Wear clothes backwards
When children arrive say "Goodbye" and when the children
leave say "Hello".
Children are called by their last names instead of their first names.
Sit on the chairs backwards.
When walking in the halls walk backwards.
Do your daily routine in reverse order.
*Art
Tape paper to the underside of the tables. Children lay under the tables and draw
on the paper taped to the underside of the tables.
*Language
Read "Green Eggs and Ham" from back to front.
Read the poem "Backwards Bill" by Shel Silverstein
in his book and on the cd
Palindromes (school-age)
*Math
Count backwards.
*Snack
Have soup for AM snack.
Have cereal for lunch or PM snack.
A baby blue sky
A bright golden sun
The perfect blanket
For afternoon fun!
Print the poem "Perfect For A Picnic" by Kimberly M.
Hutmacher. After reading the poem have the children complete the
illustration for the poem.
Click here for a printer
friendly version of the poem "Perfect For A Picnic." A new
window will open.
*Books
*Art
Beach Balls
Need: circle from construction paper, tissue paper, markers, crayons
Cut a circle shape from construction paper. Decorate the beach ball
shape with tissue paper, sharp art materials... When finished hang
in the room as a decoration.
Jar Sand Painting
Need: small baby food jars, sand or salt, powdered tempera paint, plastic spoons,
popsicle sticks
Color the sand or salt by place it in a cup with powdered tempera paint added.
Glitter can be added to the colored sand to make it sparkly.
Children can spoon the colored salt or sand into their baby food jar.
Have children use sticks to push the sand against the sides of the jar
to create designs. Cap tightly. Can tie yarn around the outside edge
of the lid or glue feathers on the lid top.
(age 6+)
Use colored sand or salt to create a picture.
(age 6+)
Use molding clay to create a clay sandcastle.
*Learning Areas
Dramatic Play Area
Create a beach area. Set up lawn chairs, beach towels, sunglasses,
radio etc. Add the sand table. Include in the sand table: buckets and shovels.
Provide each child with a ziploc baggie. Set out bowls & spoons
on a table with the following items in them: Dry Chow Mein noodles
(seaweed), Pretzel sticks(driftwood), Goldfish Crackers(fish),
Granola-(sand), Cheerios(life preservers), Dried Apricots(beach
towels), Raisins(beach pebbles). Let the children create their own
"Beach In A Bag Snack" by adding spoonful of each food item
to their baggie. Serve with water.
Goldfish crackers and lemonade.
*Other Sites
Make a beach bag from a hand towel and washcloth.
*Bubble
Day
Blowing Bubbles
Mix together 1/4 cup liquid dishwashing detergent, 1/2 cup water, a
few drops of food coloring and 1 teaspoon sugar. Pour into a shallow
container and use with bubble blowers.
Let the bubble solution age for a few days to make bubble blowing easier.
Bubble Prints
Need: food coloring, white paper, liquid dish washing detergent,
straws, tubs (app. 1 tub for every 3 children).
Place water in a tub(about 1/4 full). Add liquid dish soap. Have
children take a straw and blow into the water to make bubbles. When
the bubbles have formed add drops of food coloring to the top of the
bubbles. Take a piece of white paper and lay on top of the bubbles to
pop them.
Watch and do not let the paper get in the water. Makes colorful
bubble prints.
*Snack
Bubbly Punch
In a large pitcher mix together one 12-ounce can unsweetened frozen
apple juice concentrate, 2 cans (24 ounces) cold water and one
32-ounce bottle club soda. Stir well and pour into plastic glasses.
Makes 17 small servings.
*Camping Day
*Books
Transform your room into a camp. Hang a camp sign on the door
with directions to "read and follow directions for your own safety".
Arrange the desk in groups in a circle with a play campfire in the
center. Drap each set of desks with a sheet or a blanket
(drap around 3 sides of the desks). Tape the edges down.
Rename the bathroom the latrine and take
a "latrine" break.
*Language
Brainstorm and list camping words.
Talk about equipment you need for camping. Children could
imagine they have tents and sleeping bags, or you could
make tents with tables and blankets if your programme
space allows. Contributed by: eheaney
Sit around the campfire and have children make up a story.
Gather around the campfire for stories, songs and jokes:
(go to your library or check on-line for these and
other classic slightly scary stories)
Contributed by: eheaney
-CVC & Magic E Rule together
A fun phonics game to print and play. For younger children
instead of placing words on the back of each fish place alphabet
letters or numbers.
*Art
Binoculars
Need: toilet tissue rolls, yarn, markers, glue or tape
Have children decorate the toilet tissue rolls with markers and scrapes of
paper.
Tape the toilet tissue rolls together. Bunch a hole on the outside of each roll and tie the yarn through the holes and hang the binoculars around your neck.
Pinecone Bird Feeders
Need: pincones, bird food, Karo clear syrup or peanut butter
Brush the pincones with slightly watered down Karo syrup , then roll in
bird seed. Loop the string or yarn around the pinecone and hang in the tree.
Color the bear, cut out and glue on a paper sack to create a puppet.
Fireflies
Need: black construction paper, paint
Give each child a piece of black construction paper. Have the
children create fireflies all over the construction paper by dipping
their finger into yellow paint and making prints on the paper.
Use glow in the dark paint if you have any available.
Campfire
Need: paper towel tubes, brown paint, tape, red, yellow, and orange tissue paper or construction paper.
Have children paint the paper towel tubes brown. When dry place 4 of the tubes into a square and tape together. Place the other towel tubes in the square upwards like a pyramid and tape. Have the children glue on pieces of red, yellow, and orage tissue paper to represent fire.
Place flashlights in the fake campfire and turn off the lights. Sit around the fire and tell stories and sing songs. Consider placing a large number of rocks or stones in a circle to create a fire pit for your campfire.
Have participants help make the pretend fire - a good opportunity
to talk about how to do this safely. Contributed by: eheaney
Mural
Need: large paper and markers
Have children draw a mural of their camp.
Create a mat from newspaper to sit on around the campfire.
*Color Pages
color page
color page
*Science
Bark Rubbing
Need: White paper for each child, Pealed brown crayons
Have the children pick a tree and observe it. What does the bark feel like? What does it smell like? What color is it?
Give each child a piece of white paper and a crayon.
Have children make a bark rubbing by placing the paper on the tree and rub the crayon over all of the paper.
Make a Bark Bulletin Board of all the bark rubbings.
*Songs
Swimming, swimming, in the swimming hole.
When days are short, when days are long,
In the swimming hole.
Sidestroke, breaststroke, fancy diving too.
Don't you wish you never had anything else to do?
(Repeat verse, with each repetition leaving out a line and
adding actions to suit) Contributed by: eheaney
(lyrics)
(lyrics)
Contributed by: eheaney
A wonderful Guiding website with all the
campfire songs you could possibly use!
Contributed by: eheaney
*Snacks
Trail Mix
S'mores
On a square graham cracker place a marshmallow, on top of the marshmallow place a square of chocolate. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes at 250 degrees (low heat). Remove and place a square graham cracker on top. Serve warm.
Milk and graham crackers
*Hat
Day
*Books
*Art
Give each child the outline of a hat shape. Using scrapes from the
art center (buttons, ribbon, feathers, googly eyes, etc.) and
pictures from magazines, they decorate the hats. They make a colorful
display in the classroom.
*Stories
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess.
Count and list objects that the cat can balance. Have a relay race
balancing an eraser on the children's heads.
on Jan Bretts' page.
by Jan Brett and put on a play.
color page by Jan Brett
activities for "The Hat" by Jan Brett.
*Ice Cream Day
Ice
Cream in a Bag
Need:
2 zip lock bags for every child - 1 pt size and 1 gal. size
Mixture for ice cream:
These ingredients go into the 1 pt size zip lock bag.
1/2 c. milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Fill 1 gal. size zip lock bag with ice (1/2 full) and rock salt ( or
table salt). Put the 1 pt size bag into the gal size bag. Be sure the
bags are sealed!! Then shake the bags for approximately 5 minutes
(this is great exercise for the kiddos--it will wear them out!)
When finished with the shaking, the mixture will be somewhat hard (if
the shaking was completed). Take the pt size bag out of gal size bag,
wipe the bag off, grab a spoon and eat out of the bag! It was worth
the shaking!!
Can add sprinkles or chocolate syrup!
*Other Sites
Printable activity sheet from Bry-Back Manor.
(pdf)
(MSWord & PDF)
E-Book-Poetry Play For Preschoolers
by Kimberly M. Hutmacher
Poems and activities to challenge and enhance children's creativity.
An A to Z Kids Stuff Exclusive.
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friendly version
