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2-20-01Use baby food jars to make a sensory smelling game. I put items such as pickles, syrup, perfume, lemon, Kool-Aid and potpourri into baby food jars (two of each) and covered them with cotton or tissue paper. The children had to find the two jars that smelled the same. They really enjoyed trying to determine all the different smells.
10-23-00This week my kindergartners are working on a fun center activity where they get to reach into a jar to feel shapes. I took 4 plastic jars and hot glued a sock to the end. I then cut the toe of the sock off so that the students could stick their hand inside the sock. The jar is then covered with foil. Inside each jar is one shape. First they feel it and describe it according to characteristics. Next, they draw their prediction on a worksheet I made under the heading "I feel." Once it is drawn with pencil, the student gets to reach in and peak at the shape. They then check their prediction and redraw the shape under the heading "I see" also using the correct color crayon. The kids are having a lot of fun doing this in small groups and they are building some good vocabulary.
7-23-00Sound Walk Take a walk with the children and bring a cassette player. As you walk ask the children what sounds they hear. Tape the sound. When you get back to the classroom, replay the sounds and have the children identify the sounds.
5-28-00Make a homemade tape of various sounds around your home and/or classroom. Play the tape at group time and see how many sounds the children can identify.
5-25-00Take a cardboard box and paint it any color you would like. Cut a hole in the center of the bottom of the box. Put a cloth over the hole and paint the words "Touch TV" on the bottom above the hole. Then you can use the box and put bowls of different things such as shaving cream, skinless grapes, kitty liter, sand, etc. Anything with different textures. Kids get a kick out of this and it helps teach about touch. I use this in my science time in coordination with the five senses.
5-25-00The game is called, who's missing. Have all the children sit in a group and close their eyes, next pick one preschooler to come hide in a designated area of the room where no one can see him/her. After everyone opens their eyes they look around to see who could be missing. Give clues such as, "This preschooler is wearing pink today." Children really get excited when they get to use such memory skills.
Date: 3-8-00Children must remove shoes and walk across bubble wrap; light as a feather, heavy as an elephant, fast as a cheetah... without popping any bubbles.
Date: 2-2-00Try making sensory dominoes. Use heavy cardboard cut into rectangles a size easily manageable by your age group of children. Cut out the circles for the dominoes from self-adhesive sandpaper and stick onto the cardboard in the fashion the domino circles are arranged. Cut out the actual numbers that correspond with the dots. Stick these to the back of the dominoes. These dominoes encourage the children to trace the numbers and dots with their fingers, reinforcing prewriting skills. Carla Date: 12-5-99A 'Feely' Box (or Bag) Make an arm hole for little arms in a box and cover the hole with a small cloth. Put items of different textures, shapes, etc. into the box. Then have children stick their arm in and guess the first thing they feel before they take it out and see if their right. This is a great game to stay on the discovery table. You can change the items in the box as often as you like. A quicker version to use in a pinch for a quick game while at transition or other short times during your day is to get a paper bag and add a variety of items. As each child sticks their hand in the bag to pick one item and hold it - while you hold the bag - ask them to describe what it is their holding before they guess what it is. This is a great language builder as well as a fun tactile experience. Carla Date: 12-5-99"What Do You Hear?" Buy enough Styrofoam cups for each child and yourself to have two. Cut the bottoms off the cups ahead of time. This activity works best in a small group. Hook the cups on your ears, the small end you cut the bottom out of. (You'll need to fold your entire ear into the cup - it will work, believe me!). Have the children do the same, you may need to help them. Soon you'll all have 'cup ears', they'll laugh when they look at each other. Then explain-NO one is to holler into anyone's ears, because that would really hurt. Then have the children talk to you and each other. Ask them, "how does my voice sound?" Them have them gently push the cups forward, show them with yours. Ask "now how do I sound?" and talk for them. Next tip the cups towards the back - this creates a sound that is faraway. Again, talk and ask how that sounds. You can have them cover one ear and talk, hands over both ears, raised to the ceiling, etc. Then have them take the cups off and turn them with the big end to their ear (they'll have to hold them there) and talk. Ask, "how is that different?" When you feel you've kept the game going as long as you can, take them off and ask, "Well now what can we do with these? We surely can't drink out of them!" Some kids will want to decorate them, some will use them as a megaphone. I've had kids in my current class get up and bet the tape and make spyglasses by taping the two large ends together and then decorating them. It's fun to extend the game into a discovery and creative art activity when finished exploring how our ears work. Carla Date: 12-5-99I Spy "I Spy" is a game everybody's played in some form. The most common way is also a great transition game for the entire group. As the children gather around you, you begin the game by saying, "I spy something yellow." The children then look around the room and guess what it is you see. Whoever guesses is next, unless you wish to control the game by being the 'questioner'. Sometimes the play is more lively if you keep the questioning, although some children are very good at it at a young age. If you play the game often enough you can expand it beyond colors and ask other questions, such as: "I spy something striped" or "I spy something square". There's many variations from this fun, visual learning game, it's only as limited as you make it! Carla Date: 12-5-99Smelly Jars Use a hammer and nail to make holes in the lids of baby food jars. Place a few cotton balls in each jar you make. Then go to the cupboards and add a scent to each jar. Long lasting jar fragrances are, coffee, powdered cocoa (chocolate), garlic salt, vinegar, baby powder, cinnamon, any flavored extracts, garlic salt, etc. The possibilities are endless. Tighten the jar lids firmly and place them in their own plastic container as a carrying case. When introducing them to the children, make it a game. Explain these are the classrooms "smelly jars" and they are not to be opened or turned upside down - only smelled (through the holes in lid). (Most preschoolers can't read yet so you are safe in labeling the jars for yourself!) Begin to pass them around one at a time and see who can guess what's in the jar. Their expressions as they smell are priceless! When a smell is identified see if the entire group agrees on it before revealing what it is. Then ask, "When (or where) would you use vinegar?" The answers will be varied according to the child's experience and sometimes culture. After the game (during a large group time or a small group time), place the bottles on the discovery table to be used during free time. You'll be surprised how many children smell them over and over again.
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