|
Volume 4, Issue 14
July 18, 2006
Summer Session #4
More Favorite "Anytime" Activities and Resources
WELCOME! to Education World's Early Childhood Newsletter. Every other week, I'll share some
ideas on a familiar teaching theme. Hopefully you will find a new activity idea or two -- or a new
twist on one of your old favorites! Since I know you are very busy, I'll be short and sweet -- like
most of activities I suggest.
Tell a friend about us! Invite them to sign up for their own FREE subscription at http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml#childhood
 Welcome
to Early Childhood Newsletter's "Summer Session." During June and July, I will share some
of my favorite "anytime activities" from newsletters published in prior years as well
as some of the best online Web resources I've found for early childhood educators. I hope you'll
find here some fun ideas and useful resources for engaging your students.
While this newsletter is in summer session, I am hard at work creating new themed newsletters that
will debut starting in August. Among the themes I'm working on are Colors, Let's Listen, and Wintry
Weather.
--Susan LaBella
Editor, Early Childhood Newsletter
EVAPORATE IT!
Help children begin to understand the process of evaporation. On a hot sunny day, let children wash
all the doll clothes and hang them in the sun. When the clothes are dry ask, "Where did the
water go? Only air touched them." Explain that the water moved in tiny drops into the air.
This process is called evaporation.
Further demonstrate the process by
--- marking the outlines of puddles on a sidewalk after it has rained with chalk or small pebbles.
Invite children to observe the puddles at intervals and note that they are shrinking.
--- setting out shallow pans of water. Invite children to dip their bare feet into the water and
make footprints on a sidewalk or concrete area. Ask children to observe how long the footprints
last and when they disappear.
MORE OR LESS?
Place a group of small plastic farm animals in a basket. Invite a child to take a handful of animals,
count them, and say the number aloud. Create a spinner labeled "More" on one side and
"Less" on the other, and ask a second child to give it a spin. If the arrow stops at "More,"
the child must count out more farm animals than the first student had. If the arrow stops at "Less,"
the child must count out fewer farm animals than the first student had.
 READ
AND DO
Try these hands-on activities after sharing books with children.
-- Read a book about COLORS, and set up a simple experiment. Using muffin tins, fill half the cups
with primary colors of food coloring and water. Fill the remaining cups with just water. Invite
children to use plastic eyedroppers to mix and discover secondary colors.
-- Read a book about FEELINGS, and create or collect a variety of feeling picture cards. Encourage
children to identify each feeling and to sort the cards into different feeling groups: scared, happy,
lonely, excited...
-- Read a book about TRANSPORTATION, and invite a trucker to bring a "big rig" to school
for children to tour.
-- Read a book about FOOD, and help children create food collages by cutting out pictures from magazines
and newspaper ads.
YUM-M M M M! SUPER SANDWICH PEOPLE
This recipe will make lunchtime lots of fun.
-- Spread a slice of bread with peanut butter or cream cheese.
-- Provide a variety of food items for facial features. For example,
---- eyes -- blueberries, cherry tomatoes, grape halves, or radish slices
---- nose -- cucumber slices, carrot sticks, cheese squares
---- mouth -- apple or orange slices
---- hair -- lettuce leaves, bean sprouts, or celery leaves
Invite children to create funny food faces!
 Check
out the following Web sites for additional background and activities.
What's Wrong With This
Picture?
Use this picture from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Let kids pick out the mistakes.
http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/NPS/kids/whatwrng.htm
Count Us In
An online game that reinforces the concept of one more. http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/games/game11.htm
StoryPlace Pre-School
Library
Visit this site for activities, online stories, and suggested reading lists -- all organized by
theme.
http://www.storyplace.org/preschool/other.asp
Chilly Orange Drink
This is one coooool drink!
http://www.weekiwis.com/orange.html
|
