Preschool Games - Preschool Post Office

Here is one of the preschool games I use at the beginning of the year to help my preschoolers remember each others names and to recognize their own name when they see it in print.

This is something I have used for years and the children never tire of it. Learn by doing and playing; your preschoolers will love it.

Preschool Post Office
Set up a post office in your preschool. Cover a box to resemble a mailbox.
Fill the postbox with envelopes containing all the childrens names.

One person plays Postman and hands out an envelope to all the children. The children then take turns opening their envelope and trying to identify the name.

This is great to work on letter recognition and beginning sounds. With or without help from everyone else, once the name is identified the child delivers that name to the correct child and then that child has a turn.

Continue until everyone has received their name.

Variation: Put one of the letters, shapes,or even numbers you have studied in the envelope. Ask who can identify what is in their envelope.


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

http://www.mypreschoolplan.com/p/ar.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 here.

Mary


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 - Traffic Light Game

With all the snow here in the US and the "cabin fever" of the holidays
taking its toll, I want to suggest some preschool activities that will help use up some of the energy and a snack to match!

These are ideas that work well with two year olds all the way up to the 5 year olds. Give these a try and see how they work for you. If you're a mom using these at home you might even find the older kids getting in on the action!


Traffic Light Game
Make three traffic lights. (Cut 3 strips of paper about 4 x 12 inches.
Draw 3 large circles on them lengthwise to resemble a traffic light. Glue
a Green Circle on one, a Yellow Circle on another and finally a Red circle
on the last one. Mount these 3 lights on their own stick or ruler.)

Have music available to play. Start the music and hold up the Green
light. Have the children march along to the music. Change the “light” to
Yellow so they know to slow down . When you switch to the Red light, they
have to FREEZE in place. They really enjoy this game and the yellow light
gives them a little time to settle down which can be hard at this age.)


Traffic Light Snacks!
Give each child a rectangle-shaped graham cracker. Give them a small
amount of cream cheese or icing to spread on the cracker. Give each child
one red M&M, one yellow M&M, and one green M&M to set up on the graham cracker like a traffic light. **If you want to use something larger, tint the icing to the appropriate colors and frost a round cookie instead of using M&M's. Explain what the three colors of the traffic light mean while decorating the crackers if you do this before the game. If it is after the game...no explanation is needed!


Have fun with this and enjoy the new month! Send me any ideas you have and I'll share them here for all of us.

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 Games Free - Indoor Volleyball

Good Morning,

I hope that you are all enjoying the Olympic Games! This is such a special event with all countries and athletes coming together to play their favorite sports with one another. I will be sharing preschool games free here on my blog the next couple of weeks for all to enjoy.

We all know that sports and being active are good for everyone. Here is an idea that Karen, one of subscribers, sent to me for an INDOOR VOLLEYBALL game. I like it because it is foolproof and everyone gets the chance to play and show their abilities.

Indoor Volleyball

Indoor volleyball is a great game for fun and exercise.
You will need yarn, balloons and groups of four children. The yarn serves as the volleyball net.
Cut a six to eight foot length of yarn.
Two children are needed to stretch out the yarn across the room; each child holding end taut, chest high.
Tie inflated balloon with yarn cut 2-3 foot length. Tie end of yarn near the middle of volleyball net yarn.
Balloon is now hanging from net yarn for two other children to bat or volley back and forth using a three minute timer. When time is done switch end holders and players. Doesn't matter if balloon is hit over or under the net yarn...balloons stay in the playing area!

Have fun!

Thanks again Karen for sending this in to share. Send me your ideas and I'll pass them along here in my blog.

You can reach me at marys.plans@gmail.com

Until next time,

Mary

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

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

Preschool Games

Hi there,

Here in the States we are in the midst of winter--meaning cold, blustery weather. Getting ready to go outside has given me lots of ideas to use in the classroom.

Here are some fun "Mitten" ideas that come to mind. Try some or all of these and let me know if you have others!

Hide and Seek is always a big hit and can be done on so many skill levels.

Classroom Hide & Seek--FOR EYES ONLY
Have all the children hide their eyes while you "hide" a mitten somewhere in the classroom. It should be out in plain sight but still not in any obvious place. Emphasize that they are to keep very quiet and not shout out when they see the mitten. Tell the class to open their eyes and look all around the room, staying very quiet and use their eyes to search for the Hidden Mitten. They are to raise their hand when they see it but not to shout out or let others know where it is. Pretty difficult to stay quiet but it is possible! The first time they will shout out and one of the learning skills is to learn to keep very quiet. Do this a few times and see who can remain quiet! They always love a challenge.
Choose one of children to show where it is or if they are older have them describe where it is.

Hot & Cold

Play this game by hiding a mitten somewhere in the room or you can have one of your kids do this. This time make it a little more difficult than the one above. Next choose a student and tell them to walk around and search for the mitten giving the clues of "hot" and "cold" until they find it. If one of the children hide the mitten, they give the clues to the one searching. This is fun at circle time and can be used until all the children have a chance at hiding the mitten or searching for it.

Sensory Painting
Need:
Knitted mittens
Fingerpaints
Large paper or poster board

This is great for all ages from toddler to five year olds.
Have parents bring in old knitted mittens or buy some in bulk at the discount store. Pour some fingerpaint into trays. Spread large sheets of fingerpaint paper or poster board on the tables. Have them put on the mittens, dip their hands in the paint and start painting with the mittens on. It is a so much fun and gives good sensory feedback as well.

They really enjoy this and it is a new use for mittens!

Mary

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 Games - Counting Games

Are you looking for ways to make learning numbers and counting fun?

Try some of these suggestions:

1 For quiet play for individuals, give each child several baggies each one marked with a number on it. (I like to start at 3 and then go higher maybe to 10 depending on the level of the children in the class.) Then give them a bag of cottonballs(ping pong balls, anything small enough to fit) and ask them to fill the bags with the correct number of cotton balls as the number on the bag.

2. Take the class on a type of scavenger hunt through the classroom. Start with trying to find out how many shoes are in the room, then go to how many jackets are in the room, windows, etc. Children could be divided into teams and limited to certain areas of the room to make it more manageable.

3. Use the game of Simon Says to help with counting. Simon will give commands to do do things a given number of times--such as "Simon Says, Clap your hands 4 times." This can go on for a long time and the kids love it!

All the things you do throughout the day can be opportunities to learn numbers! Repetition that is fun is what makes learning fun for this age.

Let me know your ideas! I'm always looking for more ideas.

Until next time,
Mary