Preschool Sensory Table Ideas - Sand, Water, & Fun

I have many recent requests for ideas for preschool sensory table ideas. I use my sensory table for so many activities for all learning centers. Here are just a few of the ways to use this key part of your classroom.

First of all, keep in mind that you can fill your table with sand, styrofoam packaging peanuts, cotton balls, water, small size gravel, etc. The sky is the limit. **Just be sure that whatever you use is age appropriate for the ages of your children.

Alphabet
Fill the table with sand. Use your letter of the week if you wish and let them take turns making the letter shape in the sand. This helps them develop visual memory, or if they don't know the shape, post it on the wall and they will need to copy the shape. This provides visual and motor input for them to learn.

Treasure Hunts
All preschoolers love a treasure hunt. Use the table to hide objects, letters, numbers, items from the theme of the week, etc. and ask them to find them. You can make this more difficult by asking them to do this with their eyes closed. Next ask them to count what they have found. Counting skills becomes so much fun.

Use this for sorting also. You can mix letters and numbers and see if they remember the differences in shapes and put them in the correct category. Hide items that are different shapes and ask if they can identify the shape--round, square, soft, hard, triangle.

Water Table
When your table is filled with water you can use it to do science experiments. Find out what kind of object floats or sinks. Mix food coloring or paints and watch the dispersion of colors. Add other types of liquid such as small drops of cooking oil to watch the reaction. Definitely make a time when you add child safe foaming soap and allow them to play in the bubbles. Just be sure the floor under the table has something non skid so if water does spill, no one slips and falls.


These are just some of the ways I use the sensory table. Send me your ideas and I will share them here.

If you like these preschool sensory table ideas, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html


Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Thanksgiving Ideas - Things to be Thankful For

I want to share these preschool Thanksgiving ideas because they can be adapted for all nationalities and any season.

In the United States, the holiday of Thanksgiving is in November. It is a time for families and friends to get together and share a special meal and talk about what we are thankful for.

This same concept of gratitude and things to be thankful for can be used for any time of year in any country. No need to limit this to one country's holiday event once a year.

The important idea is to get your preschoolers used to thinking about what they are grateful for and to express it.

The activity below is one a parent shared with me recently. It is one that can be used by all. The turkey is synonymous with American Thanksgiving but you can modify the idea and use any bird you wish, a flower, wreath, etc.



Thanksgiving Activity

You will need to draw an outline of a turkey
for this activity. It should be on construction paper
that you can pin to the wall when the activity is complete.

(Note: I am NOT an artist, so I usually draw a very BASIC
looking turkey consisting of a big circle for the body,
a neck, head with a beak, and two little feet at the bottom.
This is not the time to be a perfectionist about how your
bird looks, because you are going to cover it up with
feathers anyway).

You will also need to precut some "feathers" about the size
of a normal gift tag that you can write on before sticking
onto the "turkey".

Glue/tape will also be needed to stick the feathers onto
the "turkey", and pins to attach the completed picture to
the wall.

Discuss the story of Thanksgiving with your class,
ask each child for one thing that they are thankful
for and write this word on a separate "feather".

Once the children have their "Feathers of Thanks" prepared,
you can play a game of "pin the feather on the turkey" and
blindfold the children, spin them a few times, and have them
try to stick their feather on the turkey.

Any child who gets their feather on the turkey gets a "prize"
(for example, a Hershey's kiss, a piece of candy, etc.). The children can keep playing, as long as they continue to produce thoughtful,
"feathers of thanks".

VARIATION: Make fall leaves or petals of a flower. Write each word of gratitude on these and create a Gratitude or Thankful picture.


If you like these preschool thanksgiving ideas, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html

There are Two Editions now for the Preschool Planner: Basic or Platinum.


Send me any ideas you would like to share and I will post them on my Blog.

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Activities - Sense of Smell

Winter time is a wonderful time to introduce preschool activities about the sense of smell. There are several ways to use this theme for art, science, fine motor and literacy activities.

Preschoolers enjoy learning all about themselves. start this theme with a circle time activity to discuss our five senses. Then tell them that this day will focus on the sense of smell. Ask for their input--what do they think smells good or bad, what foods do they think smell good, what smells are warnings for us, etc.

Art
Provide magazines to your preschoolers to look through magazines and cut out pictures that have scents. Next allow them to make collages of the pictures they have found. You can hang their collages of scent around the room.

Science
Fill separate small brown or opaque paper bags with different items that have scents such as cinnamon sticks, lemon slices, cut garlic cloves, chocolate bits, flower petals, etc. Allow them to hold a bag, smell it, and then tell you what they think is inside. Record their answers on the board.

Next have them close their eyes and let them now smell them without looking and say what they think is in the bag. Record these answers and compare the ones with eyes open and closed and talk about the differences.

Fine Motor Skills
Provide 2 small squares of fabric to each of your preschoolers. Let them glue 3 of the sides together with fabric glue and set aside to dry. After the glue is dry, provide some potpourri for them to put inside their fabric and glue it shut. These can be seasonal potpourri scents to fit the time of year and then ask them what the scent reminds them of--spring flowers, holiday scents, candy, etc.

These discussions allow them to talk about themselves, the smells they recognize and introduce new scents as well.

Have fun and enjoy these preschool activities on our sense of smell.

If you like these preschool activities, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html

There are Two Editions now for the Preschool Planner: Basic or Platinum.


Send me any ideas you would like to share and I will post them on my Blog.

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Science for Preschool - Caterpillars and Butterflies

It is a fact that preschoolers are fascinated by insects and bugs. I use this curiosity to create some of my lessons for science for preschool.

Yes, some may be frightened initially but the fascination and curiosity usually takes over and they love learning about them. I find that starting with bugs such as caterpillars is the perfect and introduces them to the wonders of science and nature.

For circle time, gather together and talk about the life cycle of a butterfly--start with egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and then butterfly. You could read to them as well. I like the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle or From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman.

Magical Transformation
From caterpillar to butterfly-Give every child a paper tube to decorate any way they please. Once they have finished, glue on 2 black dots for eyes, attach a pipe cleaner antenna. Also have the eyes facing you and glue a small loop to the opposite side of the tube so they can be hung in a window.

Have the children place the tubes into plastic grocery bags to represent the chrysalis. Next cut out wings from clear contact paper and give each child a pair. Have them attach glitter and pieces of tissue paper to decorate the wings leaving a small piece of the protective paper still on the contact paper so you can peel later to attach to the tube. Peel the piece of protective paper off of the wings and attach them to the paper tubes in the bags while kids are enjoying their snacks or after they have gone home for the day.

Ask the children what they think has happened to their caterpillars from yesterday’s “Magical Transformation” activity. Let them open the paper bags and witness the magical transformation for themselves. Explain again the basics of the transition from caterpillar to butterfly.


Reasoning skills
Talk about the magical transformation of the caterpillar to the butterfly. Find out where they think the wings come from. Ask if there are any other magical transformations they can think of in nature, like acorn to tree or egg to chicken.

Art Activity
Butterfly footprints and hands mural- let the children dip their feet in shallow dishes of washable paint, and have them place footprints on a big white piece of paper and have the hand prints go the other way. Leave a bit of space between the left and right foot for the body of the butterfly. After the paint has dried, let the children decorate the footprints and hand prints to resemble butterflies with paint and markers, and display the mural in the classroom for the remainder of the week.


If you like these activities for science for preschool, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html

There are Two Editions now for the Preschool Planner: Basic or Platinum.


Send me any ideas you would like to share and I will post them on my Blog.

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Alphabet Activities - Circle Time, Letter Hunt and Hopscotch

Many of my days with preschoolers include teaching letters of the alphabet. Here are some of my favorite preschool alphabet activities using the entire alphabet.

Once they are familiar with the idea of the alphabet, the focus will turn to mastery of individual letters.

Circle Time Letters
Have a set of wooden or plastic letters. Hand each child a letter and tell the name of the letter. Tell them to trace the letter with their finger with their eyes open and then with their eyes closed. Next ask them to place the letter in their lap and try to trace the outline of the letter in the palm of their hand from memory.

Letter Hunt
Have the alphabet posted on the white board or on a table. Next hide the letters throughout the classroom and ask the children to find them. When they find a letter ask them if they know the name of the letter and to place it on the letter that matches that you have posted. This will let them know if they have found all of the letters.

An alternative to hiding them in the classroom is to hide the letters in the sand table if you have one available.

Alphabet Hopscotch
Tape large poster board squares with the letters on each board on to the floor in a hopscotch pattern. Next let the children hop on a letter and call out the name of the letter. This is always a hit and uses up some of their energy! Incorporating gross motor movements with learning is always a good idea when teaching preschool age children.


If you like these preschool alphabet activities, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html

There are Two Editions now for the Preschool Planner: Basic or Platinum.


Send me any ideas you would like to share and I will post them on my Blog.

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Calendar Preschool Activities - Months & Days of the Week

Preschool is an excellent time to introduce children to the concepts of the calendar, days of the week and months of the year. What better way to learn about these concepts than through calendar preschool activities!

The most common and simple of these preschool calendar activities is to start with the month’s progress on a large paper calendar posted on the wall. Preschoolers have begun to know some months and the correlation with a special holiday or birthday.

Month by Month
At the beginning of every month, gather everyone around the large paper calendar on the wall to label it with the important days of the month, such as any special holidays or birthdays occurring within the month. At the end of the day, one special child gets the important job of crossing the day off to get ready for the next day. This can be a reward for cleaning up fastest after a craft, winning a game, or anything else that seems fit.

Days of the Week
Another preschool calendar activity can focus on learning the days of the week. Designate one special activity, game, or song for each day of the week. This will help children get accustomed to a routine, which in turn helps them to learn about the weekly routines that will prevail throughout the remainder of their lives. These activities can change monthly so that children don’t get too bored with them.

The calendar is one of the key concepts that can be introduced to preschoolers since it’s something they’ll be working without throughout the remainder of their lives. Use these preschool calendar activities to familiarize the children with the concepts of days, weeks, months, and years, as well as to highlight some of the important, and lesser-known holidays that occur each month.

If you like these calendar preschool activities, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html

There are Two Editions now for the Preschool Planner: Basic or Platinum.


Send me any ideas you would like to share and I will post them on my Blog.

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html