Circle time is an important daily activity in the preschool classroom. There are so many things that happen during circle time. Children listen to a story, learn who is present and absent, discuss the daily schedule, talk about special happenings in their lives, find out about new materials in the classroom, and perhaps, sing a song or do a movement activity.

In our daily circle times, we are constantly learning together! This special time helps establish a sense of community among members of our class, and enables us to officially start the day! For this activity, we used a story board to tell the story of Ten Apples Up On Top.

Before we started, each child was given an apple made of felt. As the story was read, students would bring their apples up to the board. This enabled each child to identify different sections, relate to plot details, and become a part of the story!

Painting is much more than just a simple activity. Painting is a way for children to do many important things: convey ideas, express emotion, use their senses, explore color, explore process and outcomes, and create aesthetically pleasing works and experiences.

Children form many connections and ideas of how the painting process works for them, as well as what they enjoy about it. Watch a child painting and you will see a fully engaged child. We can almost see children’s thoughts, such as, “When I push my brush flat, my line gets bigger”, or “I like stirring this, but I don’t want to put it on paper or touch it”, or “I mixed red with more red and orange, and got fire color red!” To continue with our Ten Apples Up On Top theme, we painted with apples! Using corn skewers, apples, and paper, we practiced dipping our apples into paint and creating our very own apple prints!

Young children enjoy learning about how things work.

By participating in a vast array of science activities, they are learning important critical thinking and observation skills. These activities also promote their inherent sense of curiosity about the world.

For this activity we experimented with sinking and floating. Using real apples, we placed them in water to observe whether they would sink or float. Then, we used tongs to grasp them. We were “bobbing” for apples!

The book One Fish Two Fish provided the inspiration for this fishing activity.

Using cardboard cut-outs of fish from the book and magnetic fishing poles, students went fishing, proudly showing off their catches to their friends!

Our second week involved us learning all about the book One Fish, Two Fish.

For this activity, we used plastic fish, blue gel, small rocks, and plastic plants to create aquariums!

This entire week included a host of activities that revolved around fish.

By introducing a host of different activities, your little one was better able to relate to the material!

Young children learn best by “doing”.

Because we are always talking about our colors, we practiced sorting fish according to their color. Using cardboard cut-outs of fish and a Twister board, we placed fish onto their matching color.

This activity fostered an array of pre-math skills, including sorting, classifying, and categorizing items by similar and contrasting characteristics.

Our first week of Dr. Suess revolved around the book Ten Apples Up on Top.

This book presented a host of opportunities for us to practice our counting skills! For this activity, we used blocks (of which apple stickers were attached), to practice our counting!

Using our hands and our thinking minds, we stacked our blocks until we reached ten! Creating a foundation for complex mathematical thinking is initiated in early childhood.

Stacking objects helps your preschooler begin to acknowledge quantities, cause and effect, and measurement. This awareness lays the framework for more complicated concepts later on.

In the story of Bartholomew and the Oobleck, oobleck rains down from the sky and covers everything in its path.

Using play dough as a medium and small plastic people, we recreated the story! This activity also revisited and reinforced vocabulary words, such as inside, outside, under and, and over.

Using play dough helped your little practice using certain physical skills with their hands as they manipulated the dough with their fingers. Children can practice skills such as pinching, squeezing or poking while they play with the dough.

Lastly, using play dough helps a child practice using imagination and other cognitive abilities such imitation, symbolism and problem solving. This helps our little ones learn more about their environment as they make and mimics everyday objects with the play dough.

Sensory activities play a key role in the maturation process of young children.

Activities that require manipulation and touch enable children to heighten the adaptive response through their senses.

They are an integral component in early childhood education. They not only engage the child, but stimulate cognitive development.

To access this, your young one participated in an activity where they made oobleck!

Using corn starch, food coloring, and water, we manipulated and created various combinations to create the perfect consistency for our goo!