Here’s a quick and easy, yet fascinating , activity for your sensory table. (Find how to make your own here.) Inside the table, place two smaller containers. (I used the shoebox size storage containers here.) Fill one box with water. You may want to add a little coloring to make the water more visible as it moves. Leave the other box empty. Provide a variety of tools including scoops in varying sizes, funnels, basters and eye-droppers, and clear tubing (available at hardware stores).
Foods! A Preschool Group Collage
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!
Excuse Me Please. Do You Have Any Picture Books About Using Good Manners? Thank You.
Having good manners is a key social skill. It’s also a bit of an abstract concept for preschoolers. Using picture books as a tool for teaching good manners goes a long way in making that concept more concrete as the children can see illustrations and hear dialogue that makes these concepts more relatable. I like to read books about manners, particularly table manners, before snack time so that the children have an immediate opportunity to practice. Here are just a few books on manners that I enjoy.
Field Trips for Preschool Foodies
If you’re looking for a food-themed field trip destination for your preschoolers the possibilities are almost endless! Here are just a few suggestions:
Kitchen Prints
Real artists see beauty in the ordinary. Take your average kitchen utensils for example. Utilitarian and, well, ordinary. But if you look very closely they are full of different edges and shapes, patterns and textures. Gather a few kitchen instruments for some kitchen prints! (It’s best if these utensils can be devoted to art and sensory activities. Most washable paints will wash off of utensils, but if you can, it’s best to have separate sets.) I found interesting prints by using spatulas, pastry blenders, potato mashers, whisks, cups, pizza cutters, and even forks.
When doing prints, I like to present the paint on an old plastic lid with a ridge. On top of the lid I place several thicknesses of moistened paper towels. Then I spread a thin, even layer of paint on top of the toweling. This creates something like an ink pad. Try it out a few times to make sure that there is enough paint to print, but not so much that you lose the detail of your object in goopy drips of paint.
Book Activity: More Spaghetti I Say!
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!
Welcome to the Pizza Shop! Prop Ideas for Preschool Dramatic Play
Pizza Shop, Pizzeria, Pizza Restaurant, whatever you like to call it, it’s a perfect dramatic play scenario for preschoolers. I would venture to say that most preschoolers have experience with pizza. It’s something familiar and almost universally enjoyed. Here are some prop ideas for creating a great pizza shop themed dramatic play area that will have your children ready to serve you up a slice!
Book Activity – The Seven Silly Eaters
Mary Ann Hoberman’s The Seven Silly Eaters is a well-written book, taking advantage of rhyme and rhythm (great for pre-readers) as well as silliness and excesses. But I have to confess, Marla Frazee’s illustrations are what really makes this one of my all-time favorite books. She captures such detail and such reality in the portrayal of this growing brood of seven children. The familial scenes run the gamut from pastoral to chaotic, including details like sneaky indoor snowball fights, sick kids falling asleep amid scattered tissues, and piles of laundry and childhood art projects scattered in the background. I love these illustrations so much, I have honestly considered buying another book, just so I can frame a few of my favorites!
Book Activity- Pinkalicious!
Pinkalicious, by sister team Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann, is a unique and hilarious book about a girl who develops an acute case of “pinkatitis” after eating one too many pink cupcakes. At first, being completely pink sounds like a marvelous improvement to this little girl, until she gradually turns to a deeper shade of red. On doctor’s orders, she eats as many green foods as she can find in her fridge, the only way to return to her normal self. This book is a surefire winner, and not just with the pink crowd. The boys I’ve read it to have loved it as well!
After reading this book, I talk with the children about whether or not this scenario could really happen. Of course not! But then, I ask what would happen if they ate too many cupcakes. They certainly wouldn’t feel well, and their bodies wouldn’t be healthy. Then we talk about healthy and unhealthy foods. I prepare ahead of time, cutting out pictures of food from my local grocery store flyers and laminating them to cards. (Be sure to collect a variety, spanning the food groups.)
Scented Playdough–Cinnamon Spice!
If you want great scented playdough, that smells like an actual, natural food scent, try this one out! It’s probably my favorite scented playdough, in large part because it makes your whole room smell like a bakery! In fact, you’ll have to remind your children that in spite of the great scent, it is still not for eating!