HAROLD AND THE
PURPLE CRAYON
Line Art
Submitted by Janice
Play a selection of music. Have children pick a marker and
make a line on the paer from one end to the other as they move to
the music (this is done on butcher paper with a small group). Allow
each child a turn. When everyone has had a turn, select another
piece of music and other markers-repeat.
Read Harold and the Purple Crayon. After give each child white paper
and a purple crayon. Have them make lines which tell a story.
HARRY THE DIRTY DOG
After I read Harry the Dirty Dog to the students we take paper plates
and make them into dogs by gluing on a nose and ears and drawing
eyes and a mouth. Then the students put glue in spots and sprinkle
potting soil on to make "dirty
dogs".
HENNY PENNY
Submitted by Gail
My 4's loved the story of Henny Penny (aka Chicken Little). Here
are some of the activities that did. Ideas are from fellow teachers
and Mailbox magazine.
HENNY PENNY
Read the story aloud, encouraging your student to join in with the repetition.
Ask them if they think the sky could really fall. Explain that the sky is "air
that surrounds the earth." Have the children discuss what could fall
from the sky (or clouds in the sky), such as rain and snow, leaves from trees,
etc.
Follow up a reading aloud of HENNY PENNY by making a Henny Penny character. Trace
the child's hand onto red construction paper and cut out the shape. Have
the child glue the hand shape to the top of a paper plate (for her "feathered
head", a yellow triangle to the center of the plate for a beak, and two pennies
to the plate to represent eyes.
Sung to the tune of "Here we go 'round the Mulberry Bush"
Henny Penny has a bump on her head,
Bump on her head, Bump on her head.
Henny Penny has a bump on her head
And thinks the sky is falling.
chorus:
The sky is falling on our heads,
On our head, on our heads.
The sky is falling on our heads
We must go tell the king!
Cocky Locky went along,
Went along, went along.
Cocky Locky went along
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Ducky Lucky went along...
Quack, quack, quack!
Goosey Loosey went along...
Honk, honk, honk!
Turkey Lurkey went along...
Gobble, gobble, gobble!
Foxy Loxy tricked them all,
Tricked them all, tricked them all.
Foxy Loxy tricked them all
And took them to his cave.
Foxes had a tasty lunch,
Tasty lunch, tasty lunch.
Toxes had a tasty lunch.
Yum! Yum! Yum!
The King will never ever know,
Never know, never know.
The King will never ever know
That the sky is falling.
IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE
Submitted by Amy
Counting Chip Cookies
1. Make 10 large round shapes. I found some small cheapo round pillows
at a crafts store. You can also just laminate some brown paper, and
cut into circles. 2. With a permanent marker, write a number (1 to
10) on each cookie. (do this before laminating, if using paper)
3. Attach the appropriate number of scratchy velcro dots on each cookie. (The
5 cookie will have 5 velcro dots, etc.)
4. Make 55 black dots (the chocolate chips!) out of laminated paper or fabric.
Attach a fuzzy velcro dot to each.
Encourage the children to stick the chocolate chips onto the cookies! Help
them count the chips, and recognize the numbers. A nice tactile way for children
to work on one-to-one correspondence and number recognition.
Submitted by Robin
I love the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie! I gathered up all
the things that were in the story.....A plastic cookies....a tiny broom,....crayons.....pen....small
cloth for a blanket and pillow......a small box to make the bed and so
on. I made a pair of mouse ears and attached them to a head band. When
I read the story someone gets to play mouse and wear the ears. and the
other children select something from the box to give to the mouse. As
I read the story the mouse goes and collects the items and when the story
is done everything is back in the box and ready to put away. The
children like to take the box in small groups and one "reads" the story
while the others take turns doing the rest.
In dramatic play, we are going to add baking equipment to
the dramatic play area. I put a small tray out and am just going to
let them stir and line up bottle caps as cookies. Thought I'd
have out some construction paper , scissors, etc. and see if they can
create some of their own "cookies" and "cheese".
In art, I thought we could marble roll and then have the child find one dry
spot to thumbprint a mouse (adding ears, whiskers, legs, etc. with an ink pen). Don't
you think they would just love going home and asking mom or dad to find the
mouse? In the fine motor center, I am going to try to have them
try a variety of ways to poke or make holes in pieces of "cheese", (yellow,
white, and orange construction paper pre-cut in various shapes).
In the Math Center, I thought of creating a counting game with the cookie like
cereal pieces.
Cookie Poem:
Five round cookies as yummy as can be.
The first cookie said, "Please eat me!"
The second cookie said, "I have lots of chocolate chips"
The third cookie said, "I'll taste good on your lips"
The fourth cookie said, "I'm right here on the pan"
The fifth cookie said, "Find me if you can!"
Then "Ding!" went the timer
'Cause the cookies were done
We ate all the cookies and had lots of fun!
Make a Class Big Book "If you Give a Mouse"
On separate large, white paper circles write each child's completion
to the following sentence:
"If you give a mouse a ________. he will __________."
Have him illustrate his page. Bind all the pages together between same-sized
tan construction paper covers.
Add facial features, whiskers and paper ears to the cover.
Mouse Cookies
With the children, prepare a batch of drop cookie dough. Demonstrate
how to drop three spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet so that
it will resemble a mouses head with two ears when baked. The mouse
cookies can be frosted or details can be added with raisins, chocolate
chips, an dstring licorice.
Play Mouse, Mouse, Where's the Cheese
This game is played in cicle formation. Arrange the chairs and place
one in the center of the circle.Place a block to represent the
cheese under the chair. Select one child, the "mouse" to sit on
the chair and close his or her eyes. Then point to another child.
This child must try to remove the cheese without making a sound.
After the child returns to his chair in the circle,
instruct all of the children to place their hands behind their backs. Then
in unison the children say,"Mouse, "Mouse, Where's the Cheese?" The "mouse" then
opens his/her eyes and tries to guess who is holding the cheese.
Circle Time (Discussions)
Make a story wheel: Have children draw a large circle and include major
events from the story.
Cognitive (Math Concepts/Critical Thinking)
Make flannel board pieces or magnets of different kinds, colors,
and sizes of cookies. Several sets, for matching and lotto games.
Make paper cookies of a variety of shapes Be sure there are
two of each children need to match. Make paper chocolate chip cookies
each cookie has a number of chips on them (1-10) Make ten mice each
having a number on them (1-10) children match mouse to cookie number
Creative Arts & Activities
Make a class book- for each page, have each child dictate their
response to "If you gave me a Cookie, I would ____________. Let them
illustrate their pages.
Make paper cookies. Encourage children to draw circles on butcher
paper, and then cut out. Let them glue chocolate chips or raisins
to their cookies.
Fine/Gross Motor Development
Put out a container holding chocolate chips and a pan of tweezers.
Children use the tweezers to move the chips from container to another
container. (Be prepared for children to eat some of the chips)
Could use raisins instead of chips = oatmeal cookies!
Have children use domino blocks to create their own domino effects; a chain
reaction.
Science & Discovery (Sensory)
Give the children white play dough, rolling pins, and cookies cutters.
Encourage them to make play dough cookies. If you use baker's clay,
bake them, and then let the children paint their clay cookies.
Outdoors
Provide a large box for the children to turn into a mouse-house.
Give them materials as they ask for them (if possible) to furnish
the house with. This
may be used to conclude or lead into a discussion about what is in our house
and that everyone has the same and different things in their houses.
INSIDE THE BARN INSIDE THE COUNTRY
Submitted by Maya
I read the book “Inside the Barn In the Country” to my
Pre Kindergarten kids. They love this book and always remember it.
I made headbands with Velcro on them and had all the characters
from the book laminated and also Velcroed to stick on to the headbands.
Each child gets a character, (if you have many children, you
can double up the characters). I then go through the book again, having
the Characters now separate on the board, telling the story,
pointing to each character as they are awoken. I have the children
make the animal noises for each character in the book as they
are awoken, for example, when the cat wakes up the cow, the cow goes
MOO, and the Cat goes MEOW! The great thing about this game is
that every animal is repeated over and over again every time an animal
is awoken, so the children are constantly making animal noises.
As the book goes on, I read it faster and faster, and the children
get so mixed up and laugh a lot. I also like to switch the characters
back and forth back and forth, really mixing them up. The faster you
go and the more mixed up it gets, the more fun it gets and the more
they laugh. When the animals wake up the farmer you can yell “It’s
not morning yet!! Get back to bed!!” and all the children lay down on
the
floor, laughing. And of course, then the whole story starts all over again,
when the cat wakes up the owl, “HOO HOO!!”
IS YOUR MAMA A LLAMA?
Submitted by Susan
I did this activity while doing a field experience in a 3 year classroom. The
kids loved it.
First, find several pictures of animals. One adult and one baby
picture of each animal. A few odd animals can make it more of
a challenge. Simply color and laminate them if you want. Put
the animals up on the board, all mixed up. It is a simple matching
game you can use after reading the story. One child comes up
and picks an animal and moves the animals of to the side. Another
child comes up and has to find the match to that animal, either the
baby or the mother. The children love the game and the interaction
involved.
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
Submitted by Julianne
Paint (or use construction paper) a toitlet tissues tube green. Then
attach between three and five 1/2" by 12" green strips, twisting them. These
are the vines. Also attach some leaves to the vines. Students
color and cut a picture of Jack. Staple or tape Jack to a piece
of yarn and tie the yarn through the tube. Pulling the yarn will
make Jack climb up the beanstalk.
JESSIE BEAR WHAT WILL YOU WEAR?
Jessie Bear What Will You Wear.
Make a bear paper doll out of a brown paper bag. Just cut it like cookie
person with ears. Than make clothes for the bag bear to match the
clothes Jessie wears in the book. Just use paper and crayons.
Snack idea: Teddy bear graham crackers with a bit of honey.
JUMP, FROG, JUMP
Frog Jumping Number Line (submitted by Time)
Using a pattern of a frog. Make multiple copies on green
construction paper
Cut them up. Line them up one on top of the other. Touching head to toe.
Number them. I find 6-7 is about the maximum. I used a pattern of and
a real frog length, stretched out from an old Mailbox. But you can us anything.
I then run this through the laminator and leave it in one piece.
I now have my frog jumping number line..
I teach the children how to frog jump. Starting from a marker. Both
feet together, swinging their arms. We Practice.
I have a recording sheet for each child.
The children take turns jumping and record their 3 jumps. I make a class line
graph which records each child's greatest jump. The kids love it.
Class Book
Have the class brainstorm all different types of movement and ways
they can move. Then give each child a large sheet of construction
paper and have him or her draw a frog in the movement of his or her
choice. For example someone may draw a frog dancing. Either
have them write on the page (movement chosen), frog, (movement
chosen)----Dance,frog, dance, or have them dictate to you. Put
together into a book. When sharing the book pause after
each page to allow the children to move like the frog.
Frog Float
materials needed: paper cups (1 per child)
lime sherbert
7-Up or sprite
Miniature marshmallows or M&M’s
Directions: Put one scoop of lime sherbert into a cup. Pour in
7-UP or Sprite. Add marshmallows or M&M’s to the sherbert
for the frog’s eyes.
KISSING HAND, THE
Materials/Preparation:
Put the following items in a book bag or backpack or shoebox: · Book:
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn · Heart shaped stickers · Hand
cut outs · Journal book · Pencils
or crayons
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Activity:
Read the book at either your orientation, your first day of school, or send
home the back pack the first week. Make sure you have 3 or 4 backpacks
or book bags made up so the children don't have to wait too long for a turn.
When reading the story be very sensitive to your child's custodial needs. If
you have a child with an absent parent adjust your story to be generic. Say: "And
someone who loved Chester said give me your hand," instead of his
Mother.
Alternative if you're not comfortable reading story to parents or sending home
--
Do this at circle time and give your students a kiss on their hand and a heart
sticker. Have laminated hand name tags for comfort. Put a picture
of your student with parent on bulletin board.
CHESTER PATH GAME
Chester Path Game
Create a game board. Have a picture of Chester at one end of the board
with a crooked path of handprints with hearts in the center that lead to
Chester’s mom. Each child gets his own board. Use heart
shaped erasers for the marker. And a dice with the #’s 1,2,and 3 on
it . Help Chester get to his Mommy.
Day and Night
Discuss that Chester goes to school at night. Introduce the word Nocturnal.
Have different ideas printed and ask if these things happen in the daytime
or at night. (‘owls come out, we wear p.j.s’ the sun is out,
we eat lunch, wear shoes, bats fly…. Let children come up with their
own ideas. Print their ideas out so they can see their words.
THE KISS GOES ON
sung to twinkle twinkle
Here's a special trick I know
When I'm sad and scared to go
Take my hand and kiss it here
the kiss from you I will hold dear
Down my hand and up my arm
into my heart the kiss goes on
I changed it some to sing to my daughter
Here's a special trick I know
when you're sad and don't want to go
I'll take your hand and kiss it here
a special kiss to hold dear
down your hand and up your arm
into your heart the love goes on.
More Kissing Hand Ideas
If you meet with the parents before school starts, read the book to them and
tell them you will read it to the students on the first day. Many parents then
give their children a kiss in their hand on the first day. The kids get very
excited when you read the story and they have a kiss like the racoon. Give
parents a heart to color during testing for their child the first day of school.
Before school starts, send each parent a large piece of construction paper.Ask
them to trace each family member's hand on the banner and write their name
next to their hand. They can decorate their banner with crayons,markers,
ribbon, colored glue, paint, stickers, photos, etc. Ask them to send their
banner in with their child on the first day of school. The children will
have a great time looking at the banners. This also provides them with a
sense of familiarity.
Adapt this activity for the very first "homework".When I finish reading
it, I give each child 2 heart stickers, 1 for them and 1for Mom( Then do
a little take home paper that has a little xeroxed pictureof Chester, the
racoon and the title/author. The child traces around his/herhand and stamps
a heart in the middle. There's a place for the parent totrace his/her hand
as well. On the bottom of the paper,it says,"Trace yourmom or dad's hand
and tell them about this special story."
If you had a stuffed baby raccoon and a stuffed mother raccoon, you could
have Chester hunt for his mom. When you found her, she could havehandcookies
for everyone.
Give the children each a pre traced heart that they will cut and then givethem
a pre cut hand to paste the heart on. On each child's hand I will write...______'s
Kissing Hand and make a bulletin board out of them.
Give each child two hands, have them put a heart on the middle of them and
attach to a piece of yarn. Then they can give to their Mom's to wear for
a hug and a kiss.I had lip stickers and gave one to the kids to give their
Mom's that night. I told them school was a fun place to be... but Mom's need
a kiss so they need to tell Mom, the sticker is a kiss from them to help
Mom get through thedayGlue "I love you" hand on a painted heart
- they could make folded heartblots
- take a pre-cut heart, fold, add a few dabs of paint with differentcolors,
fold closed, rub all over, open up and you have a nice symmetricalpaint
design.
Since raccoons have masks, each child could decorate a mask (that you cutout
ahead of time) with art materials (or a raccoon mask)
Get die-cut hands in different body colors. The children can choose the
handcolor they want and use either a heart stamp on the hand or use a stamp
oflips on it. They can take this hand home to their parents. Kids put lipstick
on and kiss paper to make a collage, or cutting/pasting lips(from magazines
or ellison shapes) all over a small heart shape.
Make handprints using paint on paper plates. Add the phrase 'These people
love me...." and write names suggested by children.First, teach the children
the sign for I love you in sign language.... then.....
1 Have the children cut out a pretraced heart (big - on 81/2x11 paper).
2 Have them trace and cut out their hand print.
3 Glue the palm of the hand on the heart (don't glue the fingers yet). Or
doit the other way, make the hand bigger and the heart smaller to fit in
the middle of the hand.
4 Have the children pull down the middle and ring fingers, and glue themdown
to the palm of the hand. The other three fingers glue in place (pointing
up). This will be the I love you sign.
5 Write the words I love you on the heart or mount the heart on arectangular
piece of paper and write I love you underneath the heart..
As a small group activity, my kids each make a page for our class book We
use big washable stamp pads from Lakeshore, and the kids make a handprint
in the hand outline. They then dictate to me who brought them to school,and
how they felt. I take pictures of the children with our digital camera,and
put a heart shaped picture of the child in the middle of the handprint on
their page. I then laminate the pages, put on the cover, and bind the book.
Night and Day Chart
After reading "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn, I talk about how Chester
the Raccoon goes to school at night (introduce the term "nocturnal"), but
of course, we go to school during the day! I then introduce this chart. In
a box, I have sentence strips with Day/Night ideas written on them. As agroup
we decide if the ideas happen at night or during the day, and attach(tape)
them to the chart After they get the idea, I have the kids give me examples
of things they think belong on our chart and write them on sentence strips
before attaching them to the chart.
Talk about raccoons and tell how they use their front feet like hands. They
always pick up their food and feel and often wash it before eating.
LITTLE BLUE AND LITTLE YELLOW By Leo Lionni
Little Blue and Little Yellow is a wonderful, simple story
about two friends who are shown in the illustrations as blue and yellow
shapes. They have lots of fun together but when they hug, they turn
green! When they go home, neither one of their families recognizes
them anymore. A great book to introduce colors and color mixing,
as well as promote discussion about families and friendship.
ART
Paint one hand yellow and one hand blue. Have children make handprints
on the edge of the paper overlapping the edges. Then have them squish
their hands together and place handprints in the center of the page. Print "I
can make green!' in under the handprints.
Snack
make yellow lemon Kool-aid (I put a bit of yellow food coloring to exaggerate
the color). Every child gets a clear plastic cup of it, and then
we add blue ice cubes and watch what happens! Drinking
it is the best part. Some children start drinking as soon as they see
a hint of green and others want to wait until the whole ice cube melts.
Language Arts
Give each child a blue and yellow circle. Instruct them to glue the shapes
on their paper, and then draw a picture of something they think the friends
like to do together around the shapes. Bind all the finished pictures together
to make a classroom book called "Little Blue and Little Yellow Are Friends."
THE LITTLE RED HEN
Submitted by Jan
We read the story and watch the video. We make character puppets
from the story. We bake bread in my bread-maker. We make
a little red hen with red feathers, glitter, and red sequins, and red
sand. I bring in stalks of wheat so we can talk about it and
then we use the wheat, dip it in red paint, and make a picture.
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
Submitted by Jan
I do a big theme on Little Red Riding Hood. The girls make little
red hoods (we use a pilgrim hat pattern), and the boy make wolf masks
(and they really like them, of course!) We make a big brown
basket out of construction paper, cut slits, and weave paper strips to finish
our basket. Then we cut out food from magazines and glue it on. We
also draw and paint pictures from the story.
LOOKS LIKE SPILT MILK
Submitted by Marilyn
At our playground time, I bring out a large sheet and we all lay down
on it.
We do cloud gazing. Each child takes a turn telling what he/she sees. They
love this activity. When we get inside (circle time) I hand out the white,
flannel pieces to the book It Looked Like Spilt Milk, by Charles Shaw. As
I
read the book, the children bring up the pieces to the flannel board that match
to the story. The children stay focused and it helps to distinguish shapes. For
the art for the day, I put out white paint and spoons and light blue construction
paper. The paper is folded in half and the child places some white paint
on one side. Then he/she presses very hard and opens the paper to see
what he created. They enjoy this so much. I ask, "What
do you see......." and I write their reply on the paper. We hang them
in our hallway for the parents to enjoy. this is a big success.
LOOK WHAT I DID WITH A LEAF
Read aloud excerpts from Look What I Did With a Leaf! by
Morteza E. Sohi.
Afterward, have youngsters collect many different types and sizes of tree leaves.
Back in the classroom, supply each child with a large piece of construction
paper and glue. Review each page in the story, showing the youngsters each
leaf creature. Then encourage each student to use his leaves to create his
own simple leaf animal.
MITTEN, THE
Submitted by Marilyn
After repeatedly reading The Mitten, I did this activity with my class. I
used masking tape to make a HUGE outline of a mitten on our carpet. Then
I made stick puppets of the animals in the book. I just xerox
copied the
figures and attached a craft stick. As I read the book, the child with
the matching animal stick puppet got up and sat/laid in the center of the large
mitten outline. They loved positioning themselves to allow for the rest
of
the "animals" to fit in. Then we sneezed and the children rolled and
moved out of the mitten shape. Of course, I had to do this a few times
to allow all the children a chance to participate. It was a good activity.
This past month my "author of the month" was Jan Brett. We had a mitten week
where I brought snow in from outside and filled the water table with
it. The children had brought their mittens into school for the week. The
children had a ball playing with the snow. We also painted with water
color paints in the snow. In the end it looked like rainbow sherbet. We
measured each other to see how many mittens tall they were which was a good
counting
lesson. I also did the story THE MITTEN however, I used a huge
comforter and the children crawled under it and when the mouse went in I pulled
the comforter off them. Of course there was
a lot of laughing and silliness afterwards. I also went to the Jan Brett
home page where there is many ideas for all her books. Coloring pages,
lesson plans etc. can be found there.
Submitted by Sandra
We are doing The Mitten this week. I am sorry I cannot remember where it came
from, but we used the idea of putting up clothesline. We had relays of putting
the mittens on and then alternating person would take them off. They
were so cute. We just leave the line up and they actually have fun hanging
clothes.
Another idea was to cut a big mitten out (of card stock) and punch holes around
it and then lace (I first prepare the ends with glue and let it dry to a hard
pretend needle) and put the animals inside. After the Mitten, we read
The Hat (also by Jan Brett) Then we read Animals Should Definitely
Not Wear Clothing. What a fun week. We also read different authors interpretation
of The Mitten. The Mitten Tree is cute and we also read the Three
Little
Kittens. I have had a fun week for sure!
Submitted by Tammy
We're doing activities related to "The Mitten" this week too. One of
our favorites is to make 2 construction paper mittens, staple them together,
and have the kids decorate them. They then get to see how many animal
crackers
can fit into their mittens.
THE MITTEN (tune: Farmer in the Dell)
The mitten on the ground.
The mitten on the ground.
Heigh-ho! It's cold outside.
The mitten on the ground.
The (mole) snuggles in.
The (mole) snuggles in.
Heigh-ho! It's cold outside.
The (mole) snuggles in.
(After the last animal, all pretend to sneeze and fall out of the mitten.)
Mitten Music
(Where has my little dog gone) by Jean Rogers
Oh where, oh where did my NEW mittens go?
Oh where, oh where can they be?
Oh, I have looked high and I have looked low.
Oh where, oh where can they be?
sing and replace "NEW" with old, soft, warm, red, blue, etc.
Mitten Finger play
by Lucia Kemp Henry
Here is a mitten, (hold
up one hand)
A snug, fuzzy one- (rub
palms together)
With a place for my fingers (wiggle 4 fingers)
And a place for my thumb (wiggle
thumb)
Here are two mittens, (hold
up two hands)
A colorful sight. (hands
back and forth)
One for the left hand (hold
up left hand)
One for the right. (hold
up right hand)
Here are OUR mittens, (hold
up two hands)
As soft as can be (stroke
the back of one hand)
A warm pair for you (point
to the neighbor)
And a warm pair for me (point
to yourself)
Puttin' On Mittens
(Theme: The Farmer In the Dell)
The thumb in the thumb place,
Fingers all together!
This is the song we sing
When it is mitten weather
(Tune - "If You're Happy And You Know It")
Each mitten has a mate, has a mate.
Each mitten has a mate, has a mate.
Can (child's name) find the pair?
(He/She) is looking here and there.
Can (child's name) find the mate.
Find the mate?
THE MITTEN BULLETIN BOARD
We have a paper tree in our classroom. January is hard to decorate the tree.
We decided to have a mitten and snowflake tree. The children made mittens and
then we punched holes and they laced the mittens together. We then hung them
on the branches of the trees.
Submitted by Rhonda
You could do a lesson on empty and full using the mitten. I am an elementary
ed student and I just did a clinical on Jan Brett and I used this. It
went real well. You could also use have children predict how many crayons that
they can fit inside a mitten and then graph their predictions.
MOUSE PAINT
Circle Time (Discussions)
Read "Mouse Paint" during circle time. Make three mice out of
white construction paper. In the middle of the mouse, cut a large circle. On
the back, paste some red/blue/yellow cellophane over the circle. The
children should be able to see the transparent colours through the
circle. Overlap the different mice and ask the children what
colours they see. Leave the mice out on the discovery table for
the children to play with on their own.
[adapted from an idea seen in the Giant Encyclopedia of Circle Time Activities,
p. 91]
Cooking (Snacks)
I did a neat food experience with Mouse Paint once... we gave each child
cream cheese and ritz crackers, and then let them decide what colors
to make their cheese...(we ended up with a lot of gray cheese, but it was
fun and delicious!)
Creative Arts & Activities
Purchase several cat-toy mouses, those made from rabbit fur are especially
realistic. Have the children dip them in paint to paint their paper.
Make a mouse shape, or have the children cut their own "mice" out of fingerpaint
paper. Using finger paint or ice paints in red, blue, and yellow, let
the children see what colours they can make.
Make little mice shapes out of blue, red, and yellow cellophane. Let
the children glue these "mice" onto a white sheet of construction paper. Watch
them as they explore making new colours by overlapping the mice!
Fine motor:
Have the children use scissors to cut colored sheets of acetate into smaller
pieces, and use them to make a collage on clear contact paper. The colors
will blend and create areas of see-through and opaque. Punch a hole in
each child's color creation, and attach string for hanging.
Sensory:
Do no-mess fingerpainting. Put out fingerpaint paper or wax paper,
and tape to the table. Drop on a few blobs of thick tempera paint or fingerpaint.
Cover the paint with a sheet of saran wrap, and tape down the edges.
Encourage the children to move the colors around with their hands to mix.
When they're done, take off the saran wrap, and invite the children to press
sheets of white paper over the wet paint to make prints.
Fine/Gross Motor Development
a.. Movement/Listening: A variation on "Freeze Dance". Tape different
colors of construction paper to the floor. (the kids love to help do this!)Start
out with primary colors. Make sure there is the same number of particular colors
as there are children (6 kids, so 6 red, etc.)Play music, and invite the children
to dance. When the music stops, call out a color, and the children must find
one of the color papers to stand on. Do again and again. As they
gain familiarity with color blending, you can make it harder by calling out "yellow
and red", so they need to find orange.
Social/Emotional
a.. Have sheets of acetate in each of the three primary colors. Give one
to each child, and let them look through the sheets to see the world tined different
colors. Encourage them to trade colors. Then, invite them to put their color
sheets together with other children to look at the new colors they create. Make
sure everyone changes partners to see all the different colors.
Science & Discovery (Sensory)
a.. Sensory: Make color blending bags. In a saucepan, pour 1 cup
cornstarch, 1/3 cup sugar, and four cups water. Cook over medium heat, stirring
frequently. The mixture will start to turn lumpy, and then thicken into
a sort of vaseline-looking product. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Divide into 4-6 small strong ziploc storage bags. Squirt in a few drops
of food coloring in primary colors, aiming for different areas of the bags. Press
out as much air as possible, and seal the bags. Fold a piece of duct tape over
the top for added security. Now- give to the kids, and let them squeeze and press
the colors around. The colors will blend beautifully, and the bags will last
for quite a while.
MRS. BINDERGARTEN
Submitted by Melissa
As me and my assistant were getting ready for the beginning of school
we took pictures of each other and then using word I created the
start of the book "Miss Melissa and Miss Nancy get ready for
kids connect". Then after reading "Miss Bindergarten gets ready
for kindergarten" the children acted out what they did to get ready
the first day. Then we put together a class book that the children
love to read during choice time. Also we did another one called ABC
zoo. the characters in Miss Bindergarten are all animals that
match up with their names. We had the children choose an animal
that matched their name like Lakisha the lion and then drew themselves
as this animal. We made up names of friends for missing letters.
MRS. WISHY WASHY
Submitted by Vicky
We just had the most fun in our 5's class the other day, we made "clean
mud". You need 3 small bars of ivory soap, 1&1/2 cups borax, water,
and 6 rolls of toilet paper (Like Charmin, not cheap kind). The
kids unroll the TP and put it in container like a dish tub, and add
water so it is all wet and fits in. Grate the soap and add, add
borax, mix well with hands, and play in it! It will keep for
weeks if you seal it, and it smells so good. We made mud pies
with ours, and decorated them with pebbles and colored toothpicks. The
kids also wrote out their recipes for mud pies and illustrated them.
They are very cute! We read "Mrs. Wishy-Washy" to go along with
all this. Try it!
MY MANY COLORED DAYS
I read this book to my kids last week. Here's
what we did....First we talked about what feelings we feel when we
see different colors.
Then during center time, I had my kids trace and cut out a person shape. They
took different colors of tissue paper that had been cut into small squares.
They placed one square at a time on the person shape and painted over the tissue
with water so the tissue color would bleed onto the paper person.
They removed the tissue paper after they painted it with the water and were
amazed to see how the color was left behind! I showed them how
to overlap different colors to make new colors like in the book. Later,
the children explained why they chose the colors they did or what feelings
the colors reminded them of. I typed their dictation and we glued their
person and dictation onto construction paper.
After reading this wonderful book, I give each child a cutout of a boy/girl
cut from oaktag (an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet). On the table I have plates
of paint (colors from the story) and small sponges. I have them
think about how they feel in certain situations. Then I demonstrate
how to put a very small amount of a color on the sponge (wet the sponges first
and squeeze out so that they're damp but not wet, then put in paint),
dab some off on paper towel and sponge paint an area with the color that represents
that feeling. They come out beautifully! By the way, we put
up a chart showing what feeling represents each color with a little drawing
for happy, sad, mad, etc.
MYSTERY OF THE MISSING RED MITTEN, THE
Submitted by Diane
"The Mystery of the Missing Red Mitten" by Steven Kellogg. This
is the story of a little girl who loses her mitten while playing and
can't find it. After searching with her little dog, she finally
finds inside a melting snowman's chest where it looks like his heart. A
very cute story and we then make a snowman with a mitten heart to take
home. I also usually poll my class as to who likes gloves and who
likes mittens and then chart it cutting their hands out in the
color of their choice in either a mitten or glove shape. We hang
it for the month of January.
MUD
by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
In Mud by Wendy Cheyette Lewison the boy and girl end their muddy tale
by leaving a trail of marvelously mucky footprints. Choose a warm
spring day and let your youngsters make muddy footprints, too. Have
each child in turn take off his shoes and socks and sit in a chair
outdoors. Carefully paint the bottom of the child's feet with brown
tempera paint. Have him stand on bulletin board paper to leave one
set of footprints. Then help the child dunk his feet in a shallow
pan of warm water and rinse and dry them. When the footprints are
dry, use them as a border for a springtime bulletin board.
NAPPING HOUSE, THE
Submitted by Amy
My House Finger play
My house has a roof, so big and wide (use hands to form a roof above
your head)
With a window like this, to look inside. (make window with hands)
Here is my door (hold handup straight)
And here is my key ( use other hand to pretend to unlock the hand door)
Come knock on my door, and play with me! (use hand to knock on hand door)
What do we know about houses?
At a chalkboard or using a large piece of paper taped to the wall, help children
brainstorm about houses. Draw (or ask children to draw) the children's
ideas. What do we need to build a house? What parts does it have? Where
should we put the door, windows, etc. Why do we need a roof? What would
we like to have inside?
Outside? Who would we like to live there?
Shoe box Houses
Give each child a shoe box, and let him paint it and then furnish with dollhouse
furniture and dollhouse dolls. Make sure to have little "blankets" and
small boxes for putting doll children to bed.
Build a Home
Give children glue, and various shapes, sizes, colors and textures of paper
to build paper houses with. Make sure you have many small squares available
for windows!
Block Houses
Encourage the children to use the blocks to make homes for the baby dolls,
the stuffed animals, each other, etc. Have masking tape available for making
streets between the houses. Go visiting!
OLD BLACK FLY
We use fly swatters and dip them in paint and do swat
paintings so they match the artwork in the story. When dry add
a plastic fly or a fly that the kids make out of const. paper
and wax paper for wings. HINT:
Do the painings outside :0)
OWL BABIES
I love this book. Actually, I have 3 copies and put it in
my Listening Center. Afterwards, the children make a paperbag puppet.
Children can draw two LARGE eyes and triangle for beak. (Always cute
to see how some rotate the triangle or make a square as their attempt).
Next, comes the fun part. Children take construction paper and "listen" for
the ripping sound as they make l-o-n-g stips of paper. They, then, attach these
long strips just under the flap of the owl's head (do not glue the entire strip).
The paper will curl at the bottom somewhat and look like feathers--if they
make enough. Very cute and 5 year olds can do this independently. 3 and 4's
may need some additional help.
Cross Curriculum Ideas
To introduce the story, ask the children "what do you think the story will
be about?"
Discuss that the mother is called an owl and the babies are called owlets.
How many words do you see in the title? What letter does owl begin
with? What letter does babies begin with?
Literacy:
In a large group, use a tree with an owl attached to a piece of yarn to position
the owl in, over, next to, in front of and beside.
Let each child choose to illustrate their own picture with a tree, owl and
preposition. Use the sentence frame ____________'s (child's name) owl
is ______the tree.
Assemble the book and place in the class library.
Art:
Make a feather collage.
Make an owl baby puppet using a paper bag, a pattern for the owl's head and
whiteconstruction paper.
Science:
Compare the remains that are found in several owl pellets. Encourage
children to sort the bones and make a list of possible sources.
Since owls have keen eyesight, use magnifying glasses to examine the owl
pellets.
Math:
Make an Owl Number Book. Since this project needs to be done in two
days, the children will glue chinese noodles onto each page for the owl's
nest and copy a numeral onto each page (1-5). On the second day, the
children will use their thumb print to make the appropriate number of owls
in each nest. Add eyes, nose and toes with fine-tip marker. The
teacher and child should assemble the pages and staple.
Little Hoot Owl
(sung to the tune of "Six Little Ducks")
Who flies around in the dark of night?
Who glides on wings o'er silent night?
Who eats his dinner by late moonlight?
It's a little hoot owl with his owl eyesight!
Who-who, who-who, little hoot owl.
Who-who, who-who, little hoot owl.
Who-who, who-who, little hoot owl.
It's a little hoot owl with his owl eyesight
THE POLAR EXPRESS
Material:
sleigh bell (wrapped in small box)
drawing supplies
Introduction Activity :
Show the small gift wrapped box (containing the bell) to the class.
Ask them to speculate what's inside. After everyone has had the opportunity
to guess, select a child to open the box and show its contents. Tell
the children that they will hear a story about a boy's exciting nightime
adventure and the very special gift he receives.
Body :
Read the story "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg.
Pause to discuss the illustrations (How do they make you feel?)Also, pause
to discuss things that children might see on the way to the North Pole, as
well as, what they might see when they arrive.At the end of the story, review
the happenings of the boys very special evening.
Note: I always end the story with the sentence, "It made the most beautiful
sound my sister and I had ever heard." It seems a more appropriate ending for
children of this age.
Conclusion Activity :
Children draw pictures of what they might be seen on the way to or at the North
Pole, on cloud shaped pieces of paper. To use for a bulletin board display,
make a Polar Exprees train and use the cloud shaped pictues as the puffs of
smoke coming from the engine.
Submitted by Kozan
When I read this book, at Christmas time, to my Kindergarten class I also set
up my class to represent a train. When the children enter the room, Christmas
music is playing while they select a seat to sit in to ride the pretend train. In
each seat is a cup of hot chocolate/marshmallows to drink and a candy cane
to eat while they are listening to the story. I also have a very large
gold bell that I ring at the appropriate times in the story. Some children
don't see the bell and they really belive it is ringing from the book or the
story!! This year my class asked me to reasd the book three times!I have also
done this with third graders and they enjoy it as much as the Kindergarteners
do.
I have a friend who mails her students a bell during the Christmas break. Many
think it could have come from Santa.
Submitted by Michele
Usually this is book I read over the Christmas holiday season. I get
the children geared up for a train ride to the North Pole aboard the Polar
Express. Prior to this I print up a ticket that they will need to board
the train. I use each childs name, date and destination, sprinkle silver
glitter over it and laminate it. On the day of our trip, I blow
a wooden train whistle that I purchased a long time ago for my young
son and "All Aboard." The children line up at the door where tickets
are taken and they board the train. The train is made up of classroom
chairs in 2 rows with long pieces of tagboard that I have painted to
look like train wheels. The lights are all off as they board the train
and we are off. I read the story to the children and upon returning back
home they are each presented with a silver bell. The children love it
and is always a highlight of the holiday season.
Submitted by Barbie
We started a polar express day last yr. and the kids loved it. Our students
are required to wear uniforms, so we had everyone bring their pajamas and change
or some just put over their clothes. The teachers wore matching flannel pj's.
(We are in central Florida so the air conditioner was being used) There are
4 k teachers in our wing so we had activities in each room and the kids rotated
around every 30 minutes or so. Christmas CD's were playing in each room. Each
teacher read the story in her own room before we started rotating.
One room had hot chocolate and Christmas cookies (we kept hot in 2 large
crock pots) and watched the video of polar express that our librarian was able
to find from another school in our county.
One laced up and decorated stockings, one used ribbon to make a bell necklace
and played hide the bell, last one did a coloring activity. We took pictures
of each child in front of their class Christmas tree in their pj's for the
memory book. We realized that we needed more help to get kids around to each
class, so we have already enlisted some volunteer moms to take classes around
while the teachers stay put and direct activities for each room. The
moms will wear pj's also.
THREE LITTLE PIGS
Read the story and then talk about what happened to each little
pig and why. Have 3 groups of children and have each group build
one of the homes like the little pigs did. Straw- raffia Sticks-pretzel
sticks and marshmallows bricks-blocks or 1" wooden cubes. Have
one student be the big bad wolf and try to blow the houses down.
What happened? Why? What good the litte pigs have done differently
when building their houses? Hopefully they will come up with
they should have worked together as a team, etc;
RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE
Submitted by Mrs. Joan Green
This year during our "Rumble in the Jungle" (This is also the title
of the book I use, I can't think of the author, but it is a fun book
to start the theme off with); We studied animals from within the jungle
with names that began with the letter of the week(s) we were studing;
for instance "m"... we learned about Mcaw's. Very fasinating birds.
For Art we took TP tubes and wraped a water painted(by the children)
picture of a McCaw around it. We added long lengthes of colored creepe
paper for their long tails, and colorful feathers for wings. The picture
I used (from High Reach) Place the wings in such a manner that they
were glued above the TP tube as if they were flying. I hole punched
these and hung from our classroom ceiling. They were quite a hit!
We also make camera's from Macaroni and cheese type boxes painted black,
dried, and then painted details as the children wished. Next, on 3x5 index cards
we glued pictures we cut out of magazines of jungle animals for our "photographs".
Then we went on a "safari".
We played "animal freeze". Just like "The Freeze" by Steve & Greg,
but the children had to freeze into a position of a jungle animal and we all
took turns guessing what each other was.
Show N Share time consistated of only jungle animals from their toy boxes;
with a story of how they "captured" their animal and in what part of the world
would they replace the animal?
We listened to rainforest music in the background, which turned out to
open the mind to many a question to real vs pretend.
Using babyfood jars we placed some dirt and ivy and watched as the dew
would gather and go away.
Finally using the shape of a girrafe we made journals and told our own
stories of what we learned during our jungle month.
TEN BLACK DOTS
I had my pre-k class make our own class book of "Ten Black
Dots".
Each child took 10 black dots and then created a drawing around them. We
had a train, balloons, dalmation, ice cream cones, flowers, etc. The
book was really cute and their creativity was amazing. I simply wrote
what they said the drawing was but for older kids maybe they could write their
own story.
Marilyn Burns has a wonderful book entitled Math And Literature (K-3). She
uses Ten Black Dots and suggested doing the following with
students:
Each student creates a book with 10 pages over a period of several days. The
format is similar to the piece of literature in that on page one the
child draws a picture and uses one black self-adhesive dot, two on page two,
etc.
When the books are done, the students have to figure out how many black dots
are in their books and they must show how they figured out the answer. Every
child had to complete these sentences: We each
needed ___ dots. I got my answer by _______________ .
Some of the children had to count all the individual dots; some did an addition
problem 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10; some used tally marks.
This was done in a first grade classroom and was used to assess what students
can do with numbers and how they think.
THERE'S AN ALLIGATOR UNDER MY BED
We like the story"There is a alligator under my bed", Mercer
Mayer. I have them cut out pictures of food from magazines with their
parents at home. They brought these pictures in to feed our alligator,
I let the kids make footprints in a alligator shape by painting on
a heay tagboard, then we made a trail with these footprints leading
to the food. We also have alligator shape sponges that they sponge
painted on a large letter A.
The alligator
(FINGER PLAY)
The Alligator snaps his jaws(lay arms flat together)
Snap, snap, snap, hands open and shut
The alligator smacks his tail(hands on thighs)
smack ,smack, smack.
The alligator crawls away
Tap tap tap(Stomp feet.)
Hope this helps.
Alligator
We have made an alligator out of a clothespin. Paint the clothespin green,
add wiggly eyes on top and then put small yellow poms poms on down the nose
(or snout)I'm not sure what you would call it on an alligator. I found
that the clothespins that do not clip on but rather slide on (all wood no metal)
work
the best. Hope this is easy to follow!
THE RAG COAT by Lauren Mills
Minna proudly wears her new coat to school and shares the
stories sewn into its patchwork design. This uplifting story was inspired
by tales from the Appalachian Mountains, a song by Dolly Parton, and
the author's own childhood.
A reading of The Rag Coat is the perfect springboard to a discussion of values
such as friendship, kindness, respect, and self-esteem. Follow up your class
discussion with this art activity. Request that each child bring in a scrap
of cloth. Then have her share a story about the cloth. Cut each child's scrap
into smaller pieces, and then combine all the pieces. Provide each child with
a tagboard coat shape and encourage her to cover the shape with assorted fabric
pieces. Have her glue the cloth on the coat and then trim around the edges.
When the coats are complete, everyone will have a rag coat like Minna's that
is "full of stories."
RAINBOW FISH
Take a card board box open on one side
and have the children paint the inside blue and then give each
child a precut fish (or have them design their own) have the children
decorate the fish with glitter, sequins, feathers, whatever is on hand. Then suspend the fish with fishing
wire from the fish tank. It will look like the fish are swimming. Allow
the children to add things to the tank like rocks, plants etc.
Easy Rainbow Fish
Here's a school of fish your youngsters can create in
a flash! To make a fish, cut a triangle from a colored paper plate. (If time
permits, paint a white plate the color or colors of your choice, and allow
it to dry before cutting.) Glue the tip of the triangle to the opposite side
of the plate. Glue on (or draw) a black circle for an eye. Suddenly you've
got a school of fish for a special summer display. Add foil for shiny scales!
RUNAWAY BUNNY
Class Book
Submitted by Amy
Here's something I've done with older preschoolers- Have the children
think of additional ways for the little bunny to hide and the Mother
to find him, to make a class "Runaway Bunny" book.
Invite the children to dictate their ideas, and illustrate.
Pita Cake Snack
Submitted by Amy
Make a cute rabbit out of pita bread (they call it "Pita Rabbit" - *groan*!)
Carefully slice through the pita so you have 2 circles. Cut one circle
in half for the ears. Spread all with pb, then cover with marsmallow fluff.
Mix a bit of red jam with some fluff to make it pink. Use for nose and
inside of ears. Put 2 dollops of jam for the eyes. Use pretzel sticks for
whiskers
Foot Bunnies
Materials:
Construction paper - brown, pink, blue and green
Black markers
Scissors
Glue
Cotton balls
Pipe cleaners
Curling ribbon
Pink pom pom
Blue beads
Directions:
Remove one shoe; leave sock on. Bunny's head and body are made by tracing
your foot onto brown construction paper with a pencil. Cut out. Cut green
construction paper to look line grass. Glue to bottom of blue construction
paper. Turn foot tracing upside down and glue to the blue piece of construction
paper on the grass (fat part on bottom). Cut out 2 long ears from brown and
pink paper. Glue pink pieces onto brown pieces. Then glue on
top of heel outline. Glue on beads for eyes, a pink pom pom for nose and
a large cotton ball for a tail. With black marker, draw in mouth and whiskers.
Growing Flowers
Materials:
Styrofoam or paper cups (decorated as desired)
Popsicle sticks (painted green)
Flowers made from construction paper, wallpaper scraps, or fun foam Stick
the popsicle stick carefully through bottom of cup. Glue the flower to the
stick inside the cup. (We made our Crocus out of construction paper and
glued it around the stick so the stick tip didn't show). The stick can now
be raised and lowered through the cup as if the flower is growing. We put
a fun foam bunny in each of our flowers and pretended it was the little bunny
in the story.
Tying Shoes with Runaway Bunny
submitted by Joyce
I like to connect the runaway bunny with learning to tie our shoes. We
have two bunnies, one runs around the other, through a hole and away from the
other. A fine motor skill, beginning to teach tying and just something
fun the kids love to use as a filler. It is amazing how many will remember
how to do this skill because of the connection between the theme and the skill.
Bunny Hide and Seek Game
Submitted by Amy
Take turns being the Mommy bunny finding the little bunnies
Science
Submitted by Peta
Carrot Tops: Provide carrot tops, plastic containers, potting soil, spoons
and a watering can. Invite the children to plant the carrot tops.
SILLY SALLY
For Silly Sally we take a picture of the children standing
with arms over their head and hands straight up. When the
pictures are cut out they can be
turned over so it looks like the children are walking upside down. We
have them stamp a field of yellow flowers on the bottom of a piece of paper
with the sentence Silly ___________________________ went to town
walking backwards upside down. Then the child's picture gets glued on
so it looks like they are walking upside down. Fill in each child's name
in the sentence and put together into a class book titled Miss/Mrs./Mr./Ms.
__________________________ Silly Class.
STELLALUNA
Math
After reading stellaluna, make a venn diagram comparing bats and birds.
Compare the largests bats in the world with the smallest bats. as
a class we measured 6 ft the wingspan of the largest bats. i drew
a bat that fit in the wingspan. then give each child a 5 in strip
of paper and have them draw, color and cut out a bat to represent
the smallest bats. (although i read somewhere later that some bats
are even smaller than that, so the papers, possibly should have been
smaller)
Taste mangoes like Stellaluna. Graph who likes/dislikes this fruit.
Snack
Make a fruit salad from mangoes, banana and dates to represent the types
of fruit that fruit bats eat.
Use a bat shaped cookie cutter and make bat shaped french toast to eat with
the fruit salad.
STONE SOUP
Submitted by LeeAnn
Cooking Stone Soup
(Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)
Cooking Stone Soup
Cooking Stone Soup
Stir the pot,
It's getting hot,
We're cooking Stone Soup.
First, we add potatoes,
First, we add the potatoes,
Stir the pot,
It's getting hot,
We're cooking Stone Soup.
Additional verses could be sung for all the other ingredients
in your particular version of STONE SOUP.
OTHER SOUP BOOKS
Growing Vegetable Soup Lois Ehlert
Pirate Soup Erica Farber and J.R. Sansevere
Tomato Soup Thacher Hurd
Mouse Soup Arnold Lobel
Submitted by Margie
Read the story...Stone Soup. Talk about the different vegetables
you could add to a soup.
Make a list of what each child would like to contribute to a "classroom soup". Send
home notes to the parents to have them bring their vegetable in on Soup day. You
provide the stones...use chicken/beef bouillon to toss in the soup. Have children
wash, cut up, etc., the vegetables and simmer soup from morning until snack
time.
CLASSIFICATION GAME: "Vegetable, Fruit or both"
Label 3 medium boxes (Or grocery bags folded down) on the sides...the 1st "VEGETABLES",
2nd "FRUIT" and 3rd bag "BOTH". Using the classroom plastic vegs. or
vegs. cut out from magazines/newspapers...classify them.
VARIATION: Turn the bags around so that the opposite sides are labeled: "VINE", "TREE", "UNDERGROUND".
Now play the same game, classifying which grow on a vine, tree and underground.
THE SNOWY DAY By Ezra Jack Keats
Submitted by Staci
Today we read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and then the children
got a chance to paint (onto black paper using white paint or white
paper using black paint) using a stick to make a trail just like
Peter did in the snow. We also finger painted and let them
draw a trail in the snow using their fingers or the sticks.
This classic story of a little boy's adventures in a snowy city won a Caldecott
Medal in 1963.
Peter wanted to keep a snowball as a remembrance of the snowy day. Help your
youngsters create their own snowball keepsakes with three-inch Styrofoam balls,
white and blue one inch tissue paper squares, glue brushes, and thinned white
glue. To make an imitation snowball, place a Styrofoam ball in the bottom part
of an egg carton to prevent the ball from rolling. Brush the upper half of
the ball with thinned white glue; then place tissue paper squares on the glue.
Brush glue on the tissue paper and add additional squares so that they overlap
the others. Sprinkle silver or clear glitter sparingly over the wet surface.
Allow the glue to dry and repeat the process to complete the other half of
the ball. Hey, it's a snowball to keep!
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
PJ PARTY
Host a wild rumpus. Have children wear blanket sleeper pjs or
sweat suits. Put on wild dancing music and let the wild rumpus
begin!
Monster Masks
1).Precut or have children trace pattern and cut out mask. Decorate
with seqins, feathers, stickers etc. Wear the masks for the wild rumpus.
Hint: to keep the headband from ripping so easily...attach paper strips
to either side of the mask. Thread the open ends thru a rubber band,
fold back and staple to the paper strip. The rubberband stretchs so
the mask can go over pontails, braids etc.
2). Materials: paper plate, or pizza wheel, or poster board circle,
glue, scissors, various colors of tissue paper, sequins, butttons, or other
art supplies.
Have each child glue the entire surface of their paper plaet, pizza wheel,
or poster board circle.
The glued surface should then be covered with pieces of tissue paper.
Add facial features, horns, teeth, manes, beards, etc. with the other
art supplies.
Display on bulletin board with a cut out crown near the lower edge of the
board and caption "Be Still Wild Things".
3). Give each child a paper plate with eye holes cut out. Put out
a variety of art materials- paper scraps, crepe paper, tissue paper, sequins,
beads, cloth scraps, yarn, etc. Have each child look at the wild things
in the book and make his/her own wild things mask. When all are made,
put on the music from the story tape or some other wild music. The
children hold their masks in front of their faces and "let the wild ruckus
start"!
4. Using brown paper grocery bags cut out holes for the eyes,nose, and mouth. Provide
the class with a wide collection of art materials. Have them create
wild thing masks. Have a wild rumpus!
Art Project
For a follow up to "Where the Wild Things Are", I have my students make their
own monsters by ripping paper. I put a variety of colored construction
out and the kids get to select what colors they would like to use. They then
must rip the paper to make their monsters. NO SCISSORS ALLOWED!! They then
glue the monster together. We usually display their
monsters in the hallway for everyone to see. Everyone succeeds with this
project...(even those that struggle with cutting). I like to do this
for Maurice Sendak's B-day (June).
Snack and Chant
If your wild things are getting restless, the following chant will give them
something to roar about! Provide each child with ten Bugles corn
chips to slip onto clean fingertips to represent claws. When the
chanting is done, sit down for a snack that finger-lickin' fun.
Teacher: Wild things, wild things,
Look at you!
Wild things, wild things,
What can you do?
Class: We can roar our roars! (Roar)
Gnash our teeth at you! (Show teeth)
We can roll our eyes! (Roll eyes)
Show our claws, too! (Extend fingers)
Repeat teacher's verse
Class: We can eat you up,
'Cause we love you!
Music and Movement
Material: a recording of lively instrumental music
1. With the children seated around you, reread the part of the story where
Max controls the "wild things" by staring them down, and the part where the "wild
things" are having a wild rumpus as they play.
2. Ask the children what they think a wild rumpus might look like.
Discuss the characters' actions in the story.
3. Tell the children that they can be the "wild things" when the music
is playing, but when the music stops they must act tired and gently sit or
lay down down on the floor. Be sure to give them guidelines before
beginning about what behavior is appropriate in a wild rumpus.
WILL I HAVE A FRIEND? by Miriam Cohen
Use this reassuring story as a springboard for discussion
about youngsters' feelings during the first days of school. Ask students
to predict whether or not Jim will have a friend and if so, how he
will meet his friend. After
reading Will I Have a Friend? aloud, discuss the idea that everyone can be
a friend to someone else in the class. On a chart, write several positive traits
about each child that would make him a good friend. Then provide each
child with a crown or an award ribbon cut from sturdy paper. Have each child
personalize and decorate his item. Then write several positive words from the
list on each child's crown or award
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Recommended
Books
Literacy - Make It Easy |