Preschool Creative Activities - Jungle Animals

Hello,

I want to thank all of you who have been sending me your favorite ideas! There are so many to share with so I'll start here.

Amanda sent me this one and I'm sure it will become one of your favorites to use as well. It can be adapted in so many ways and used for years!

Theme = Jungle Animals. Knowledge and understanding of the world.

Turn your library/ book corner into a jungle animal habitat pick one animal per week. Draw or print out a set of foot/paw prints and place them on the floor. Each set of prints should lead to a visual clue. Works best with 3 - 4 clues. The last set of prints should lead to the habitat and before the big unveil you should discuss with the children which animal they think it is based on the clues they have found.

Examples are 1. Animal = Lion. Paw prints discuss is this a large animal or small animal?

Clue 1 = Relates to the country where the animal lives. So could be a map with a paw print on the country and a foot print or magnifying glass on Britain.

Clue 2 = Relates to what the lion eats could be an antelope hidden in some green shredded paper tombola style.

Clue 3 = relates to the animal appearance so this could be a lions mane or tail for the children to wear for the remainder of their search. Then on to the Lion's den.

Discuss with the children the clues they have found and get ideas from the children as to which animal it could be. End the session with a story about a Lion as this will reinforce their knowledge. Afterwards the children should be able to tell you what a lion looks like where they come from and what they eat.
This is a fabulous activity which the children never seem to tire of. Takes a fair bit of prep but can be used as part of your curriculum plans for years to come. Great cross curricular activity encourages the children to use their fine manipulative skill, gross motor skills, develop concentration, develop recall, increase knowledge and understanding of the world, co-operate with friends and you can even incorporate it into your global citizenship planning with endangered species and climate change etc.

Hope you enjoy this and can store this in your file to use over and over!

Until next time,

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


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Preschool Creative Activities - Trip to the Moon

Hello,

Most people think of art class when they hear of preschool creative activities. Teaching preschool science ideas will change your mind and show you just how creative science lessons can be.

You can use these lessons to teach the letter "M", continue with a Moon theme to teach the sound of the letter, and to follow it through with the solar system theme discussed in the previous blog post.

Here are ideas that have been sent to me by my readers as well as some ideas from my preschool lesson plans.

From Carol - Moon Walk
Here's an idea I used when I taught a unit about "Astronauts" and the Moon. I filled the sand and water table with flour, had the children take their shoes off and walk through the flour, simulating how it felt when the astronauts were walking on the moon.

From Theresa - Rocketships
We are doing the letter M and taking a trip to the moon. I have made a large Rocket out of cardboard and corrugated cardboard so it is large enough for the children to sit in I have read them the story Man on the Moon by Anastasia Suen. For snack we ate English Muffins and talked about the holes look like the craters on the moon. We ran our weeks together and started the letter R for rocket and moon rocks we made rockets out of paper towel and collected rocks pretending to be discovering the moon.

Moon Landscape
Talk to your students about what the surface of the moon looks like. Most students will not know that the moon has craters, mountains, and valleys, just like the earth. It is a different size and composition, but the basics are the same.

Snack Suggestion
The idea for toasted English Muffins and the comparison to the craters on the moon is wonerful. Preschoolers really like the visual comparisons and the snack is great!

Try these out and let me know if you have more to add!

Have a great day!

Mary

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