Top 10 Activities for Three- to Eight-year-olds

Directions: Use these pages to record your top ten selections of developmentally appropriate activities for
children three to eight. Rank activities so that number 1 is your most favorite and 10 is your least
favorite. Be sure to include at least one activity for each of the six areas of learning --- language and
reading, math, science, social studies, art, and music. For each activity, supply a target age group of
children, activity title, area of learning, what the teacher does, what the children do, and materials
required.

10
Activity Title

Area of
Learning

make fractions
3D
6-8

Math

What the
Teacher Does
-instructions
-get sandwiches
-get plates
-get plastic knifes

What the
Children Do
They will cut the
sandwich in
half, then in
fourths, then in
eighths.

Materials
Required
sandwiches
plates
plastic knifes

9
Activity Title

Area of
Learning

Bouncing
Raisins

Science

6-8

What the
Teacher Does
-instructions
-gets water,
vinegar, and
baking soda
-eight or more
raisins
-gets jar

What the
Children Do
They fill the jar
halfway with
water, then they
add vinegar and
baking soda to
the water. They
begin dropping
one raisin in at
a time and the
raisins will go to
the bottom then
eventually go to
the top then the

Materials
Required
jar
water
baking soda
vinegar
raisins

bottom over and

over again.
8
Activity Title

Area of
Learning

What the
Teacher Does

What the
Children Do

Materials
Required

floating M&Ms

science

-instructions
-gets M&Ms
-gets a glass
bowl

They are
going to place
4 M&Ms in the
bowl with the
m facing
upward then
pour about
4cm of water
into the bowl
without
disturbing the
jar and in
about 10
minutes and
eventually the
m will peel off
and float to the
surface

-4 or 5 M&Ms
-a glass bowl
-a small jug of
water

Area of
Learning

What the
Teacher Does

What the
Children Do

Materials
Required

- Tell them about

the scientific
method because
they use it in this
activity. Tell them
George
Washington
came up with the
idea of making
peanut butter.

They put all

them
ingredients
together

7
Activity Title

How to make
peanut butter

Social
Studies

-paper and
pencil
-4 cups roasted
and salted
peanuts,
shelled
-2 tablespoons
of vegetable oil
-1 teaspoon salt
--1 teaspoon
sugar
-food processor

-glass jar with

lid

6
Activity Title

Area of
Learning

What the
Teacher Does

What the
Children Do

Artful Artist

Language
and
Reading/
Art

Find a fable or
fairytale or other
short stories to
read to the
class. Tell them
to illustrate their
favorite part of
the story

Draw their
favorite part in
the story

Area of
Learning

What the
Teacher Does

What the
Children Do

5-6

Materials
Required
-Drawing paper
-Pens and
Pencils
--Magic
markers or
crayons

5
Activity Title

Materials
Required

4
Activity Title

Area of
Learning

What the
Teacher Does

What the
Children Do

Materials
Required

Floating egg
experiment
3-5 years old

science

-gives
instructions
-gets water
-gets a full glass
of water

Place egg into

the water, and
eventually it
will start to sink

-egg in its
shell(boiled or
raw)
-an almost full
glass of water
-1 tsp of salt

Activity Title

Area of
Learning

What the
Teacher Does

What the
Children Do

Materials
Required

Jumping coin
experiment
6-8 years old

science

-gives
instructions
-gets bowl
-gets the rest of
the materials

They fill the

bowl up with
water place the
bottle neck and
coin into the
bowl of water
to chill them.
Then place the
coin on top of
the bottle,
wrap your

-bowl
-coin
-cold water
-glass bottle

hands around
the bottle and
wait several
seconds, that
makes the air
heat up, the
warm air
pushes harder
and the cool
air that is
outside the
bottle forces
the coin up so
that it appears
to jump

2
Activity Title
Clean up song

Area of
Learning
Music

What the
Teacher Does
Starts to sing so
the children can
sing with them
and clean up

What the
Children Do

Materials
Required

Sing the song

and starts to
clean up

nothing

Activity Title

Area of
Learning

What the
Teacher Does

What the
Children Do

Materials
Required