Pets Preschool Theme/Interest

With the popularity of Paw Patrol  and Pete the Cat among young children,  a topic surrounding pets  for preschool aged children is a great idea. This interest or theme gives opportunities for children to learn about different animals and talk about their own  cherished furry friends (scaled friends too!) 

                  

Start a Pet Theme at Circle Time

To begin a theme about pets, ask the children at group circle who has a pet. This question will definitely open up the topic with discussion. Ask questions like:

•Do you help your mom and dad with taking care of the pet?

•Where does your pet sleep?

•Who feeds the pet and what does it eat?

•What kind of pet do you wish you had?

•What does your pet do that gets him in trouble?

•How do you keep your pet healthy?

Math Activity with Pets

At circle time, a great way to teach math concepts and to learn about all the pets collectively owned by the children and their families is to make a pet graph. Before this activity, prepare a graph onto a large sheet of paper with pictures at the top (or bottom) of commonly owned pets, such as a dog, a cat, a bird, a fish, and a hamster.

These animals will make the individual vertical rows. A few blank rows should also be included for other pets that are given. Then take a tally of pets. Each child will say what kind of pets they have at home and as the answers are provided, the teacher will mark off a block. Then, at the end the preschool children can see which pet animal the classroom has the most of. Discuss with the children how one row is the tallest, and one is the shortest, then count the blocks that were made. This graph can be displayed for families to view.

ALTERNATIVE: Courtesy of beaconlearning.com

Pet Art Ideas

There are many preschool craft ideas surrounding cats, dogs, fish and other house animals on the internet.  Here are some open ended art activities for a pet theme...

1. Painting with dog or cat figurines 
2. Photos of pets with paper and drawing
3. Creating pets animals with clay or playdough
4. Collage material to encourage pet creations: fabric, feathers, paper, yarn, etc. 
5. Paw stamps or stencils
6. Pet rocks

Felt Board Activities for a Pet Preschool Lesson Plan

Felts are a great way to tell stories and involve children in learning activities. Felts are easy to make with the right material. This felt activity involves different color dogs with matching dog houses. At circle time have the preschool children bring felts to the flannel board and match the colors together.

Find more stories on Felt Board Ideas: 

Scat the Cat

I Had A Little Turtle

Dog's Colorful Day

Further Reading Suggestions: 

Reptile Preschool Theme

Bird Preschool Theme

Great Quote!

Quote for this Week

Early Childhood Educators and Stress

Stress, we all feel it, we all have it. A good level of stress does motivate us to perform better. But, when stress becomes a consistent presence in our lives, our bodies, over a long period of time, it can have unhealthy impacts. Our body’s stress system becomes overloaded as it sits in emergency mode.  People can begin to have physical and emotional results that are not beneficial to positive well being. So, by keeping ourselves in check with stress, by listening to our bodies, mind and spirit carefully, by adopting valuable coping strategies, and actively carrying them out, we are controlling how stress affects our lives.    

Working with children is one of the most meaningful occupations. It leaves you with a sense of purpose, moments of joy brought by the preciousness of children, and many hugs. But, on the other side, it holds stress indeed. After time, our need to keep calm and patient can become strained, we feel tapped out and the overworked/underpaid phrase starts to ring in our ears. When childcare providers, begin to reach their stress limit, it is time to start getting real and look at the stress in their bodies and mind. Stress is a risk factor to our health and well being. Stress can and should be managed.  To be a good caregiver is to take care of ourselves as well, if not first.  The first step is realizing we are in control.  We cannot fix with one big band aid the problems of society, governmental systems, and the childcare profession as a whole, but we can control our reaction. We are in charge of our thoughts, emotions, and internal dialogue.

We are in charge of our attitude. We can make small changes in our environment and life that will move us towards being less stressed.  When we realize we are in control of our stress, it is the basis of stress management!

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A Different Perspective

Night Time Preschool Lesson Plan

To view the following Felt Story and poem, click here

Night Time Preschool Lesson plan can include ideas surrounding...

• Night Sky
• Space
• Bedtime
• Teddy Bears
• Hibernation
• Nocturnal Animals
• People who work during the night 

Begin a Night Time Preschool Lesson Plan at Group Circle

Start a night preschool lesson plan at group circle by asking the children about the topic and allow them to be each other's educators. Some questions to ask the children are:

•"What do we mean when we say it's night time?

•"How do we know it's night time?

•"Why do we have to sleep?"

•"How do you feel in the dark?"

•"Are there some people/animals that stay up while we are sleeping?"

•"What is your bedtime routine?"

Preschool Ideas for a Night Sky Theme

The night sky provides a number of ideas for a night theme. It can also be extended into a space lesson plan.  Aside from the classic Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, this is another great song:  "Going To the Moon" 

Zoom. zoom, zoom

We are going to the moon

Zoom, zoom, zoom

We will be there very soon

If you want to take a trip

Climb aboard my rocket ship

Zoom, zoom, zoom

We are going to the moon

5,4,3,2,1 BLAST OFF!

Preschool Ideas for a Bedtime Theme

Going to bed is something we all do, and for young children it can be a scary time. Structure is very important to preschoolers when they are getting ready for bed, and asking them what their bedtime routine is allows the children to see the similarities in all of us. In this portion of the night time preschool lesson plan, the young children can make arts and crafts surrounding their bed, such as making a classroom quilt, paper dolls with pajamas that can be decorated and filling in a big star with such things as glitter, paint, crayons and so on with this poem in the middle:

Starlight, star bright

First star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have the wish, I wished tonight.

Plan a PJ day at school, where everyone has to wear pygamas and bring in their favourite stuffed animal. Teachers can make children pancakes or toast with jam on this special dress up day. One song that works well for this day is to sing the "Teddy Bear Song" –

Teddy bear teddy bear, turn around

Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground      

Teddy bear, teddy bear, go upstairs

Teddy bear, teddy bear say your prayers

Preschool Ideas for Hibernation Theme

Learning about animals that hibernate can be included into a night time preschool lesson plan. Of course, bears are the most well known animals that hibernate, but many other animals also hibernate through the cold winter months. A wonderful arts and craft idea for hibernation is to allow children to make a cave for the bear to sleep.

Nocturnal Animals are another extension of the 

Night Preschool Lesson Plan

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Empty Box Activities for Children

Empty boxes of all sizes can be reused for other purposes. With a little help from adults, cardboard boxes can turn into activities for kids, and this article suggests ideas for younger ages. First, check out your recycling container for various sizes of cardboard boxes. If you do not have big boxes at all, try visiting a furniture store, grocery store and the recycling depot for those extra large boxes. Boxes can begin a creative process with the end result encouraging playtime for young children, an important component of their developmental growth.

An Empty Box Into a Playhouse

Probably one of the favourite memories we all have was to do turn the empty cardboard box that the new stove or such was delivered in into a playhouse. This activity still has great appeal. So much of the creative process before the playtime can be done by the children themselves. For safety reasons, the cutting of the windows and doors should occur with the adults. Allow the children to be the architects of their playhouse, and to take full ownership of the activity. Bring out some crayons or felts and have them first draw the outline of where they want the windows and door to be. When cutting out the windows and doors, try and make the window openings and/or the door entrance to have a flap, so the children can close the door and window when playing. Once that portion is completed, suggest to the children to decorate the window with curtains, and the front of the house with flowers and paint while the inside could have pictures on the wall, a clock and so on. This activity could occur outdoors as well and if outside, the empty cardboard box could easily be decorated with paint. Once the house is decorated, play furniture can be put in and the play time can exist. Depending on the space allocated for the creation, this cardboard box could provide hours of good playtime for children.

Toddler Indoor Activities

Toddlers love empty boxes and with the help of the adult nearby, they can be entertained for stretches of time with just the cardboard container. Here are some suggestions and some songs to go along with the activities:

1. A big empty box and material: let a toddler sit inside the box and put light items on top of him/her to hide, such as stuffed animals or soft balls. Balloons work well, but an adult supervisor should be near the box. Count down from 5 or 10 and then yell "Surprise!" The toddler can then jump up and let all the items fly up into the air. A toddler will want to repeat this activity a number of times.

2. Jack in the Box: Have a toddler inside the box, then sing or say these words:

Jack in the box, still as a mouse, deep down inside his little dark house
Jack in the box, resting so still, will you come out?
Then the child can jump up and say "yes I will!"

3. A box for a boat or plane: turn the box into travel imagination and sing the following songs:

Row Row Row Your Boat or to the same tune:
Zoom, zoom zoom you go
In the plane you fly
See the clouds going by
Way up in the sky.

Empty Box for Drama Play

A big empty cardboard box can be turned into a bus, airplane or train. The box should be turned to the side, and then small windows (circle windows if it is going to be a plane) cut out. The next step is to position small chairs inside one behind the other to create a transportation scene. This kids' activity is suitable for an early childhood setting, like preschool or daycare, but also works well at home. To add to the dramatic play, have some bags, clothes and a ticket center available. For more ideas, visit my Pinterest Board by clicking HERE

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Christmas Around the World--Ideas for Preschool

Felt Board Christmas Tree Activities

Christmas is a magical time for young children, and the winter time is filled with many holiday celebrations. Depending on the community, a Preschool or Early Childhood Centre is situated in, the cultural make up of families may vary greatly and the Early Childhood curriculum should always be sensitive to other cultures when program planning. Preschool children are beginning to understand about other countries and their cultures. Christmas traditions are a great way to show children our diversities as well as our similarities.

  Celebrating Hanukkah

Hanukkah could be discussed for longer than a day, or celebrated for the full eight days of the holiday within an early childhood setting. Preschool children could learn about the importance of the Menorah, play with a Dreidel and eat latkes, to name a few things. For more ideas, click HERE

                                         

Christmas in Australia

Christmas down under is still celebrated but there are many variation due to the summer weather. Many Australians spend Christmas day at the beach. Create a summer scene with Santa to illustrate an  Aussie Christmas. Santa could be dressed in a a bathing suit, or swim trunks as they say in Australia! Combine this with an Indoor Beach Party.

Christmas in France

In France, it is a Christmas tradition to place shoes in front of a fire, in hopes that they will be filled with goodies from Santa (Pere Noel). A craft that would match well with the learning of France's Christmas customs is to have the children decorate cut out shoes with Christmas stickers, glitter or whatever choice seems appropriate for the classroom philosophy.

    Christmas in Mexico

Feliz Nevidad in Mexico is celebrated with many fun filled events, like a Pinata party! The poinsetta is an important symbol with Mexican Christmas Celebration. To make a poinsetta in a preschool setting, provide children with five cut out leaves for them to glue onto green construction paper. The children could then tear yellow paper to make the center of the flower. For more information about the Poinsetta and printable crafts, click HERE

                                       

Christmas in the Phillipines

One of the unique aspects of Christmas celebration in the Phillipines are the paper lanterns called Parols that are used for decoration. Young children would love to have their own paper lantern to bring home. The lanterns could be simplified in this preschool craft project to a big yellow star with ribbon coming off the pointed ends. Click here for more instructions.

Around the World Christmas Wreath

Lastly, perhaps the best way to Celebrate Christmas around the world is to make a craft celebrating the world itself! Cut the center of a paperplate and provide children material for glueing onto their wreaths. The material could be pre-cut, or placed out with scissors, to foster fine motor development. Here are some suggestions:

• used Christmas cards
• used mailing stamps
• envelopes with addresses
• maps cut into pieces
• postcards
• magazine pictures of children from around the world
• different ways to say Merry Christmas : printed on paper

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Using Fall Nuts Within a Preschool Curriculum

Young children love to go for nature walks and collect autumn treasures. This collection from the outside can then be brought inside for some fun indoor activities. The following article provides some suggestions on how to use nuts and other fall finds in a variety of areas in an early childhood curriculum.

Sensory Table and Fine Motor Skills:

Collect a variety of nuts, such as chestnuts or acorns and place within a sensory table along with some sorting material, such as muffin tins or ice cube trays. In addition, the table could include tongs and spoons to foster fine motor development

From The Hive Website

Math Activities Using Fall Nuts

Sorting and categorizing nuts helps develop math skills within children. In addition, graphing the nuts will help children count and develop numerical awareness.

Language and Literature

A fun action poem for the children to participate in begins with giving each child a nut such as a hazelnut, chestnut or acorn . Start by acting like a squirrel and dig a hole in the "ground" then place in the nut. Pretend to cover it up with dirt. Have the children act alongside your actions, then pop up and say:

I'm a busy little squirrel, searching all around

Searching for a nut that simply can't be found

Is it behind me? Is it in my backpack?

Is it in my pocket? Is it in the ground?

I'm a busy little squirrel, looking all around

Digging, digging, digging. Look what I found! (show the nut)

Gathering All the Acorns Till They're Gone
Sung to: "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain"

I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
I'll be gathering all the acorns, gathering all the acorns,
Gathering all the acorns till they're gone.(Children make collecting motion with their hands)

And I'll put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside, put them all inside,
Put them all inside my little home.(children pretend to place nuts in tree house)

And I'll eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until, eat the nuts until,
Eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
(children pretend to eat acorns)

Then I'll do it all again come next fall.
I will do it all again come next fall.
I will do it all again, do it all again,
Do it all again come next fall. (gathering motion with hands and arms again)

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Summertime Family Road Trips: How to Reduce Screentime

Traveling in cars, or other forms of transportation, can be challenging with young children (and big children too) as they can get restless and unhappy leading to discomfort for everyone. Before long, one of the siblings is poking the other and the havoc begins. There are many ways, today, to entertain children with electronic gadgets and screens. But, if you are trying to get your children off of the screen, this article might provide you some ideas on how to pass the time, and help children look up and out the window. This article suggests some fun games to play with children that  will allow them to be actively involved with others and off of individual screens.

The "Classic" Song Game

This game can be very challenging, and involves the memory of song lyrics.

The first person will sing a song and then stop at a word and then the next person must think of a song with that word in it. For instance, one person might sing a Justin Bieber popular song and end with the word, "baby" and the next person might sing, "Rock my baby on the tree..." Ending with word, tree the next person playing this song game will have to find a song with tree in it. This game can be played until no one can think of a song with the word or this song game can simply, and cooperatively and collectively,  be played together.

Name That Tune

A classic television show can be played while traveling the long distance in a car with each person, or just the parents, giving clue notes about the song they have chosen. The players try and see if they can think of what song is being hummed or whistled. If older children are playing this game, they can try and guess how many notes they are going to guess the song in. Start with one note, then another and so on until the song is guessed.

Make a Playlist of Songs for a Guessing Game

This suggestion takes some preparation but might end up passing the time effectively in the car ride. A version of name that tune is to copy the beginning of songs onto a playlist  for the travelers to guess. Another suggestion is to make a full playlist of songs, or portions of songs, and the players have to guess an aspect of that song. Following are some ideas or variations for the guessing game:

• Movie Soundtracks: guess what movie the song can be found
• Who is Singing?: guess the artist
• Now or Then? : find songs from the past and present, and the players have to guess
• World Music: guess what part of the world the song is from
• What Decade? players have to decide which decade the song comes from

This activity could be prepared by different members of the family before leaving home.

ABC's and Children's Songs 

This game can be a collective song or played individually. Moreover, the parents might sing songs for their restless toddlers. Use the alphabet and with each letter find a word that starts with that letter and then a correlating song. Finding the word is a great activity for young children learning phonics and the sounds of letters. To illustrate this game: A is for apple and the song could be I like to eat apples and bananas.

ABC's and Shopping

This is another memory game, and is great for learning the alphabet and phonics. It is a cumulative game matching the alphabet with a bought item. The first person begins, "I went shopping and bought an apple.
The next person says, I went shopping and bought an apple and a b__________(anything that begins with a b, such as a banana. The next person says, "I went shopping and bought an apple, a banana and a c______. See which family member can remember the whole alphabet!

The Geographical Game

This ia game that can have any topic, but originally was created with geography. The rules are only one geographical spot (city, town, state, province, country, ocean, river...) can be said once, no repeats. The first person will say any place, such as Canada. This ends with a, and so the next player, must think of a place that begins with A.


Long car rides can be trying, but with some creativity and music, hopefully your next trip might go by a little faster with these fun game suggestions.

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Cost free Collection for an Early Childhood Curriculum

We spend a great deal of money buying educational toys for children to play with. But, with a little planning,  thouht and time, natural products and recycled items can be collected and used within early childhood settings. They can be used for sensory expriences, art exploration, table top creations, drama area, and much more. The following blog provides a list of ideas to begin the collection

From Nature....

Sticks

Pinecones

Bark

Wood 

Pebbles

Shells

Leaves

Flower petals

Seeds

From our kitchen....

Cinnamon sticks

Seeds

Beans

Fruit pits

Peels

Winecorks

Bottlecaps

Bottles

From recycling...

Cardboard tubes

Old CDs

Fabric scraps

Buttons

Boxes

Ribbon

Cards

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Quote of the week

Why We Love Children!

50 people asked a question. See the difference between how an adult answers versus a child!

Present Exchange Ideas for the Staff Christmas Party

Christmas shopping can get so expensive and stressful. Why not try a gift exchange this year, whether it's used at the Christmas work party, a holiday gathering with friends, or around the Christmas tree with family. With an exchange, each person only has to buy one gift. The gift exchange holds many variations, predominantly Secret Santa and the White Elephant Game. Following are some fun ideas for Christmas gift exchanges that will involve some creativity, but not a lot of money.

Tackiest Christmas Present Exchange

Every guest must bring the tackiest present they can find. There are many sources to buy such gifts:the neighbourhood second hand store, regifting, garage sales and yard sales. Whatever gift the guest leaves with must be displayed in his/her home over the holidays. Try giving a prize to the person who is deemed the best tackiest present giver.

Gifts that are Consumable

With this Christmas gift exchange, the guidelines are, the present and the wrapping has to be material which can be consumed. The presents may be edible or perhaps consumed in other manners, such as candles, tin foil or cleaning supplies. Hopefully the shopper can think about what is appropriate for the person who he/she is buying the consumable present for.

This Christmas Gift Exchange is Brought to You By the Letter...

Following the Sesame Street Slogan, choose a letter for the holiday gift giving. Everyone must find a gift starting with the letter. The giving should have a dollar limit. The shoppers might find one gift or more than one gift, such as a basket filled with items, as long as each gift starts with the same letter. Inevitably, some letters will be harder than others.

Providing a Service for the Christmas Present Exchange

If the crowd of people are really tight with their budget this year, then this gift exchange is very appropriate. Everyone involved must provide a service, such as washing your car, baking a cake, fixing some furniture and so on. Each person has his/her own talent and it will be very appreciated by another person. It may be the best gift one receives. This gift exchange works well in a set up where the gifts can be snatched from others.

The Christmas Present Exchange titled, "Do I use this?"

Guests must go through their belongings, and ask themselves, "do I use this?" If he/she has not used the item over the last year and it was something he/she purchased, then it can be used for this gift exchange. The gift must be in good condition and there should be a price limit. So, when the item was purchased, it cost under a certain amount of money.


Of course, giving gifts should be meaningful, but also it should be fun. These Christmas gift exchange ideas will hopefully bring some laughter and entertainment to the holiday party

Acorn Preschool Poem for Fall Curriculum

5 Little Acorns

5 little acorns sitting in a tree

Along came Mr. Squirrel

As hungry as could be.

Then the fall winds blew

And rustled all the leaves.

Down came an acorn,

Mr. Squirrel was pleased!