Shape Felt Board Activity

I wanted the kids to start working on recognizing the basic shapes so I made this game.

The kids in my group love any circle activity that lets them participate. For this felt board activity I just take random animals from other activities and match them with a black shape silhouette. Each child gets one of the coloured shapes to hold. I sing this song . . .

 (to the tune of farmer in the dell)

We're looking for a star

We're looking for a star

The dog is looking for a star

We're looking for a star

After I sing about each shape I ask who is holding it, the child holding that shape gets to come up and put it on the board. I plan to make this game harder by removing the silhouettes once the children have mastered it as it is.

Bubble Wrap

Who doesn't like to pop bubble wrap? I know I do! So, when I found a whole roll of the stuff at the dollar store I was very excited. So, I brought it in for the kids to pop. I just cut it into to pieces and let them go crazy.

 Some of the kids treated it more as a sensory experience, squishing, squeezing, and twisting it to make it pop. Some of the kids were using it to practice fine motor skills. They popped each bubble individually. Working out the best way to get it to pop. Some kids did both. It was so much fun watching them experiment and of course there was enough bubble wrap for the teachers too! 

Car match game

I made this game the other day to try to get some of my car enthusiasts to do something other than drive cars along the floor (not that there is anything wrong with driving cars around, we spend lots of time doing just that) but I wanted them to get involved in some of our learning activities on the table.

I have two copies of the cards so there are two ways to play this game. The simple version is to find the matches with the cards. The more complicated version is to match the physical cars to the picture cards. This more abstract matching was hard for some of my kids. They seemed to like the challenge since they did it over and over again. It was also great for turn taking since I only have one game and everyone wanted to play. So I let two or three work together to figure it out. We were also working on vocabulary since many of my kids call everything a "car" so I had them saying firetruck, ambulance, police car or motorcycle before they put each vehicle on the card. So there you have it, problem solving, critical thinking, turn taking, team work, and vocabulary in one activity with cars . . . .and it is fun too!

Twinkle, Twinkle Motor Car

I made these felt cars . . . 

to go along with this song . . .

Twinkle, twinkle little star

(child`s name) bought a (colour) motor car

she/he pushed the button and pulled the choke

off he/she went in a poof of smoke

twinkle, twinkle little star

The kids have been obsessed with this song so I wanted to turn it into a circle time/ learning activity. When we sing the song casually the kids get to pick the colour of their car. Many of the kids pick the same colour every time or pick the same colour as the child that went before them. So enter these colourful felt cars. I do this activity two ways. The first way I let the kids pick their own colour and come take it off the board. In this case I ask them to name the colour as they take it. This way they must know the name of the colour and because there is only one of each car they can`t just copy their friends. The second way is that I pick the colour they come pick off the board. This helps some of the kids recognize colours they normally wouldn`t pick. If I know someone always picks red I am going to pick a different colour for them.  Of course, this activity also helps children with turn taking and name recognition. And, they like that they get to come up and get a car off the felt board and sit with it.

Pete Gets Dressed

The kids are all in love with Pete the Cat. They want to see him everyday. It is also the time of year where we have lots of snow here in Canada and that means getting on lots of clothes when it is time to go outside. We want as many of the kids as possible to get on as much of their outdoor gear as possible on their own! One of the biggest problems my kids had was forgetting which order to put stuff on. Nothing like trying to get snow pants on after you put on your mitts and and boots. So Pete gets dressed was born. . .

I do this activity during circle time. I put Pete up and then get the kids to tell me what he needs to put on next. We, of course, sing a little Pete like song after each piece of clothing is added.

My snow pants, my snow pants

I put on my snow pants

My snow pants, my snow pants

I put on my snow pants

 and so on until Pete is ready to go outside. The great thing about having a song to sing after each piece of clothing is that kids can sing the song for themselves as they get dressed. This motivates some of the kids to get dressed very fast and others to just attempt to put on difficult pieces of clothing. I also leave this activity out on the table so that the kids can practice what order to put on Pete`s stuff on their own. As in real life, if you put on the jacket before the snow pants it doesn`t work well. I do love activities that promote independence in a fun way!

Shake Your Shaker

I have one of these for each child at my circle . . .

They are also in the music box in the room but these ones are just for circle. I got them for the dollar store.
Music is a great addition to circle time. It helps children who have a hard time verbally expressing themselves be loud with the other children and join in with the fun. Something, they may be be able or willing to do when we are singing. It is also a great way to get rid of energy since it takes a lot to shake those shakers hard and fast.

We also use them to practice following instructions. The kids love to shake them so they think it is just a game. Really I am working on them going fast and slow and loud and quiet. I will say an speed or noise level and everyone moves their shaker that way. This helps the kids learn to distinguish between these four extremes.When we are inside we often ask the kids to slow down or quiet down. There are also times when being fast and loud is okay. This game helps the kids recognize these instructions, recognize that sometimes it is time for one and not the others, and learn to follow these instructions when gives.    

Monsters at Circle

The kids went crazy for monsters! They wanted monster everything! It all started with this book;

Go away and don't come back till I say so!

                                           

The kids were allover this book. I have read it hundreds of times! So I went searching for more monster things. I found this . . .

It is a Make Your Own Monster puppet from Melissa and Doug. It has a bunch of different pieces that you Velcro on to make a different monster every time.

 

I use this at circle and have the kids take turns coming up and adding the pieces to the monster. I follow the same layout as the book. As each kids adds a piece I say "has two green arms or two orange eyes" depending on what they add.It gets a little wacky but it is fun!

  Then I went on this site and got a whole package of monster stuff!  Here are a couple activities I got from there . . .

Monster Shape Lunch

Five little monsters and monsters in my bed

She has some great songs to go along with these as well.

 Next I made these . . .

I made these monster puppets out of stuff I found in the dollar store. They ended up being tickle monsters and the blue was was great for cleaning the chalkboard.
Then I found this at the Calender Club store. It was supposed to be for the bathtub but it worked just fine on the table.  

So that is all the monster stuff I have for right now. But, I am sure that they next time the kids get into the monsters I will need to come up with some new stuff!