Circle Time - Quiet Bottles and Calendar activities

One of the special times each day in preschool is circle time.

It helps to set the tone for the day, to regroup after a boisterous activity and to review the events of the day. So much can be done at this special time.

Here are two wonderful ideas my readers sent it to share. We all can use ways to bring quiet time to the circle. Try the Quiet Bottles. Teaching calendars is so much fun and often challenging so try the Calendar Circle time idea with your kids.

Quiet Bottles
This is an idea that my 3-4 yr old class loves

I saved several of the smaller, plastic Coke bottles to make these.
(I make these in front of the children so their question of "How did you do that?"
is answered by observing.)

Fill each bottle about half and half of water and cooking oil.
Add a few drops of food coloring. Glue the lid back on
and twist tightly. I make several bottles and make them different
colors. The children can hold these during circle time and watch the
"waves" quietly while listening to our story, etc. I remind the
children to be as quiet as their bottle is. The bottle keeps busy hands
occupied instead of bothering a neighbor.

TIP: these bottles are also ideal for calming really hyper children.

Circle Calendar Time

One idea that I like to use during circle time when I do my calendar is:
When counting down the days of the month that have passed I like to incorporate movement, for example, in the month of October we pretended to pick pumpkins for every day of the month that passed.

Each month the theme changes and so do the type of movements. January we snow skied down the slopes, Feb. we did heart beats, March we were dinosaurs, etc... Use your imagination and let the children help decide, it is a fun way to get the wiggles out!

Thanks so much for sending in your ideas. Keep them coming and I will post them for all of us to use.

If you like this idea for circle time, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner a try.

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

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


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