Preschool Science Activities - Textures & Magnifying Glasses

I can't remember ever having a preschooler who isn't intrigued by a magnifying glass, insects and exploring adventures. Try these preschool science activities with your class. Your students will love it, learn, explore and ask questions. You can use this activity for so many opportunities to teach shapes, numbers, textures, discovery of the world around them.

The kids will help you with the set up of the sand table. Start at circle time to discuss what they will be doing and then introduce the steps.

Texture Exploration!
Activity area: Sand/Water table

Materials: Magnifying glass, picture of an ant, measurement cups/spoons, big spoons, bowls, funnels, cotton balls, foam packing peanuts, birdseed, sand, rice, dried beans, pebbles and stones

Hook: Hold up a magnifying glass and say that they are all going to be scientists, this morning! Pass around the magnifying glass to each child and have the children look at the ant picture, with their new "lenses." Explain that the magnifying glass makes everything appear bigger and that we can all be like scientists and explore.

Activity
Explain that the ant in the picture) uses their feelers or antennas to explore and we, as humans, use our hands, eyes, ears, nose and mouth to explore. Point to each of these body parts. After this discussion, have the children create their own sensory table using their own feelers or hands.

Allow the children to pick from the materials listed above, which item they would like to add to the sensory table. After their choice, ask the child how the object feels.
Let the children use the magnifying glass to see the textures. After all the children have added their item have them all put their hands, in the table, to mix together. Give them plenty of time to explore and experiment!

If you like these preschool science 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

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