good friends. When I catch someone

being a good friend, I put their name on precut colored hands. I also number the hands as

I go. I then tape them to the wall and together we all watch the helping hands go up

around the room. It is a colorful way to help children to follow directions, notice their

names on the wall, recognize colors and numbers, etc. When we get to 100 helping

hands we have a party. Ideas of how to earn a helping hand, 1. helping a friend sit quietly

at circle by not answering them if they talk to you, 2. sharing, 3. helping a friend clean up

after an activity, 4. asking a friend to play with you.....the list can go on and on. Then

when I see someone being a good friend I say, "John, what a good job you did helping

Lisa to listen at circle, give that boy a helping hand"....we all clap as I write his name and

a number on the hand and hang it up. Days later I might say, "John, how many helping

hands do you have on the wall? What colors are they? What numbers are on your

hands? etc. Nice way to recognize your name in print, recognize numbers, 1:1

correspondence count, and color recognition.

--//--

From Vivian…

The Hungry Caterpillar - using large paper plates 2/3 yr olds are painting them on both

sides and decorating the plates which will be stapled together to make a giant caterpillar

which is to be strung across the classroom - a giant head with features and pipe cleaners

for antennas and black boots on each plate for feet. Very effective

Grade 1 is learning about The Human Body - looked at eyes, then glasses and they

designed their own using their "imagination" - that was the key word as they allowed

themselves freedom of ideas - they had a choice of five strangely shaped cardboard (used

old packing boxes) frames, they had to design their frames and are now in the process of

making them. Painting, decorating and adding cut out features e.g. one child has

designed amazing star shaped glasses, painted them yellow as the beach and has got palm

trees coming out of them. Children loved it.

Kg - Drew around children, cut out their shapes in double, children painted the bodies

and have completed facial features using "junk" - now going to stuff the bodies using old

newspaper of toilet paper and dress them in the childrens own clothes.

Shoes - collect tissue boxes which children paint and decorate, cut four holes near the

opening for shoe laces using wool, you may have to add some card so that the tissue

opening is the right size for the foot to stay in the "shoe". Children love walking around

in their beautiful designer shoes!

--//--

From Lisa…

Instead of always putting water in the water tray, sometimes I put in jelly and dinosuars,

the kids absolutely love it!

--//--

From Hedy…

I work with 12 months - 5 year olds. We read the book "Yellow sun, green grass, big

brown cow" as part of a 'colour' theme. The children loved the novel way the book was

presented and the bright colours used. The book describes the journey of sun, grass, cow,

milk in simple terms the children could understand. We used the recipe at the end of the

book to made our own yellow butter. The children ALL shook the jar and watched the

change occur from cream to butter. We then make yummy piklets tyo put the butter on.

Some children also added jam - more colours.

--//--

From Helen…

Threading Bag

Bag Contains:

1 needle

1 string

27 beads

journal

Suggested Activities:

Children are to thread the beads onto the string in a pattern. It could be a coloured

pattern or a shape or size pattern.

This activity practices fine motor control and patterning skills.

Children can draw a picture of their favourite pattern they made in the jounal. Do not

forget to put your name on the page so we know whose beautiful work it is.

--//--

From Laurie…

To help with name recognition I write each of my preschoolers first name on a piece of

colored construction paper in big bold print. I then have my preschoolers decorate the

paper and then have it laminated. We then use these as place-mats during snack time.

The children get extra practice recognizing their names and while my tables stay clean.

--//--

From Apryl…

In the aftercare portion of our day, we have about 10 children between the ages of three

and five.

One of their favorite outdoor activities to do is an “obstacle course”. I will call out about

5 different activities to do around our playground one obstacle at a time. Some examples

of activities are:

Run around the tree and listen for me to shout out STOP! Once they stop I will have

them touch their toes 5 times then they run to the tube and crawl through the tube, climb

up and slide down the slide, bounce the ball twice and then jump into the sandbox and

then the finish line is where I am and they stop and give me a high five. After each of the

children had a turn to run my obstacle course then we run it one more time. This time,

each child will have about three of their friends shout out an obstacle to run. The

children really enjoy this activity, not only do they get their exercise in, but they are

learning about team spirit because they cheer on their friend that is running the course

and they also have a chance to come up with a fun obstacle course for their friend to run.

So if you have the space outside or even inside it is definitely fun to come up with an

Obstacle Course for your children.

--//--

From Clare…

One thing I have done and am doing again this year is something that helps

for name recognition:

I have all my students names written out on a piece of paper and I tape them

to the wall in line. When it is time to line up the students are asked to

find their name and stand by it. It helps the students recognize their name

and also gets them lined up quite quickly.

--//--

From Elizabeth…

This is our favorite play doh recipe. We make this once a month and just change the

color. Hope you like it.

6 cup flour, 1 cup table salt, 2 tablespoons alum or cream of tartar, ¼ cup oil, 3 ½ cup hot

water (not boiling), food coloring or 4 pkg. kool-aid. Keep in air tight container no need

to put in refrigerator and no cooking. This is the easiest dough ever.

--//--

From Susan…

For name recognition I take craft sticks and put magnetic tape on the back of them. I put

the first letter of the child's name on green (green means go to most kids) and then spell

out the rest of the name on the other sticks, ending with the last letter on a red stick (red

means stop). You can then have the child place them on anything magnetic, like a cookie

sheet. I have kids who do not want to write out their names but will do this every

morning.

--//--

From Carol…

We call this playdough in the UK. We provide this to our children everyweek at nursery.

I add a spoonful of cream of tartar to my recipe. I also change the colour using food

colouring. Adding glitter and/or sequins at Christmastime is nice. We try to keep an

interest by changing the resources on offer to the children to use with the dough e.g.

cookie cases and baking tins, cake candles and holders, small shakers full of flour. Thank

you for all your ideas.

--//--

From Johanne…

One of my ideas. The first day of October I use one pair of my shoes and with water paint

I print some paths in the classroom until a student's place and at his place I put a letter on

which it is written: I am mysterious witch. Here for you today: one of my magic potion to

create an Halloween paint (1 cup of Kool-aid + 1 cup of water- mix these ingredients)

During the night I will come in to look at your works. If I like them I will give you

another special things to try to someone else place.

Each day she gives a clue of her and a special experience or receipe or activity to do with

a letter. The 31 of October The mysterious witch is there in the class(it is you with all the

clues you gave to the children).

--//--

From Joyce…

Muddy Pigs

Have the kids paint and cut out a cute little pig on heavy card stock. Mix shaving cream

and brown paint for the mud (it really looks like mud) and let them put mud on their pigs.

They really turn out cute, we made them for our "P" week.

--//--

From Donetta…

THIS IS SOMETHING I'VE DONE FOR 2 YEARS NOW. GREAT FOR AN OPEN

HOUSE IDEA. ABOUT A WEEK OR SO BEFORE YOU NEED THEM SEND HOME

WITH EVERY CHILD IN YOUR CLASS A SQUARE. MINE OUR ABOUT 14" BY

14". I SEND HOME A NOTE WITH THEM FOR THE FAMILY TO DECORATE THE

SQUARE WITH THINGS THEY LIKE TO DO, COLLECT, ETC. THEY CAN PUT

WHAT THEY WANT ON THE SQUARE, JUST TO BE SURE AND PUT THEIR

NAME ON THEM. I ALSO ASK THEM TO ADD PICTURES. BE SURE TO LET

THEM KNOW WHEN YOU NEED THEM BACK. I THEN ADD BOARDER

AROUND THE BOARD AND IN BETWEEN THE SQUARES. I PUT A TITLE LIKE

" OUR PANDAS QUILT". THE FAMILY AND SCHOOL LOVE TO STOP BY AND

SEE OUR BOARD.

--//--

From Amanda…

My preschool children had a hard time sitting in circle, so I made a classroom helper

chart. On each classroom job that day, I made a necklace for each of the nine students’

jobs. With the necklace, I took a picture of that job; put the picture on the color of the

job. I then laminated the picture on the paper and wrote the job on the back. During

circle time, I hand out each necklace and the students look at the picture and word on the

back and know what their job is that day. This was a good way the get clean up done fast

because each student, with a necklace, was in charge of making sure their area was clean

before doing a project. Some of the jobs are: kitchen helper, writing center helper, block

helper, dress-up helper, etc. There are many more jobs each teacher can come up with.

Here is just an idea that worked for me.

--//--

From Charlie…

Do a puppet show with the theme that you are doing with the children. If havent got any

puppets then collect some junk and the children make their own puppets using lolly pops

and old material, use egg boxes to make dinosaurs the list is never ending. Then the

teacher can do a puppet show with their puppets and the children can help. So much fun.

--//--

From Susie…

Every morning when my class comes in they have to find their name on whatever the

theme cut out may be.

Our class animal is the "pigs". We have a box made to look like a pig pen. They put

their name in the box, then at our circle time we sing: "If I had a little pig pen to put

my..........", I then pull out two names from the box, I hold them up and see who can

recognize their name the rest of the song goes "I'd take them out and go (Kiss, kiss, Kiss)

and put them back again. This is a great name recognition game and the kids love it.

--//--

From Diana…

Here's something that I did with my preschoolers last week.

We were discussing the five senses and read our Breakthrough To Literacy Big Book

called "Touch". I'm not sure about the Author since I'm at home. We made handprints

and discussed how the paint felt. When the handprint dried we glued a collection of

small materials on each fingertip that were a variety of textures. For example: foil =

smooth, cotton = soft, sandpaper = rough, corregated bulletin board border = bumpy,

double-sided scotch tape = sticky. The children learned a variety of feely terms that

broadened their oral language development.

--//--

From Anjelika…

C is for Candy Corn:

Each week I do a different letter of the alphabet, corresponding to a

particular theme. Example B is for Bears.

This week it is C is for Candy corn.

After exploring the many aspects of candy corn. I distribute triangles to

each of the students. We then talk about the shape, and the children

color, paint, etc. the triangle the 3 colors of candy corn. After that, we

add arms, legs, faces etc. and we have a candy corn man.

We then sing: Tune of muffin man

Do you know the candy corn man

the candy corn man, the candy corn man

Do you know the candy corn man, who starts with letter C?

--//--

From Kellie…

Those "carve-able" plastic/resin pumpkins you can buy at the craft stores are great for a

facial features/body part review lesson. Poke holes into the pumpkin with an awl before

class-time, add Mr. Potato Head parts and you have "Mr. Pumpkin Head" center. The

pumpkin can be used over and over with various parts. Much cleaner and safer than

traditional carving, great time to review body parts with the little ones.

--//--

From Doug…

FAMILY TREE

I make a fairly large tree from brown bulletin board paper with enough tree limbs so that

each child has their own branch. On the tree trunk, I have the words “OUR CLASS

FAMILY TREE.” I cut out each child’s last name from construction paper and tape to

their tree limb. I trace each child’s hand on green construction paper, cut it out and tape

to the end of the child’s branch. I then send fall colored construction paper for the

parents and siblings to trace their hands. I also send a supply of fall colored construction

paper leaves for the child’s parents to write in the names and relationships of other family

members (Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins). I then tape these to “Our Class

Family Tree.” It makes a welcome decoration to a blank wall.

Which Child Is Which?

I have each child face side-ways and trace their silhouette onto black construction paper.

I then have them lay-down on bulletin board paper and trace their body outline. After I

cutout the body outline, I tape the outline to a wall with the matching silhouette and a

number taped onto the body. Once these are on the wall, I attach a piece of paper with

each child’s name listed with space for parents to write in their “guesses” of which child

is which. After two to three weeks of parents guessing, I will write the correct answer. It

is funny how many parents can correctly guess other children but not their own.

--//--

From Kelli…

At the beginning of the year we put up apple trees outside the teacher's classroom. The

teachers make a list of things they would like to have for the year. We then transfer the

items over to laminated apples and put on the tree with sticky tac. Parents pick one or

more of the apples off the tree at back to school night or open house. Parents love to be

helpful and this gives them a way to help directly in the progression of their child's

education.

--//--

From Cindy…

I must have found Preschcool planner just about the same time you did. I love the ideas.

Have you tried shape or color hunts? Place different shaped items or colored pieces of

construction paper around your space before the kids come in for class. Do the welcome

and a story first then have a search for colors or shapes. Make sure you have at least one

or two items per child. Shapes or colors and be related to the stories for the day.

With the little guys (2-3ys) act out nursery rhymes like Jack and Jill or London bridges

falling down.

It will take a few times for them to catch on but then they have a great time!

--//--

From Christina…

We made a weather wheel using paper plates, it had peephole to show the following

descriptions of rainy, snowy, cloudy, and sunny. This was simple and easy to make with

the kids participating in gluing either a cloud, a sun, snowflake, or raindrops into each

section.

We then had a weather fashion show, one kid dressed in summer clothes shorts and

sandals, one dressed in light jacket and pants for cloudy, another kid dressed in a rain

jacket and carried an umbrella for rainy, and one of my kids dressed in snow boats gloves

and big jacket for snowy.

I then took pictures of them and I will hang them up next to our weather wheel, to be

displayed all year long, so the children will be able to see what the weather is like today

and every day, and be prepared to wear what is appropiate.

--//--

From Dianne…

Every year we study butterflies and read the Very Hungry Caterpillar. One project we do

is to have each child paint a paper plate green. After it dries, he/she picks out a picture of

food cut from a magazine. They glue the picture of what they "fed" the caterpillar onto

their plates. We staple the plates together to make a very long and hungry caterpillar

(paint the head red and add eyes, mouth, antennae, etc.) Then hang from the ceiling to

make an impressive art display.

--//--

From Margaret…

Here is a quick idea my Pre-Primary kids love (ages 5 to 6). When introducing a new

letter or sound, we sit in a circle and each child gets their own whiteboard and marker and

we practice writing the letter and drawing objects that start with the letter. It is a "no

problems" board so they can write and rub out to their hearts content. It is an exercise

they love and usually the clever ones end up helping the strugglers and they have lots of

fun.

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From Betty…

As a quick easy craft, my preschoolers stuff brown lunch bags with newspaper, then paint

them such as red for apples at the beginning of school. Orange for pumpkins in the fall.

Black for spiders. We add paper leaves, pipe cleaners for curly vines, legs,etc.

We have a huge tree and fence on the wall outside our classroom that we decorate each

season.

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From Janie…

A Jack-O- Lantern water bottle caft

Materials:

11oz sm water bottle

Ornge Paint

orange paint self stick felt

green felt cut in circles(about3-4inches)

twine

Instructions:

Pour paint inside the bottle add a little water, put the lid on and let the kids swoosh it

around to distribute it all around the bottle.

Precut eyes,noses and mouths and let the kids choose the ones they want to stick on their

bottle

Add the green felt circle to the lid and tied the twine around it with a bow

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From Judy…

When we do our diversity unit , I always read and play the CD called We All Sing with

the Same Voice. B y J. Philip Miller and Sheppard M. Greene.

This is an expression of inclusion and a good lesson.

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From Sue…

This is an activity that my 5 and 6 year olds enjoy.

I give one child a bag of numbers, 1-10 in the beginning and gradually increase the

difficulty up to the number of children I have in the class.

The numbers are given out randomly and it is the leaders job (with lots of help from

friends) to get them in the correct order.

A variation on this is to give groups of 4 children a bag of numbers and they then have to

put them in the correct order and find the correct number of items to go next to each

number.

We use teddy bear counters, pop sticks, dinosaurs and so on. One child is in charge of

each group. It is interesting to see how different children tackle the problem.

There is lots of collaboration and chatter.

--//--

From Jowan…

We made bats for halloween and the underneath we stapled black garbage bags that the

children cut it was very neat to see them hanging.

--//--

From Cathy…

This probably isn't anything new, but the kids loved doing it.

We had been studying ants. My para and I created a stencil for a simple ant hill. The

kids traced it and cut it out. They then crumpled tissue paper to make the ant. They drew

six legs and antennae. We had them glue sand on the paper and use their fingers to create

"tunnels" that they had dug. We had gone over the fact that ants have three parts of their

body, six legs and two antennae. The kids showed their understanding of the ants

characteristics when they created it. We had an ant farm, so the kids could see the

tunnels the ants dug. The kids loved it and it showed me that they had learned the

information we had presented.

--//--

From Julie…

Fire Safety Week Art Idea

Fire Paint Smashing

You will need:

White construction paper

3 Nancy paint bottles (one filled with red, one filled with yellow and one filled with

orange)

Plastic wrap

Picture of fire truck with 911 written on it (I use a fire truck noted pad and give each

child one sheet or you could have them color a fire truck picture) no taller than ½ the

page size

Glue sticks

On the white construction paper the teacher squirts diagonal lines of the 3 paint colors

randomly on the top ½ of the paper (about 3 small lines of each color will be plenty)

Place a piece of plastic wrap over the paint and have the children smash and squish the

paint around (finger painting without the mess!)

As you take the plastic wrap off pull it up towards the top of the paper – it will look like

fire

Glue the fire truck on the bottom half of the paper covering the bottom part of the fire

painting

It is easier to do this with just a few children at a time

Extension - Before I begin the art activity each child practices dialing 9-1-1 on a

disconnected phone

--//--

From Nada…

One thing I do with three year old twins that I keep and their little sister, we have pillow

case races,just like a sack race, only it is indoors, they also like to just jump around in the

pillow cases, falling down laughing, trading pillow cases, they really make a fun game

out of the pillow cases. Sometimes we stand on pieces of wax paper and try skating

around on the carpet or put our knees and hands on wax paper and try to scoot around the

living room,the paper only last a few minutes, but is allot of fun and I sure get a work out.

--//--

From Lillian…

I find that the kids like to make insects/ For a spider they trace both their hands and then

glue their palms together. Punch a hole in the middle and tie a string to it and hang them

from the ceiling.

--//--

From Lisa…

To count towards the 100th day of school, get a 100 piece puzzle and add 1 piece every

school day. The kids are so excited to guess what the puzzle will be!

--//--

From Yvette…

I actually already let the kids do this but here are some more great ideas for shaving

cream table painting

Coral Reek for ocean theme: Put shaving cream on table add about 2 drops of dish soap

for easier clean up, now add 3 squirts of paint usually about 3 different colors

next let the kids play with the paint until they are about done

have them choose a color of construction paper

have them or you place the paper down on the shaving cream paint and pick the paper up

when you pick up the paper there will be a design that will look like coral reef:)

--//--

From Gail…

I did something similar with my 3-year old class today but also different. We have only

studied 9 letters. I placed the cards with those letters upside down on the floor. I wrote a

letter on the dry erase board and asked a child to find it in the cards. I noticed they would

look up at the board to see if it matched what they had in their hand. If not, then they

would go to the next one. They really liked it and wanted to do it again.

--//--

From Valarie…

What I do are stations of fine motor activities. ex. cotton balls and tongs in bowl. The

kids really get into this.

--//--

From Cassie…

Here's a great idea that works every time!

To keep my wild 3 & 4 year olds concentrated on one activity I hang blown up balloons

from the ceiling and wrap butcher paper around them. Then I tell them that they have to

paint the whole piece of paper. So I give them tempra paint and paintbrushes, but the

catch is they can't touch the balloon with there hands!!!! So they try forever to get the

whole thing painted! They love painting and it keeps them in one place of a LONG time!

And after the activity dries I let them keep their balloon to take home!

--//--

From Cathy…

We make a family turkey to display in our room. Here's what you do.

Send home colored pieces of construction paper with a note asking for each person to

trace their hand everyone even the baby and have the parents cut them out and write the

persons name on each hand and send it back to school.

Teachers cut out a pattern of a turkey shaped kind of like a bowling pin. Trace it onto

brown construction paper and cut out. This is the turkey body.

To assemble the turkey you arrange the handprints behind the turkey's body and glue

together.

Put wiggle eyes, red waddle and a yellow triangles for the beak and feet.

We decorate our bulletin board with our Family Turkeys.

--//--

From Gemma…

The children in the Pre-school I run enjoy playing with textured activities and they don't

take much planning and the children can develop them in ways they want to with very

little adult intervention. The activities we use include shredded paper, dry and wet pasta,

rice and angel delight it only costs 3pence a packet over here from are local super market.

There are lots of different cooking and textured foods that you can use and you can

develop these by adding different items into the activities. The children really enjoy these

activities and we have found it helps some children develop there concentration spans.

--//--

From Judy…

In my preschool class I posted the alphabet in sign language at their eye level and also

had a "word of the month" that we learn to sign (and I have the 'how to' picture posted on

the bulletin board above the alphabet). The kids love "talking" with their hands and they

teach themselves the alphabet with the poster below.

To make realistic looking "sandy beaches" mix white, brown and yellow paint to desired

color and add salt for the grains of sand.

I post a picture of each student with their name across it at their spot at the table. This

shows them where they sit, they associate those letters of the alphabet with their name

and they learn to spell their name using this over time. I try to change the pictures out

monthly.

--//--

From Ingrid…

I'm teaching Music this year though so I'll send ideas that have worked very well with my

students.

PITCH - higher, lower, is the same

1. the children stand with hands by their sides.

2. 2 notes are played on piano, keyboard

3. if the 2nd note is higher, the children stretch their arms up high, if the 2nd note is lower

children flop down from the waste, if the 2nd note is the same children keep still with

hands by their sides

4. When children have responded play the notes again encouraging them to hum the notes

with you for reinforcement

NOTE: when introducing this activity begin with up/higher and down/lower - once

established add the 2 notes that are the same

Select intervals that are easy for children to hear - as they get better at it select trickier

intervals.

--//--

From Joanne…

On nice Fall Crispy days I love going outside and exploring nature.

I have my kids grab a sweater and a snack and we go out to the woods. I have lots of

construction paper, glue, markers, and crayons. We search for unusual looking leaves,

acorns, sticks, pieces of pine cones etc. and we take all of our findings under a tree and

glue them on the paper. We discuss our findings as we have our snack. I take their

picture while in the woods and also glue it on their paper. I then have it laminated and

they have their very own place mat. Make sure you put the date somewhere on the paper.

Kids love this idea.

--//--

From Trudy…

I use the song..... I'm going to make a paper shape, paper shape,paper shape. I'm going to

make a paper shape. What shape have I made? While singing I cut or rip paper into the

shape I want. The children like guessing what I am making and then finally telling me

what shape I made. They ask for this game over and over and they do not seem to tire of

it.

--//--

From Gemma…

To burn off energy inside we bought some pop up goal posts and the children love

playing in these they enjoy trying to get the ball past each other. also some of the other

children enjoy throwing and catching ideas we have children from the age of 2-5 and the

older ones really enjoy helping the younger children. we also have a parachute that we

get out and play games with the children enjoy throwing it up into the air and going

inside it and sitting on the edges inside making a small tent with it then passing and item

around and playing games underneath it

--//--

From Robin…

cut out a picture, seal 3/4 of the edge, stuff, seal the remaining 1/4 edge.

and hang.

it's a stuffed (whatever design)

--//--

From Sonya…

I spray painted an old cookie sheet dark blue. I bought some white craft foam & cut it up

into small rectangles (about 1 X 2 inches) . I wrote a letter of the alphabet on each

rectangle. (Several of each letter) and glued magnets on the back of them. The kids

enjoy putting the letters together into words & sentences. The white letters stand out

clearly on the dark blue tray. I think a red tray with yellow letters would be good too!

--//--

From Jim…

Peppermint candy decoration--using a 6 inch paper plate (the cheap ones are easy to paint

on). Using only their index finger have the children choose either red or green paint

and paint lines as if you were cutting a pie into 6 equal pieces. For the small children I

drew lines VERY lightly and had the children paint over them. When the paint is dry,

repeat on other side. Wrap the "peppermint candy" in saran wrap. Gather the sides

together and tie red or green ribbon into bows on both ends. I think my ribbon length

was 8-9 inches so it made a nice bow. The children wanted to make more than one so

they could take one home and hang one at school.

--//--

From Tammera…

We are doing a Thanksgiving unit in our preschool. Instead of the usually Ring Around

the Rosie we sang Ring around the ocean,Ring around the ocean,

Mayflower,Pilgrims,Land Ho we all fall down.

The kids loved it.

--//--

From Pamella…

My preschoolers LOVE acting out the first Thanksgiving story.

I get a big bag of dress-up clothes that my own kids have used over the years, assign

"parts" (pilgrim mother who gets to hold baby born on Mayflower!, pilgrim children,

Indians, the turkey (who gets shot at by the Indians), etc.) and as I read from The

Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern the children act out the story.

We change parts and costumes multiple times (mainly so the girls all get a turn at being

the Pilgrim mother!) and they thoroughly enjoy it! It really makes the story come alive

and they remember it!

--//--

From Debbie…

I use poker chips to teach...seriation with the colors, counting by choosing a # then

counting out the chips- # recognition, color recognition, fine motor(pincer grip). They

line them up usually and sometimes pile them.

They love to drop them in the box with a slot...they make great sound(clay chips)

--//--

From Heather…

Igloo Reading Village:

My class though has already made an igloo and what we did was made it out of more

than 200 1 gallon milk jugs and we use it as a reading center.

--//--

From Moriya…

To teach colors I collected egg cartons and we painted each groove a different color.

Then we went on a treasure hunt looking for treasures that corresponded with each color

in their egg carton. I used polished rocks, rubber bugs, paper flowers, etc.

The kids really liked it and the parents told me that they continued to look for things at

home that they could add to their color cartons/sorters.

--//--

From Liana…

I has a very successful craft this week.

We got plastic table cloths, (aboout 5 Metres long) took off our shoes and socks and got

out coloured paints and the children blobbed them on the cloth. We gave the children

brushes, rollers, sticks and anything they could think of that would be creative on this art

work. We thought this activity would last 10 mins, but we actually had to keep it out the

whole day!

It was such fun and exciting for the children. They had to work together, they mixed

colours and explored different mediums. My favourite part was listening to the

converstaion going on about mixing paint and working together to make a class master

piece!

We had to do a few so one is now our table cloth and the others are put up in different

places in the Nursery. It’s messy but loads of fun!

--//--

From Rhonda…

We worked on an author study using Shel Silverstein and his book "The Missing Piece".

While reading the book, you use some circles and shapes cut out of white paper and tell

the story and ask one child at a time to choose a "piece" to see if it fits into the "circle"

that is searching for his piece. The children loved this activity and we had several 'circle'

on hand and many different pieces, just like the story.

--//--

From Belinda…

Have children use a clothes pin at morning circle as a way of greeting their friends and at

the same time get practice with fine motor movements. We're using laminated leaves

presently for autumn theme. The children tend to look at their friends, too. Just have the

child pass the object (whether it be a leaf, apple, turkey, snowflake that is laminated ) to

their friend and after they have been doing it for a while, see how fast the circle can go.

I've actually seen some children that tend to be a little shy try this out and we have we

have seen some great success!

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