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Whole Child Development

Book Activity: Under My Hood I Have a Hat

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Create, Get Outside, Learning through Play and Experience 3 Comments

 

Under My Hood I Have a HatIf you’re looking for a simple book about bundling up for winter weather, written with captivating rhymes,  Under My Hood I Have a Hat, by Karla Kuskin and illustrated by Fumi Kosaka, is your book!  The nameless heroine of this story goes through her layers of winter wear as she and her dog come inside for hot chocolate.  Then she names more as she piles them back on to head outside again! 

The lines in this story are at the same time simple and fun.  Here are a few favorites: “Under my hood, I have a hat, and under that, my hair is flat.  Under my coat, my sweater’s blue.  My sweater’s red.  I’m wearing two.”

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Book Activity: Snip, Snip, Snow!

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Create, Get Outside, Learning through Play and Experience 2 Comments

 

Snip, Snip... Snow!

Snip, Snip, Snow! by Nancy Poydar tells the story of a relatable, spunky girl named Sophie, who can’t wait for the snow to fall!  Her excitement turns to disappointment as the storm is stalled.  In its place, Sophie and her friends begin cutting paper snowflakes, creating their own snowstorm.  Caught up in their own fun, the first real snowflake almost goes unnoticed.  The children run outside to enjoy the new snow!  This story is so well-written and the illustrations really draw you in.  The book also includes instructions for making paper snowflakes, just like Sophie did!

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Thanksgiving Turkey Craft Times Two

by Filed Under: Celebrate!, Create, Learning through Play and Experience 4 Comments

Now, before you get all worked up over the word “craft”, let me reiterate what I said in this post.  Crafts are not inherently evil.  They’ve just gotten a bad rap because too many people have misused and abused them as a substitution for creative art experiences.  Open-ended creative art activities should be the mainstay of a preschooler’s experiences, but occasional craft projects can be beneficial as well.  There are simply a few things to consider before choosing a craft project for your children. 

1) Is it developmentally appropriate?  Meaning, you need to consider their developmental levels, their motor skills, interests, and attention spans, and decide if the project matches those needs.  Think through the craft project and consider how much of the project the children can do on their own without undue frustration.  If you have to do all the work, it really isn’t their project! 

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Foods! A Preschool Group Collage

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Learning through Play and Experience Leave a Comment

Young children are very emphatic about their food.  They love it- they hate it.  There are few in-betweens.  Let them share their tastes and build their literacy by creating a group food collage.  You can do this using a wall or a large piece of butcher paper.  Provide the children with appropriate magazines and scissors in the writing area, as well as the standard markers, paper etc.  Encourage them to cut out words and pictures of their favorite foods and place them on the food collage.  They could even cut out foods they don’t like, and practice some symbolic literacy by making a circle and crossing out the food.  (Just communicate that they are not allowed to cross out someone elses contribution.)  Children may also want to bring in labels and cut-out words and pictures from favorite foods at home, or they may even want to draw their favorite foods.  Allow a few weeks for this project to grow and take time each day to point out some of the contributions, discuss their differing tastes, and even take advantage of the environmental print that is sure to abound! 

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Book Activity: More Spaghetti I Say!

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More Spaghetti, I Say! (level 2) (Hello Reader)

In More Spaghetti I Say, author Rita Golden Gelman weaves a silly tale of a monkey named Minnie who is so in love with her spaghetti she can’t possibly play with her brother.  There’s a wonderful mix of rhyme, rhythm and hilarity as Minnie explains to Freddie, just how much she loves her spaghetti.  She not only eats it (and pairs it with almost any other food) but plays in it, and even skis down it!  As Minnie, and eventually Freddie, say, “I love it, I love it, I love it, I do!”  This book is just classic!  A fantastic, simple read that children love!

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Book Activity: Big Pumpkin

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Celebrate!, Create, Get Outside, Learning through Play and Experience, Positive Guidance and Social Skills Leave a Comment

big pumpkin

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman is a fantastic Halloween book!  (In fact, it just might be my favorite!)   It’s written in a pattern style with consecutive characters (a witch, a ghost, a vampire, and a mummy) each larger than the first, approaching the same problem – a giant pumpkin, stuck on the vine- in the same way.  There is repetitive text and a definite pattern, which preschoolers really respond to, and which also builds pre-literacy skills.  In the end, it is not the larger characters, but a tiny bat who, through cooperation, comes up with a solution.  A great social skills lesson! [Read more…]

Book Activity: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Create, Get Outside, Learning through Play and Experience Leave a Comment

Red Leaf, Yellow LeafHave I mentioned yet that I really love Lois Ehlert’s books?  Her collage-style illustrations are just so simplistically and realistically appealing.  Particularly for fall, they really capture the vibrancy and texture of the season!  In Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, Lois Ehlert spotlights one of my favorite trees, Maple, as it is selected and planted while a seedling, then as it grows through every season, highlighting the narrator’s favorite season for the tree, fall!  This book is great as a science focus, as well as for an art focus!

Afterward, have the children create their own colorful fall trees.  First smock up!  Once each child has a piece of paper on an art tray to work with, have each one take a brush, and with brown paint make the trunk and branches of their trees.  Talk about the difference between the straight lines of the trunk and the curving, climbing, intertwining branches at the top. [Read more…]

Old-School Leaf Rubbing

by Filed Under: Create, Get Outside, Learning through Play and Experience Leave a Comment

leaf rubbingI once heard someone say that we have to be careful not to be in such a rush to give our children all the things we never had, that we forget to give them the things we did have.  That saying comes to mind as I think about this old-school leaf rubbing activity.  I don’t think I even need to give directions, do I?  I hope you all had plenty of opportunities to make leaf rubbings as children!  I just wanted to remind you to pass on that opportunity!  Even today, in the age of the internet and wii, children light up as the leaf seems to magically appear on the page while they feverishly rub their crayons across the paper!  This activity increases fine motor skills while also creating awareness of the texture and other characteristics of leaves (science).  Combine this with other leaf activities that can be found at the fall favorites page!  Enjoy childhood!

Book Activity: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Create, Learning through Play and Experience 3 Comments

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: Anniversary Edition  If there is one book that I think every child should own……OK, I could never decide on just one book, but if there was a short list of books that every child should own, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault would definitely be on that short list!  It is not only a great way to introduce the letters of the alphabet, but it also differentiates between uppercase and lowercase letters, all in a rhythmic, rhyming fashion, which makes the whole experience so fun it’s nearly addictive.  Plus, all that rhyme and rhythm is great for building phonological awareness (read more about that peculiar sounding term here).

Before reading this book with children, it’s a good idea to practice the text first, so that you can read it aloud smoothly and with the right “em-PHA-sis on the right syll-A-ble”, as my mom always says.  Also, while reading this story, it’s really helpful to point to each letter in the illustrations as it is introduced in the story, reinforcing to the child the letter shape and letter name.

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