Activity

Plans

Title: Nature Hunt

Age Group: 4-5 Years old

Originating Idea: Interest in color of leaves

Materials:

Paper Bags

Book on Nature

Pictures of leave/grass ext.

Magnifying Glasses

Curriculum Content: Science & Technology: Classification. Exploring and describing

similarities, differences, and the attributes of things.
Beginning: Read a story about nature at small group. Discuss what happened/what we might find
outside. Hand out paper bags and magnifying glasses.
Middle: While outside, children will pick up carious items and put them in their bags.
Extensions:
Earlier: Partner children up so that they can help each other find objects.
Later: Give the children pictures of items for them to find outside.
End: 5 minute warning before going inside
Follow-up Ideas:

Sort Items

Leaf Rub

Rock Paint

Title: Mixing Colors

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Interest in how colors mix and change

Materials:

Regular Paint (not finger paint or water colors)

Paint Brushes

White Paper

Mixing Colors Story Mix It Up

Curriculum Content: The Arts: Visual Arts. Drawing and Painting

Beginning: Read the story Mix It Up in small group. Discuss what happens when you mix
certain colors. Pass out paper and paint brushes. Place paint on the childs paper as needed.
Middle: Children will have two separate color blobs of paint on their paper. The children will
experiment what happens when you mix these two colors together.
Extensions:
Earlier: Place the two paint blobs (the same size) on top of each other for the children to mix
together.
Later: Place multiple different color blobs of paint on their paper so the children and experiment
with witch colors can mix to make other colors.
End: Ask children to explain what colors they created.
Follow-up Ideas:

Allow the children to pain with the colors they created

Experiment with mixing colored water

Title: Story Creation

Age Group: 3-4 years

Originating Idea: The children have interest in creating their own stories.
Materials:

Felt Boards

Story Lets Use Our Imagination!

Felt pictures (to create story)

Curriculum Content: Language, Literacy and Communication: Having fun with language:
listening to stories and poems, making up stories and rhymes.
Beginning: Read the story at large group time and explain how stories are made up by people.
Discuss other stories that children might know.
Middle: At small group, give each child a felt board and provide the children with multiple
pictures so that they have many options to create their story. Children will pick their pictures and
put them in the order that they want their story to go. The children will then share with an adult
helping them through their story.
Extensions:
Earlier: Children will pick pictures they want to use in their story. An adult will help them with
putting them in the order that the child wants.
Later: Children will pick the pictures they wish to use, place them in order and then tell their
story to the group (or teacher).
End: Announce when the last child is sharing their story so everyone knows that small group is
over after.
Follow-up Ideas:

Use felt boards and create stories with friends

Draw/paint stories that they shared

Title: Puzzle Connection

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Childrens interest in puzzles

Materials:

Large Puzzle with multiple pieces

Small individual puzzles

Curriculum Content: Social and Emotional Development: Creating and experiencing

collaborative play
Beginning: In the beginning of small group, get out small (individual) puzzles for children to
play with. Discuss how each piece fits into another piece to make the puzzle.
Middle: All the children will be working together to make a puzzle. Children will each grab a
puzzle piece, once they have connected their puzzle piece with another piece, they may go grab
another puzzle piece.
Extensions:
Earlier: The child gets paired with another child and they both look for a place for the puzzle
piece to fit.
Later: The child will be able to have more than once puzzle piece at a time when working on the
group puzzle.
End: When the puzzle is half way completed, tell the children that once the puzzle is finished it
will be time to clean up.
Follow-up Ideas:

Have children color picture. Cut it to make it into a puzzle for them to put together.

Add other large puzzles to your classroom for children to work on together.

Title: Dancing to Directions

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Interest in puzzles that require putting people together

Materials:

C.D. Player

C.D. with head and shoulders on it

Curriculum Content: Physical Development, Health and Well-Being: Acting upon movement
directions.
Beginning: While at large group, have all of the children get into a circle. Tell the children that
we are going to do some stretches. Give the children directions such as touch your toes, reach
your hands into the sky ext..
Middle: After the stretches, the children will dance to head and shoulders, following the
directions in the song.
Extensions:
Earlier: Show the children where the body parts are while the song is playing
Later: Have the children follow the directions in the song while their eyes are closed.
End: Ask each child what their favorite part of the dance was.
Follow-up Ideas:

Play Simon says

Childrens Yoga

Title: Counting Animals on the Farm

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Interest in farm animals

Materials:

Colored farm animals (solid colors: red, blue, green, yellow)

C.D. player

C.D. with On the farm counting song on it

Curriculum Content: Mathematics: Numbers. Counting objects

Beginning: At large group, sing the on the farm counting song with the children.
Middle: At small group children will count the farm animals. The children will be given different
numbers of farm animals to count.
Extensions:
Earlier: Children will count animals with the aid of an adult or another child.
Later: Children will count specific objects (ext. only the pigs, or only the blue animals)
End: 2 minute warning before small group comes to a close.
Follow-up Ideas:

Sorting by color of animals, or type of animals

Sing old McDonald and use the animals as props

Title: Fill the Buckets

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Curiously as to why we cannot fit more toys in the buckets once they are full

Materials:

Individual (small) buckets

Balls (tennis ball size)

Book Fill a Bucket

Curriculum Content: Mathematics: Space. Filling and emptying

Beginning: Read Fill a Bucket at large group. Talk about what happens when there is not more
room in the bucket.
Middle: At small group have the children fill a bucket 1 ball at a time. Have the children count
the balls as the put them in the bucket to see how many balls the bucket will hold.
Extensions:
Earlier: Have the children fill the buckets with balls. They do not need to count the balls.
Later: Have the children use bigger or smaller balls, and have them count them.
End: Talk about why we cannot fit any more balls in the bucket once it is full
Follow-up Ideas:

Use other objects to fill buckets (crayons, toys ext.)

Fill buckets with water

Title: Freeze Dancing

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Childrens interest in dancing

Materials:

C.D. player

C.D. with upbeat music (frozen soundtrack!)

Book Happy Feet

Curriculum Content: The Arts: Music. Moving to music

Beginning: At large group read the book Happy Feet and discuss different types of dance.
Explain to children the concept of freeze dance.
Middle: Play the music and stop it randomly so that the children freeze!
Extensions:
Earlier: The teacher says stop to the children when the music stops.
Later: Have the children hold the pose that they are in when the music stops.
End: Give the children a 2 minute warning before they are done dancing
Follow-up Ideas:

Teach the children other types of dance

Turn freeze dancing into a game, and eliminate the children who move after the music
stops.

Title: Writing Names

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Combined childrens interest in names and writing materials

Materials:
Markers
Pencils
Crayons
Paper
Curriculum Content: Language, literacy, and communication: Writing in various ways
Beginning: At large group discuss with the children how people have different names and how
we get our names. Reiterate to children that everyones names are spelt differently.
Middle: At small group encourage each child to write their name with whatever materials they
feel most comfortable using. Some children may wish for you to write their name on the top so
that they can copy the letters underneath.
Extensions:
Earlier: Write the childrens names in yellow marker so that they can trace over top of it
Later: Encourage the children who can write their first name to continue on and write their last
name. They may need help with the order of the letters in the middle/last name.
End: At large group show the children everyones name and point out the differences in the
letters and spelling.
Follow-up Ideas:
Have the children write their names in shaving cream
While the children are playing with magnet letters, encourage them to put the letters in
order of their name.

Title: Alphabet Soup Age Group: 3-4 years

Originating Idea: Childrens interest in making soup while at home living
Materials:
Large pot or bowl
Soup ladle
26 ping pong balls with letters A-Z written on them
Smaller individual bowls for each child
Curriculum Content: Language, literacy, and communication: Reading in various ways
Beginning: Sing the alphabet soup and ABCs song at large group.
Middle: At small group have the children take turn using the ladle to scoop out alphabet soup.
Have the children tell you the letters on each of their balls prior to putting it into their own bowl.
Extensions:
Earlier: Have the children partner up to help each other identify the letters they are pulling out of
the pot
Later: Add another pot with the alphabet in lower case. Have the children take turns scooping out
of both pots to identify both upper and lower case letters.
End: Tell everyone that each person is going to get one last turn and then the activity is going to
be over.
Follow-up Ideas:
Use different color balls and have children identify the colors when they pull them out
Write numbers instead of letters on the balls so children can identify the numbers

Title: Sorting by color and shape

Age Group: 3 years

Originating Idea: Childrens interest in sorting objects during free play

Materials:
Multiple shapes in different colors
Different colored construction paper matching the colors of the shapes
Curriculum Content: Classification: Sorting and matching
Beginning: At large group, discuss different ways in which we can sort objects. Have children sit
by other children that have the same color shirt on as them.
Middle: At small group, lay out the construction paper on the table. Have the children match the
colors of the shapes to the construction paper. Then ask the children what other ways they can
sort the shapes (by shape).
Extensions:
Earlier: Partner the children up so that they can help each other sort the objects
Later: Have the children sort the shapes without assistance. Have them sort without the colored
paper
End: Tell the children that when the shapes are all sorted that the activity is over
Follow-up Ideas:
Have the children find other objects in the classroom that they can sort
Have the children find matching colored objects throughout the room

Title: Side walk dress up

Age Group: 3-4 years

Originating Idea: Childrens interest in dress up and role play

Materials:
Side walk chalk
Dress up clothes/other accessories
Baby doll
Curriculum Content: Dramatic Art: Pretending and role playing
Beginning: Prior to going outside, tell the children that were going to play a new game today.
Ask the children who like they like to be when they dress up.
Middle: While outside, have the children lay down on the sidewalk in different positions and
trace their classmates outlines. You may also trace the outline of a co-teacher and a baby doll.
Allow the children to dress up the outlines and pretend that they are people!
Extensions:
Earlier: Help the children trace the outlines of other students/baby dolls.
Later: The children can trace each others outlines and draw different faces on each person to fit
what they are dressed up as.
End: Give the children the 5 minute warning prior to going inside. Make sure to have them pick
up the dress up clothes and accessories to take them inside as you go.
Follow-up Ideas:
Have the children brainstorm other objects that we can dress up and role play with
The children can trace their outlines on butcher paper so that they can dress up the people
while inside.

Title: Drawing letters in sand Age Group: 3-4 years

Originating Idea: Childrens love for playing in sand
Materials:
Individual boxes to hold sand
Large letter cards
Sand
Curriculum Content: Language, literacy, and communication: Writing in various ways
Beginning: At large group, sing the ABCs while pointing out each letter as you go.
Middle: At small group have each pick a letter card while they are face down. The teacher should
look at the card and tell the child the letter. The child can then write the letter in the sand and
then flip the card over to make sure they match!
Extensions:
Earlier: Have the child keep the card face up while writing the letter in the sand.
Later: As the child to write the upper and lowercase form of the letter in the sand.
End: At the end of the activity, let each child know that they have one more turn to pick a letter
before its time to clean up.
Follow-up Ideas:
Have children play the letter game with shaving cream
Let the children practice writing their names in the sand

Title: Lego Stacking

Age Group: 3-4 years

Originating Idea: Childrens love for legos

Materials:
Medium size Legos
Number cards (1-20) /Lego stacking cards
Curriculum Content: Number: Counting objects, Space: fitting things together and taking them
apart
Beginning: At large group, sing different counting songs with the children. (Search counting
song on YouTube)
Middle: At small group, have the children each pick a number card. Have the children read the
number on the card and then stack that many Legos on top of each other to make a tower! Make
sure they count the Legos in the tower to make sure they have the correct number.
Extensions:
Earlier: Instead of a number card, have the children pull a Lego stacking card. These cards have
the number of Legos on them along with a picture that has that number of Legos stacked
together. Have the children count the Legos in the picture and then make their tower match.
Later: Have the children pull a number card and use that many Legos to make a tower.
Encourage the children to create a pattern with the colors while making sure that they are using
the correct number of Legos.
End: Let each child know when they have one more turn to pull a card. When they are done with
that card, it is time to clean up.
Follow up Ideas:
Have the children make stacks/towers with other objects in the classroom and count how
many they use
Encourage the children to make patterns when building towers with Legos.

Title: Walk the line

Age Group: 2-3 years

Originating Idea: Childrens interest in balance

Materials:
5 different colors of tape
5 different color cards (White on one side, color on the other)
Curriculum Content: Physical Development: Moving in locomotor ways
Beginning: (Prior to beginning the activity, place the tape on the ground. Make one line straight,
one curved, one zig-zag and however else you wish to change the direction of the tape, just make
sure theyre all different lines) At large group, read The Balancing Act by Ellen Walsh.
Middle: Following the story, explain to the children that were going to try to balance. Have the
children pick a color card and have them walk the color coordinating line, one foot in front of the
other. Once theyre finished they can get back in line to draw another card.
Extensions:
Earlier: For the children who have a difficult time, suggest holding their hand as they walk down
the lines
Later: For the children who stay on the lines with ease, suggest having them try and walk
backwards down their color line.
End: Before going through the line one last time, let all of the children know that this will be
their final turn before its time to clean up.
Follow-up Ideas:
Have lines leading up to the bathrooms so that children can practice their balance while
waiting in line.
Take string/ribbon out to the playground to allow children to make different types of lines
and then practice walking on them.