Preschool Circle Time - Thinking Circles

I do hope everyone's summer is going along smoothly and your preschoolers are enjoying outside activities. I received this preschool circle time activity from one of my readers recently and wanted to share it as fast as possible! Simple, thoughtful and very effective!

With a new school year just around the corner you will be planning your opening week activities as well as ideas for the year.

This idea is so important for preschoolers--learning how to understand others feelings and giving them their first tools for problem solving.

Thinking Circles

I took over a group part way through a year and they were very negative in outlook and aggressive to each other. I started what I called ‘thinking Circles’- I got a pile of cardboard circles and drew happy sad faces on each one. Then at the end of the day I would hand out some ( face down) and the children would have to turn them over and tell everyone something they really liked about the day (happy face) or something they did not like (sad face).

This got the group thinking in a reflective way and really brought them together. I now use it with any group I have. I find it teaches them about other people’s perspectives and can lead to some terrific group problem solving when a child has suggested something they did not like...ie; how to fix it if it was a problem.. or how to change it.

This is an idea that will become a permanent part of my preschool activities for circle time.

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

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

Enjoy and remember to send in any ideas you wish to share and I will post them here.

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


PS: If you would like to receive my free newsletter for more ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

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

Preschool Activities on Nutrition - Very Hungry Caterpillar

Preschool nutrition is a topic all parents, preschool teachers, caregivers, etc are concerned about. I love to do preschool activities on nutrition by tying it into what we have read or done on a particular day or lesson.

A favorite book is the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It is filled with lovely colorful illustrations and simple, reassuringly repetitive prose. The book follows a caterpillar that eats and eats his way through the week, with holes appearing in the thick pages as he steadily munches.
Try the idea below; it can be used at circle time, snack time, lunch time...whatever fits best for your schedule.

Healthy Eating with the Very Hungry Caterpillar

Use the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to talk to the children about healthy and unhealthy food.
Ask what happened to the caterpillar when he ate the healthy food versus the unhealthy food, and see if anyone has experienced the same thing themselves.
Teach the children to make healthy food choices more often, like strawberries, plums, oranges, or apples, instead of cakes, cookies, and chocolate.

For Reasoning Skills- based on today’s story, they learned that caterpillars like to eat leaves. Ask the children what they think insects eat, and if there are any creatures they can think of that eat insects.


Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you like these ideas be sure to check out my Preschool Lesson Plans:

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

Preschool Circle Time - Fishing for ???

Hello,

I am amazed at all the wonderful ideas you are all sending to me to share on the blog. This preschool circle time suggestion was sent in and I think you will find it a great resource.

Here is an idea for your preschoolers that is so versatile--it is perfect for circle time and the variations are endless. You can use this to teach colors, letters, numbers, etc. Read below for an excellent easy-to-make, low cost preschool activity that is worth its weight in gold!


Sherrin's idea is--
• photo copy pictures of fish in different coloured paper
• cut
• laminate
• put magnet on the fish
• make rods out of dowling
• tie string on the end
• add magnet to string

Aim of the game each child has a turn of catching the fish.
The teacher asks the child to catch me a red fish and they have to catch a red fish etc..... Or you could put the alphabet on the fish, or numbers etc....

The kids really love this game for circle time!



Have fun with this and enjoy your class! Keep the ideas coming in; thanks in advance!

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com

PS: If you would like to receive my free newsletter for more ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

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

Preschool Circle Time

Are you looking for ideas for preschool circle time? I want to pass along some ideas that have been sent to me recently. They are simple, effective and fun! What could be better than that?


From Linda…
Magic Carpet Squares
For circle time to get the children to stay in one spot we use carpet samples. They each choose one when circle time starts and they are to keep their bottom on the carpet square until circle time is over. We then put all carpet samples in a box until next time. Stores that are discontinuing carpet samples will gladly give them away.

From Theresa...
Song for Circle Time:

TO LEARN EACH OTHERS NAME. WE SING THERE WAS A MAN WHO HAD A DOG AND BINGO WAS HIS NAME-O. WE SAY THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME WAS TAMMY AND TAMMY WAS HER NAME-O(BUT TAMMY IS NOT HER NAME IT’S REALLY THERESA.) SO THE CHILDREN WILL SCREAM NO ITS THERESA. AND WE CONTINUE THE SONG. THEY LOVE IT. ITS OUR SONG AFTER GOOD MORNING. THIS IS HOW WE LEARN EACH OTHER NAME.

THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME IS THERESA AND THERESA WAS HER NAMEO. THERESA, THERESA, THERESA,THERESA, THERESA, THERESA AND THERESA WAS HER NAME-O. ALWAYS USE ANOTHER NAME FOR CHILD THAT. (LIKE TAMMY WITH A T- FOR THERESA WITH A T)


I hope you enjoy getting these ideas to use with your preschoolers. If you have ideas to share, send them along and I'll post them here for all of us to use and enjoy.

Thanks,

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