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For the past couple of weeks, the children have been working on their self-portraits for a collaborative piece to hang in the Gold Room. To support their developing self-concept in the art studio, the children created 3D self-portraits from "loose parts". The children created their likeness by arranging jewelry, washers, and metal pieces, etc.

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About the Author

Dorie Ranheim, Ed.D., is a teacher, blogger, and mother, with a deep passion for early childhood math and nature. She currently enjoys her work as a preschool teacher and administrator for The Soulard School, in St. Louis, MO, after studying child development and education at Loyola University, Erikson Institute and Saint Louis University. Her passion is to continue learning more about teaching strategies for early childhood math so she can share ideas in her blog playfulinvitations.com . She has over 17 years of experience working with children and families in many settings including hospitals, children's museums and schools. Dorie is fortunate to have two joyful daughters, Inga (6) and Freya (4), and a musical husband, Bjorn.

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About the Author Dorie Ranheim, Ed.D., is a teacher, blogger, and mother, with a deep passion for early childhood math and nature. She currently enjoys her work as a preschool teacher and administrator for The Soulard School, in St. Louis, MO, after studying child development and education at Loyola University, Erikson Institute and Saint Louis University.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Consider creating small world for a portion of your community or neighborhood.

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Small world play is an important part of preschool and a great way for little ones to learn. It's an easy play activity to set up and kids love the invitation to play. Today I'm going to share more about what small world play is and why it is important!

Small world play is creating a life scene for the child to play with. You can use miniature items (such as miniature furniture or barn animals) in the environment you create for them to play with. The goal is for the child to act out ideas from real life or reenact stories they know of. Often times, many sensory elements are used with small world play. It's a wonderful, rich time of learning!

This type of play is wonderful for language building. Children are imagining, and while doing so are talking out loud and using vocabulary. I created a farm scene with our Big Red Barn , farm animals , and fences for my children to play with. I noticed my 5-year-old son reenacted a story he knew about deer. He was using vocabulary words that he heard in the story, and not necessarily words he would use in daily life! It was so cute to hear him using dialogue between the animals. It also showed me that he really comprehended the story he listened to!

Small world play is an awesome opportunity for children to use their imaginations. I love this quote from Benjamin Franklin.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

When you do small world play with other children, they learn how to share, play nicely together, and imagine together.

Small world play is also great to do independently. It can be an activity that children do independently to work on doing activities alone. That's a great skill to work on with children!

Now that you know what Small World Play is all about, let me share some of my favorite examples!

We like to set up sensory sinks. This is basically a sink for the child to play in with miniature animals.
Frog Sensory Bin Sea Turtle Sensory Bin
Here are 14 more fabulous small world play ideas!

1. Construction Gravel Pit from Imagination Tree

2. Magical Gnome Garden from Childhood 101

3. Frog Pond from One Perfect Day

4. On the Farm from Two-daloo

5. Arctic Animals from The Imagination Tree

6. The Three Little Pigs from Growing Book by Book

7. The Little Red Hen from Fun-A-Day

8. Under the Fall Tree from Buggy & Buddy

9. The Wild West from Happy Brown House

10. Dinosaurs from One Perfect Day

11. Forest World from My Nearest and Dearest

12. Beach Vacation from Still Playing School

13. Emergency Vehicles from Where Imagination Grows

14. Reptile World from Two-Daloo
What small world play ideas do you have?

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What is Small World Play and Why is it Important?

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Small world play is an important part of preschool and a great way for little ones to learn. It's an easy play activity to set up and kids love the invitation to play. Today I'm going to share more about what small world play is and why it is important!

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Jeffco Career Links team

The Jeffco Career Links team is a one-stop resource for students, educators, industry partners, community leaders and families. The goal of our team is to provide interactive experiences for students to engage in career exploration and career planning both in and out of the classroom. Additionally, our desired state is to have students career ready through the collaborative efforts of all members of the Jeffco Community to provide a sustainable workforce in all industries.

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The Jeffco Career Links team is a one-stop resource for students, educators, industry partners, community leaders and families. The goal of our team is to provide interactive experiences for students to engage in career exploration and career planning both in and out of the classroom.

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My class this year has been fascinated with maps. They love to look at the maps we have in the block center, and they often draw maps in the art center. Treasure maps, maps of their town, maps to show their bus route, maps from their house to their friends' house.

One day for a small group activity, we made maps of our classroom as a cooperative group activity. We used 18×24 inch paper. I drew the window, door, and large group carpet on the map to get them started. I pointed out the door in our room and the door on our map, and did the same with the window and carpet. We talked about things we needed to put on the map. Each group came up with some different ideas, for example, only one group thought about putting the clock on the map. I also thought it was neat that one group put the "Pigeon book" on the map ( Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems - a Pre-K favorite). Most of the things they put on the map were drawn on construction paper, cut out, and glued to the map. That helped because if someone put something in the wrong place, we could talk about it as a group, and move it where it needed to be. Here are our results:

As a follow up activity, I read the book Me on the Map, by Joan Sweeney. You might also want to check out Teach Preschool's recent post on maps with preschoolers.

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My class this year has been fascinated with maps. They love to look at the maps we have in the block center, and they often draw maps in the art center. Treasure maps, maps of their town, maps to show their bus route, maps from their house to their friends' house.

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How might this support growing your community?

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Starting a Guest Reader Program in Your Classroom - Two Little Birds Teaching

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Having a guest reader in your classroom is so beneficial for so many reasons. I genuinely love having guest readers in the classroom! Setting up a program with a schedule that works for you and your guests can easily be done with very little prep on your part.

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Suggested Text List for Preschool Inquiry Studies

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Suggested Text List for Preschool Inquiry Studies

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Please add to this list as you find quality texts that align to the Inquiry Study!

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Create a new spreadsheet and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Sheets to edit Excel files. Free from Google.

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Counting book ideas

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Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative

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What Kind of Counting Book Is It?

by Mary Hynes-Berry This is an Article - for grade levels 1st Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
Tagged Animals, April Pulley Sayre, Books, Donald Crews, One Duck Stuck, One is a Snail Ten is a Crab, Phyllis Root, Ten Black Dots

There's nothing like a stack of attractive counting books to help young children explore number. However, it's worth taking the time to analyze exactly how the numbers in the book are put to work, so as the children's number sense grows, they can play with more complex understandings.

For the youngest children, look for books that concentrate on 1-5 or 1-10, showing that each number is one more than the number before it... or one less. The youngest children love revisiting the many book versions of favorite finger plays such as Ten in the Bed or Five Little Monkeys. Soon they will be ready for a book that incorporates the counting into a story. The wonderful language in One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root makes this book a natural way to combine literacy skills such as phonemic awareness and mathematics. The one duck can't be helped out of the mud by two fish, three moose, four crickets, or even six skunks or nine snakes. However, when the whole crowd of creatures work together, "SPLUCK," the one duck escapes from the muck of the deep green marsh!

Donald Crew's Ten Black Dots is a classic counting book for developing visual number sense. As children work from his model to see how five dots are shown as buttons on a coat or portholes of a boat, the quantity of the dots remains the same. Many classrooms reinforce the point by having children make their own books using sticker dots configured as pictures.

By kindergarten and first grade, children will be ready to explore the more complex counting patterns that help them recognize odd and even and explore the way higher numbers can be composed and decomposed. One Is a Snail, Ten is a Crab: Counting by Feet by April Sayre is another delightful book that invites kids to do their own innovations. They soon discover whether you put together seven spiders and one dog, ten snails and ten people, or just three crabs, the number of feet comes to 30.

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What Kind of Counting Book? Best Elementary School Books for Math

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What Kind of Counting Book Is It? by Mary Hynes-Berry This is an Article - for grade levels 1st Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K Tagged Animals, April Pulley Sayre, Books, Donald Crews, One Duck Stuck, One is a Snail Ten is a Crab, Phyllis Root, Ten Black Dots There's nothing like a stack of attractive counting books to help young children explore number.

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Using sensory bins to support: counting, quantifying, and connecting numerals with their quantities.

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Create for students and adults in our different communities-classroom, school, sports teams

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Early childhood teachers know that hands-on learning is essential. Sensory play encourages open-ended thinking, language development, collaboration, and builds fine motor skills. Sensory materials are magically both engaging and calming.

The great thing about sensory tables and bins is that reinventing the wheel is not required. Tried-and-true materials like sand, beans, rice, and water will always delight children. But, since mixing it up is fun, too, we've gathered some of our favorite next-level sensory play ideas below. If you need even more inspo, we suggest grabbing a copy of Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids by Mandisa Watts. She's the creator of Happy Toddler Playtime (see #19) and she knows her (ooey, gooey, squishy) stuff.

Worried about kids swapping germs while they scoop and pour? Check out the end of the post for some ideas for when you need to keep sensory play extra squeaky clean.

1. Confetti and Eggs

What kiddo wouldn't go wild for an entire bin of confetti? Eggs for opening, closing, scooping, and hiding "treasure" make it extra fun.

Source: Wildly Charmed

2. Gems in Epsom Salt

Source: @secondgradethinkers

3. Colored Ice Blocks

Freeze water and food coloring into ice cube trays and any containers you have handy. (For super cool balls, freeze colored water balloons!) Add a few utensils, and play away!

Source: Fun-A-Day

4. Mini "Skating Rink"

A pan of frozen water + figurines frozen into ice cube "skates" = miniaturized skating fun!

Source: @playtime_with_imagination

5. Itsy Bitsy Spiders and a Spout

Investigate water in motion while singing the classic nursery rhyme.

Source: @playyaypreK

6. Iceberg Ahead!

Hop on! Freeze a couple of pans of water and float them in your sensory table with some Arctic animals.

Source: @ganisraelpreschoolsantamonica

7. Gourd Wash

Washing pumpkins is a preschool fall staple. Adding colored water and fun-shaped sponges definitely adds some oomph!

Source: @friendsartlab

8. Button Boats

Buttons are fun, foil and container "boats" are really fun...together, LOTS of fun!

Source: @the.life.of.an.everyday.mom

9. Floating Flower Petal Fun

Deconstruct a spent bouquet, or bring in some clippings from outside. Just add water and utensils for hours of flower-themed fun. (It's also amazing to freeze flower petals in ice cube trays or muffin tins of water!)

Source: @the_bees_knees_adelaide

10. Magic Puffing Snow

Okay, so you will need one unusual ingredient (citric acid powder) to make this Magic Puffing Snow, but it's so, so worth it. Check out the whole Fun at Home With Kids site for every other kind of slime, dough, and foam you could ever want to make, too.

Source: Fun At Home With Kids

11. Shaving Cream and Blocks

Shaving cream "glue" adds new possibilities to block play!

Source: @artreepreschool

12. Shaving Cream and Water Beads

Water beads are tons of fun on their own. When they start to get a little slimy and ready for the trash, squirt some shaving cream into your sensory table with them for one last hurrah!
Source:@letsplaylittleone
13. Birds and Nests

Tweet, tweet! Sandi at Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes is your guru for themed sensory bins. Be sure to check out her entire A to Z list.

Source: Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes

14. Rainbow Pom Pom Fun

How can you not smile when you see this colored rice sensory table with giant pompoms and cupcake liners? (No time to dye rainbow rice? Check out readymade kidfetti for a similar feel. It's even washable!)

Source: @friendsartlab

15. Hot Cocoa Bar

There are many variations of this activity across the web, but how cute and fun is this simple one? All you need are some pinto beans, mugs, spoons and cotton ball marshmallows!

Source: @luckytoteachk

16. Three Billy Goats Gruff

Trip, trap, trip, trap! Retell a favorite story with fun props. Growing Book By Book has lots more ideas for book-themed sensory tables, too.

Source: Growing Book by Book

17. Grassy Playground

Curriculum for days! Plant grass in the sensory table and play with it once it grows. Genius!

Source: @truce_teacher

18. Ramps and Chutes

Raid your recycling pile and get kids thinking out of the box about how to move sensory materials around, like with this corn chute setup!

Source: Fairy Dust Teaching

19. Acorn Drop

Add an element of mystery to your sensory bin simply by adding a cardboard box with holes on top. Drop, plop, retrieve, repeat!

Source: @happytoddlerplaytime

20. "Bake" Up a Pie

Doesn't this apple pie look good enough to eat? You could vary the pie recipe based on the season.

Source: @PreK4Fun

Tips for Keeping Sensory Play Good, Clean Fun

The only trouble with friends' little hands digging into a bin of fun is ... that's a lot of germy little hands. You can always station a bottle of hand sanitizer next to your sensory table to clean hands before and after playing. If that's not enough, here are some other strategies to try.

(Note: We definitely aren't the CDC. Please defer to any regulations or guidance put forth by your district or state!)

21. Add soap!

Move hand washing right on over to the water table. You can soap up pretty much anything in a sensory table and kids will love it, but this pumpkin potions setup is especially cool. Bubble, boil, and brew!

Source: @pocketprovision.eyfs

22. Individual Mini-Trays

Play together, separately. How cute are these individual labeled trays? (Though dollar-store lasagna pans or other budget options would work just as well!) You could periodically sanitize and trade the accessories around.

Source: @charlestownnurseryschool

23. Take Turns

Set up a table of individual sensory bins and mark each child's spot with their photo. Sanitize or quarantine the bin contents before inviting a different set of children to use them.

Source: @charlestownnurseryschool

24. Sensory Bags

Yeah, it's more fun to get your hands messy. But bags can easily be wiped down between kids, so they could be the next best thing. Plus, these may get some sensory-cautious kids to play when they otherwise wouldn't! You could go in so many directions with these seek-and-find examples.

Source: @apinchofkinder

25. Multi-Bin Table

Major props to the person who figured out this cheap and easy DIY PVC solution for a four-bin sensory table. In the classroom, you could set up a simple water play center in each bin. When one kid moves on, swap in clean water and toys, and the next kiddo is good to go!

Source: @mothercould
How do you use sensory tables in your classroom? Share your favorite sensory table ideas in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, our favorite preschool games and activities.

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Preschool Teachers, You'll Want to Try Every One of These Fun Sensory Tables

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Early childhood teachers know that hands-on learning is essential. Sensory play encourages open-ended thinking, language development, collaboration, and builds fine motor skills. Sensory materials are magically both engaging and calming. The great thing about sensory tables and bins is that reinventing the wheel is not required.

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All Are Welcome - Read Aloud Picture Book | Brightly Storytime

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0:00 / 1:22•Watch full video

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We have been loving activities that promote fine motor skills! George seems to prefer these types of activities, so we tend to do a lot of them!

To have some quick activities ready to go, I started jotting ideas to do that are great for fine motor skills. I realized they end up in just a few different categories.

Here's my categorized list of items and activities for us to use as part of another activity to work on fine motor development.

Small Objects to use in Fine Motor Activities

Objects that Strengthen Hand Muscles

Objects that Promote Hand-Eye Coordination

Objects that are good for Threading (more hand-eye coordination)

Find a list of 30 materials to use to promote fine motor skills, along with activities to do with them.

Small items that promote fine motor skills:

Pretty much any small item is great for fine motor skills. You definitely need to keep a watch on younger toddlers, or kids that like to mouth items when working with small items. But just the act of grasping the small items is great for their little fingers.

Cereal: Make a craft with them.

Pipe cleaner pieces: Push them into a spice container.

Pom poms or cotton balls: Just pick them up! Or push them into a small container.

Small containers to put things in: A number of objects can be used to push into it, including pom poms or ribbons.

Buttons: Make something out of them, or sort them by size or color.

Stickers: Create a scene with stickers. The act of removing the sticker is huge!

Toothpicks: Poke foam with it or use it to build structures.

Marshmallows or raisins: Use with toothpicks to build structures, paint with them, or make a craft with them.

Objects that build hand strength:

Items that help with hand strength, that require them to actually use their hand muscles in order to operate it.

Kitchen tongs: Pick up stuff around the house with them.

Eye droppers: Add them to a water activity or a science experiment.

Syringes: Also add these to water activities! Kids love them.

Play dough: Just let them play with it. The more they manipulate it, the more it strengthens. Here are my tips on how to make homemade play dough that is super soft!

Rubberbands: Wrap objects with a bunch of them, or make a geoboard.

Hole punch: Just punch holes in paper (kids will love that!), or include it in crafts.

Clothespins: Include them in all kinds of activities. Have the kids hang stuff up, like on a clothesline!

Tweezers: Again, use these to pick up small objects! These are smaller so it takes more coordination, but they're easier to actually squeeze.

Hand-eye coordination with small objects:

Small items that require an action using hand eye coordination. That's kind of hard to explain because hand-eye coordination activities can also include a bunch of gross motor activities. So I'm limiting it to smaller items that really require concentration to achieve whatever it is they're doing.

Cutting: Scissors and paper goes a long way. But beginners can cut straws. Something easy to just snip quick.

Screwing: Set out some jars with lids. Or nuts and bolts (we've used drawer knobs).

Pipe cleaners and colander: Just stick pipe cleaners through the holes of the colander.

Paper clips: Clip them onto papers. Use thicker construction paper.

Writing and drawing: Set up a drawing station. Pencils, crayons, markers. Or chalk at the chalkboard!

Weaving: Weave paper, weave ribbons in the clothes basket, weave sticks through the fence.

Toothpicks & marshmallows: Build structures with them.

Balancing: Building towers with blocks actually takes a lot of hand-eye coordination and gentle touch.

Threading, a subcategory of hand-eye coordination:

Threading items are a big fine motor activity. This could technically get put into the hand-eye coordination category, but I think there's enough diversity of how we can do it that I keep it separate.

Straws: Thread straws for a necklace.

Cereal, such as Cheerios: They work great to make a necklace or bracelet too.

Pasta: Thread large, straight and dry pasta onto dry spaghetti noodles! Being ever-so-careful not to snap one!

Beads: Another bracelet pleaser.

Sewing or lacing: Use lacing cards, or make your own (let them use the hole punch!), and thread strings through.

Pipe cleaners: Pipe cleaners are a great medium to thread onto for beginning threaders. They're stiff. Just be careful of the sharp ends (you can fold it over onto itself to make a dull point).

Shoestrings: Rounded shoestrings (we use the ones from our Melissa & Doug Lacing Set, affiliate link) are also a great medium for threading. The ends are 'hard' so they don't fray and get in the way.

Dry spaghetti: Like I mentioned above, thread other pastas onto the dry spaghetti.

Get the Fine Motor Go-To List printable here.

Now that we've mastered fine motor skills, let's jump to gross motor activities!

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32 Objects for Strengthening Fine Motor Skills

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We have been loving activities that promote fine motor skills! George seems to prefer these types of activities, so we tend to do a lot of them! To have some quick activities ready to go, I started jotting ideas to do that are great for fine motor skills.

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Viewing this page on your device?
Please adjust your settings to enable images!
I use small photos to illustrate the information and activities that I share, and you will have a much better experience on this website if you can view the images.

Some children have weak hands owing to lower-than-normal muscle tone, birth injuries or neuro-muscular disorders, among other reasons.

Other children have the potential for normal hand strength, but may have spent too much time playing with electronic gadgets and keyboards, thus missing out on everyday hand strengthening opportunities.

Children need exposure to a variety of gross and fine motor activities to develop good hand strength.

So, try these hand strengthening exercises to help your child! (click to jump to the exercises on this page)

Have your child crumple up sheets of newspaper or scrap paper into the smallest, tightest ball they can manage.

As their hand strength increases, so the ball will get tighter.

Make it harder by asking your child crumple the paper with just one hand at a time.

Please make sure your child cleans the hands thoroughly afterwards as newspaper ink can be harmful.

This sponge is a small one that was being used for sponge painting, but you can also let your child squeeze bath sponges, washing up sponges, or sponge balls. Use one or two hands depending on the size of the sponge.

A lovely bath-time activity!

These give hours of endless fun while strengthening hand muscles.

Have your child water the plants, spray an outside wall, or add a spray bottle to bath time fun!

If your child is able to handle a pair of scissors, give your child lots of opportunities to practice scissor cutting.

Although scissor cutting primarily works the tripod fingers, the whole hand can get stronger with scissor cutting.

Is your child struggling to cut neatly with scissors?

Do you want to teach your preschooler how to cut with scissors but don't know where to start?

My 33 page scissor skills e-book will help answer your questions, and will give you step by step photographed activities to help your child master scissor skills.

Playdough is a great medium for strengthening little hands!

Try making these dinosaur footprints (well, we thought they looked like dinosaur footprints anyway!!) to strengthen the muscles on the back of the hand as well as the inner muscles of the palm.

﻿Ideally, have each hand make its own set of footprints and crumple them up again, to help work on bilateral coordination skills at the same time!

All Of My Fine Motor Activities In One Place!

Do you want practical activities to help develop your child's fine motor skills with everyday resources?

Are you tired of lists of suggestions that don't show you HOW to do the activities?

My Fine Motor Activities E-Book contains lots of helpful information as well as more than 24 pages of photographed activities to help support your child's fine motor skills!
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Hand Exercises For Kids - Strengthen Weak Hands!

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These simple hand exercises can help make your child's hands stronger and improve fine motor skills.

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I use small photos to illustrate the information and activities that I share, and you will have a much better experience on this website if you can view the images.

If your child struggles to take part in fine motor activities, it may be because one of the "Foundations" is less "stable" or less developed than the others.

This article outlines the Four Essential Foundations for Fine Motor Development and will point you in the right direction for activities to help your child get a good foundation for fine motor development.

If your child seems to be struggling with any of these skills, please ask for a referral to a pediatric occupational therapist! This website is not a substitute for an occupational therapy evaluation and treatment!

Foundation 1: Postural Stability

When a child lacks stability in the shoulder girdle and trunk, he/she may hold the pencil really tightly to try and get more control over it, or may press really hard on the paper. You may also see tension at the shoulders during fine motor tasks.

Trying to use a pencil or scissors without adequate stability of the large shoulder girdle and trunk muscles is like trying to paint a portrait while standing on a wobbly stepladder. It takes huge amounts of effort, is extremely tiring and the results are usually lousy.

Read these pages on my site for more information on shoulder girdle and core stability, and get inspired to try some simple activities to help your child!

Foundation 2: Tactile Perception

If you are not getting good tactile (touch) feedback from your fingers, it is hard to be accurate with them!

When a child has poor touch perception, the pencil and the scissors may feel as though they are being held with rubber gloves on!

There is probably not anything wrong with the nerves in the hands, but the brain is not processing the information from the hands properly, and so fine motor development is not optimal.

Kids with poor tactile perception can sometimes be really clumsy with their hands, always dropping small items and letting things slip out of their grasp.

Sometimes they hold items with too much force, so they can "feel" it properly.

Read more about this important foundation for fine motor development and try out the activities in the pages below.

Foundation 3: Hand Function

Giving your child lots of opportunities to get the hands and fingers working together will improve hand strength and dexterity. Cutting with scissors is a really good way to help a child to develop good hand function, so be sure to include lots of scissor cutting in your child's routine!

Click on the images below to view pages on my site that are jam-packed with information and activity ideas to help promote your child's fine motor development.

Foundation 4: Bilateral Coordination

It may seem like a strange foundation for fine motor development, but if your hands don't work well together, your ability to do many fine motor tasks may be affected.

Kids who have poor bilateral coordination skills may end up avoiding those fine motor activities and thus adversely affect their skill development.

Get helpful info and activities on my bilateral coordination pages below!

Helpful Resources for Fine Motor Development

From Rattles to Writing

Fine Motor Resources from PFOT

Free Printable Fine Motor Download!

Thank you for visiting - I hope you were helped by the information on this page!

If this page was helpful, please share it with your friends!

All Of My Fine Motor Activities In One Place!

Parush, S.; Levanon-Erez, N., Weintraub, N. Ergonomic factors influencing handwriting performance. Work 11(1998) p295-305

Benbow, M. Neurokinesthetic approach to hand function and handwriting . Albuquerque: Clinician's View, 1995

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Fine Motor Development: The Essential Foundation Skills

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Viewing this page on your device? Please adjust your settings to enable images! I use small photos to illustrate the information and activities that I share, and you will have a much better experience on this website if you can view the images.

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suggested activities that parents can do at home with their child in the area of fine motor strength and coordination.

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Here are some ideas and pictures of my Preschool Sensory Table activities.

Pom Poms, Bottles, & Tongs

Children use the tongs to pick up the colored pom poms and drop them into a bottle. This activity is good fine motor practice and hand-eye coordination. The bottles in the picture are Tazo drink bottles, which I chose because the opening was not too small and not too wide. I later replaced them with clear plastic bear-shaped honey bottles since our sensory table is on a hard floor and the bottles would break if they fell.

This is my favorite sensory table to start out our year in Pre-K because it's one of the least messy!

Marbles and Melon Scoops

Children use the melon scoops to pick up marbles and put them in the ice cube tray. Children love to do this and they are practicing fine motor in a fun way. The marbles can be a little noisy, but if this bothers you, just place sheets of craft foam or a large piece of felt in the bottom of the sensory table pan to buffer the noise.

You could also use water beads for this.

Pouring Water

Children poured water into different sized containers.

Pouring Sand

Children poured sand into different sized containers. I use dustless Jurassic Sand - see resources section below for info.

Exploring Volume with Rice

Children used dry rice and colored jewels with measuring cups, funnels, and different sizes and shapes of clear glass containers.

Exploring Volume with Water

Children used water and colored jewels with measuring cups, funnels, and different sizes and shapes of clear glass containers.

Magnets in the Sensory Table

This fun science sensory table has magnetic and non-magnetic items for children to explore. Fill the sensory table with rice (or use sand). Add colorful plastic pony beads (non-magnetic), some magnetic marbles, and colored metal paper clips. Include magnet wands for each child.

(Note: These items could be a choking hazard for very young children.)

Creative Exploration (Lizards)

Children used Jurassic Sand with Tree Blocks, river rocks, and plastic lizards for creative play.

Creative Exploration (Spiders)

Children used Jurassic Sand with Tree Blocks and plastic spiders for creative play. The plastic spiders are spider rings with the ring part cut off.

Color Mixing

Children mixed primary-colored water to make secondary colors. The bucket in the middle was for dumping the water when finished, or to start over.

Turkey Basters

I added turkey basters (bought at the Dollar Tree) with a bucket of water and measuring cups. Of course, all of the water from the bucket ended up in the table, but that was okay. From that point, they squeezed up the water from the table & tried to get it all back in the bucket. Great fine motor practice & a lot of fun!

Cups With Holes & Cups Without Holes

I added two cups with holes & two without holes for the children to explore with the water. I used clear disposable punch cups & used a drafting compass to poke holes in the bottom of two of the cups. Oddly enough, the compass is one of my handiest tools in the classroom- I have used it to draw many circles & poke many holes in things. The kids enjoy drawing circles with them, too. Anyway, they LOVED this sensory table; loved making & watching the "rain".

Catching Fish

I added these foam fish from a package I purchased at a craft store, along with kitchen strainers, and two small buckets. The children enjoyed catching the fish and putting them in their bucket. When all of the fish were gone, they dumped their bucket of fish back into the water. If foam fish are unavailable, you could cut a simple fish shape from sheets of craft foam, or use any foam shape- hearts for Valentines Day, or animals for a safari theme for example.

Transferring Cocoa (Left to Right)

Children used a spoon to move cocoa from the bowl on the left to the right. The cocoa gives off a nice scent. Cinnamon and other spices can also be used.

Easy Fingerpaint

Someone donated some bottles of finger paint to our class, but we had no finger paint paper. Instead of finger painting on paper, we put it in the sensory table, and the children loved it! It's also fun to add two colors that mix well, such as blue+yellow, or red+yellow.

Be sure to have children push up their sleeves and wear a paint smock for this activity. Keep wet wipes handy. Wipe out the table as soon as center time is over, because it is harder to clean up after it has dried. Kids can help with clean up by wiping it out with wet wipes (I go behind them and disinfect the table each day, also).

Mixing Goop

Children mixed cornstarch with colored water to make "goop".

Bubbles

Children added liquid soap to water with medicine droppers and blew bubbles with a straw.

Ice Rainbows

Children explored crushed ice and colored water by adding drops of colored water to a cup of ice.

Flour & Water Mixture

Place a cup of flour, cup of water, spoon, and bowl in the sensory table for each child (I only have room for two children at our table). The children can choose the amounts of flour and water to add to their bowl and stir, experimenting to see the different consistencies they get when they add more water or more flour.

Where to find these items:

Pony Beads: Can be found in craft stores.

Magnetic Marbles: Can be purchased from school supply stores.

Magnet Wands: Can be found in fabric shops.

Resources for Your Sensory Table

Insta-Snow:

Jurassic Sand:

Jurassic Sand Website (Jurassic Sand has provided a discount code for PreKinders.com readers. Enter "PREKINDERS 10%" (with a space).

I receive a lot of questions about where I purchased the sensory table. The truth is, I rescued it from my school's storage building in pitiful condition, got rid of the bugs and frogs, soaped it down, and sprayed it with white spray paint (the kind made for plastic). Check educational supply catalogs to find similar sensory tables. Community Playthings has a nice one.

Don't miss the science resource page!

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Here are some ideas and pictures of my Preschool Sensory Table activities. Children use the tongs to pick up the colored pom poms and drop them into a bottle. This activity is good fine motor practice and hand-eye coordination.

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Do you have a dramatic play center in your classroom? Are you looking for other ideas for the center? A workshop dramatic play center could be a fun place for boys and girls to explore and play.

Dramatic Play

Offering pretend play experiences in a dramatic play center or in other areas of the classroom helps preschoolers develop social and emotional skills. Dramatic play encourages children to pretend and act out different roles. They can be the parent in charge, or the baby who needs care. They can think about the postal worker, police officer, or firefighter and the roles these community helpers play in our daily lives.

Dramatic play and pretend play encourages cooperation and the give-and-take required to be a part of a community. Children work out their different ideas and contribute in different ways to the play. They also work on independent problem solving, critical thinking, and resolving conflicts.

Workshop Dramatic Play

Providing the tools and props for a workshop dramatic play theme in your classroom will encourage children to pretend to be construction workers, carpenters, craftsmen, or other types of builders. Depending on the types of materials you provide, they could even be architects, landscapers, and other construction-related helpers.

Materials
Here are some of the materials we have used:

Toy tools and safe real tools

Tape measures, rulers, yardsticks

Small plastic levels

Plastic safety goggles

Work aprons, small tool belts

Clipboards with paper, pencils

Wooden blocks or other smooth wood pieces

For additional literacy elements and enhanced play, add house plans, construction magazines, or printouts of blueprints. Check the magazine/book section at your home improvement store or search online for plans.

Plastic jars with large nuts and bolts, plastic hard hats, wide paintbrushes, empty paint cans, and work lights or flashlights also could enhance play experiences in the workshop.

Playing in the Workshop

As children use the tools and pretend to build, talk with them about what they are doing. Engage in the play as they lead but don't interrupt or try to guide their ideas. Ask questions or wonder about things if they are interested. "I wonder how we could use this tool?" "This is a level. How do you think it works?" If children are really engaged in what they are doing, hang back and watch. Talk about what you see happening but do not feel like you must do much talking. Allow the play to naturally develop.

As children use measuring devices, you may comment on the numerals you see or say something about the length they measured. In using the magazines or plans, point out letters or words you see. Again, do this sparingly and without interrupting play.

Encourage children to draw their own plans or draw pictures of things they create with blocks or other building materials. Using pictures (and words and numbers) to communicate their ideas builds those pre-writing skills.

Expanding Workshop Play

Here are a few other ideas to expand this dramatic play experience:

Offer blue construction paper, white crayons, and rulers. Children can draw their own blueprints.

Provide sandpaper and small wood pieces. Children can sand the wood. (Plan for the sawdust that this will create.)

With close supervision, allow children to hammer nails into wood or drill holes with a hand drill. Using real tools is exciting and motivating for children.

Create a home improvement store by adding a cash register, play money, shopping carts or baskets, self-stick notes for signs and price tags, work aprons or vests, and a store sign.

This workshop dramatic play center can provide lots of learning and fun for boys and girls to explore.

BIO: Scott Wiley, an early childhood educator for over 25 years, is editor for Pre-K Pages. He blogs at Brick by Brick, exploring the connection between play and learning. Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Check out his post on using PVC pipe and connectors in the blocks or dramatic play center.

More Dramatic Play Ideas-
What's In Your Dramatic Play Center?
Pumpkin Patch Dramatic Play
Weather Dramatic Play Dress Up Center
Spider Hunt Dramatic Play Activity

Follow myDramatic Play Center Pinterest Board for more great ideas!

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Do you have a dramatic play center in your classroom? Are you looking for other ideas for the center? A workshop dramatic play center could be a fun place for boys and girls to explore and play. Offering pretend play experiences in a dramatic play center or in other areas of the classroom helps preschoolers develop social and emotional skills.

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This photo wall can be used to show your classroom community, school community, or neighborhood community.

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Corning Incorporated sponsored this blog post. The opinions, activities, and text are all mine.

We are constantly in the car on errands or running around town visiting parks and exploring the area where we live. This time of year in the San Francisco Bay area where we live it is gorgeous and we hate to sit inside when there are incredible green hills to check out or cool hiking trails to discover.

As an educator (and mom) I've found that learning is most effective for kids when they are engaged doing hands-on activities. We love to take learning to the streets and stores in our neighborhood. Lately my kids have been especially interested in taking pictures, so over the past few weeks we've been using my phone to snap photos when we are out on adventures.

Today I'm going to share a little bit about the super cool Around Town Photo Wall we made with all of the photos we've been collecting. You could also call it a photo playmat since we play with it on the ground as well!

Before the kids can use my phone I always remind them that they have to wash their hands (or wipe them off with a wipe) and I show them how to hold it so that they are able to take pictures and the phone doesn't get dropped.

One thing I love about my phone is that it is made of Corning® Gorilla® Glass. Gorilla Glass dramatically improves protection against drops... just in case kiddos happen to drop my phone while they are snapping a super cool photo of a stop sign or their favorite restaurant.

Do you ever let your kids take photos with your phone?

Here's how we created our Around Town Photo Wall...

Materials Needed:

To create:

Have you ever made a photo wall for your kids? What are their favorite places near you that they like to explore or take photos of?

Corning® Gorilla® Glass has been used on more than 3 billion devices from 40 major brands. Is it on yours? Click here to find out.

Corning Incorporated sponsored this blog post. The opinions and text and activity ideas are all mine.

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Corning Incorporated sponsored this blog post. The opinions, activities, and text are all mine. We are constantly in the car on errands or running around town visiting parks and exploring the area where we live.

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An Elephant & Piggie Book |Can I Play Too? Read Aloud For KIDS!

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A collection of Community Helpers Ideas and Activities

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A collection of Community Helpers Ideas and Activities

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Find more Community Helper Activities for Pre-K

Books

Click here for a complete list of Books about Community Helpers!

Community Large Motor Games

Stop, Drop & Roll

Paint red "flames" onto an adult size (Large or X-Large) white T-shirt. Choose a child to put on the T-shirt over their clothing and have the child practice "stop, drop, and roll". When they have gotten the pretend flames out, they take off the shirt to show that the flames are gone. Make sure each child has a turn.

Stay Low & Go

A white sheet is used for the pretend smoke. My assistant and I hold the sheet low near the floor, and the children practice "stay low and go" by crawling underneath the sheet.

Community Fine Motor Activities

Construction Workers: Play Dough Activity

Wooden craft sticks can be added to the play dough for children to construct houses and other buildings.

Children make a restaurant menu by cutting pictures of food from grocery store sale folders from the newspaper and glue the pictures onto file folders. Each child makes up a name for their restaurant, which is written on the front of the menu. These menus are used in the children's pretend play restaurants.

Bakery Shop: Create a Bakery

This activity promotes art and fine motor skills. Children made their own bakery in the classroom by making cookies, cakes, cupcakes, bread, cinnamon rolls, and other bakery foods with Model Magic. The Model Magic was painted after it dries, and the children's bakery foods were placed on display using trays. Children also made a sign for the bakery, and had a cash register with paper for writing receipts, and small bakery bags for their purchases.

Play Dough Bakery

{Fine Motor Skills}
Add bowls, spoons, plastic knives, cookie cutters, muffin tins, mini bread loaf pans, small cookie sheets, spatulas, rolling pins, and pots and pans to the play dough area. I also have a George Foreman playdough grill and a baking rack from a real toaster that were donated to me.

Community Literacy Activities

Construction Workers: Block Building

Children glue pieces of paper "blocks" onto their page to build something (house, school, skyscraper, church, etc.) The children's names and what they built are written on each page.

Post Office

This activity is a combination of literacy (writing) and math (counting pennies). A small post office is set up at the table with paper, envelopes, and stickers. A poster shows the cost of each item (pennies taped beside each item). Children have to count out the correct amount of pennies to "buy" the materials they want to use. Children "write" a letter to someone using the materials they buy.

Firefighter Stamping Game

This game can be used for literacy or math. Write a letter or numeral on each firetruck, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an "X" over the firetruck if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available. Print the Firetruck Bingo Game here.

Our Town Class Book

We make a list of places in our community. Each child chooses one place to draw and tell about. (Examples: zoo, art museum, fire station, gas station, mall, grocery store.) I include photos whenever possible. The pages are put together to make a class book. To make our class books, I use "presentation book covers" from an office supply store or Walmart. It has a sturdy plastic cover with a clear insert, and the pages are also clear inserts. I just slip in a page for the front cover, and slip in the children's pages inside. These can be reused.

Community Math Activities

Construction Workers: Block Game

Children take turns rolling the die, and counting out that amount of blocks from the pile. As they take the blocks from the pile, they construct a tower. After all the blocks are gone, we compare the towers to see whose is the tallest.

Construction Workers: Tools Grid Game

Read about about print here: Grid Games

Bakery Cookie Math

{Math, Fine Motor Skills}
Write numbers on paper circles and attach them to a cookie sheet with clear contact paper. Children make cookies with play dough, count out the correct amount of chocolate chips (brown beads), and place them on a number on the cookie sheet.

Community Science Activities

Doctor & Health Care Workers: Stethoscope Science

We use a paper cup with the bottom cut out. Children press the big end of the cup to the heart area of a friend's chest, and press an ear against the small end. (Works best if you don't hold onto the cup.)

Police Officers: Fingerprint Science

Each child's hand is traced on a sheet of paper. Children color heavily with a pencil on an index card to make a layer of graphite; they rub a fingertip on the graphite; stick clear tape on that fingertip and press; pull the tape off and stick to the finger on the hand outline. We look at the fingerprints with a magnifying glass, and talk about ways police detectives use fingerprints.

Community Cooking Activities

Bakery Shop: Make a Lemon Pie

Children pretend to be chefs. Ingredients/Materials: Mini graham cracker pie crust, whipped topping, frozen lemonade concentrate, sweetened condensed milk, spoons, disposable bowls Put one spoonful of whipped topping, one spoon of frozen lemonade concentrate, one spoon of sweetened condensed milk into a bowl, and mix. Scoop the mixture into the piecrust.

Restaurant: Make Mini Pizzas

These are made by spreading Ragu Pizza Quick sauce on an English muffin half, then adding shredded mozarella cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes (or less). You can also use a toaster.

More

Construction Worker Prop Box

Tools, Belt, Hat, Toolbox, Orange vests, Blueprints, Safety glasses

Health Care Prop Box

Doctor's or Nurse's Coat, Scrub shirt, Stethoscope, Cloth bandage wraps, X-rays, Empty medicine bottles, Shot syringes (without needle), Bandaids

Post Office Prop Box

All size envelopes, Bubble mailers, Stamps (canceled), Priority mail envelopes, Cardboard boxes, Packaging tape, Tube mailer, Mailbox, Paper, Pens

Firefighter Prop Box

{Dramatic Play Center}
Fire hats, Black boots, Oxygen tanks (made from 2 liter bottles), Raincoat, Short pieces of hose, Hand bell, First Aid kit

Police Officer Prop Box

{Dramatic Play Center}
Walkie-talkies, Blue shirts, Notepads, Pens, Badge, Hat

Doctor Foster Nursery Rhyme

Doctor Foster
Went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again!
Note: Gloucester is a two-syllable word (Glouce-ster), and is pronounced "Gloster", rhyming with Foster.

Bakery Prop Box

{Dramatic Play Center}
Rolling pins, Aprons, Oven mitts, Cupcake tins, Cake pans, Mixing bowls, Hand held manual mixers, Measuring cups, Cookie sheets, Paper cupcake cups, Measuring spoons, Spatulas, Wooden mixing spoons, Dishcloths, Towels, Empty food containers, Empty milk cartons

Restaurant Prop Box

{Dramatic Play Center}
Menus, Table cloth, Serving plate, Cloth napkins, Silverware, Dishes, Aprons, Play food, Notepads, Pens, Silk flower centerpieces, Play credit cards, Play checks, Chef hat, Place mats, Serving tray

Find more Community Helper Activities for Pre-K

Rhymes

Nursery rhymes that go well with a community helpers theme:

Doctor Foster Nursery Rhyme

Doctor Foster
Went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again!
Note: Gloucester is a two-syllable word (Glouce-ster), and is pronounced "Gloster", rhyming with Foster.

Look for a printable poster of Rub a Dub Dub on the Nursery Rhymes Page.

Songs

Doughnut Shop: traditional song

Brush Your Teeth, by Raffi on the "Singable Songs" CD: Download on Amazon

World Family, by Dr. Jean on the "Kiss Your Brain" CD

Doin' Good in the Neighborhood, by Jack Hartmann on the "Colors All Around" CD

Resources

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Find more Community Helper Activities for Pre-K Click here for a complete list of Books about Community Helpers! Community Large Motor Games Paint red "flames" onto an adult size (Large or X-Large) white T-shirt. Choose a child to put on the T-shirt over their clothing and have the child practice "stop, drop, and roll".

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A Community Helper theme teaches students about all the people who live and work in their neighborhood. There are so many fun community helpers activities you can do with preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten kiddos. You can sneak in tons of learning experiences, too!

These are my go-to, favorite community helpers activities I do with my kiddos. Don't forget to grab the FREEBIES later in this post!
Grab the FREEBIE by entering your email in the box at the bottom of this post . This post contains affiliate links which means I earn a tiny commission when you use my links at no cost to you.
Community Helpers Activities

Community Helper Puzzle

To start the theme, we did this community helper puzzle! Students have to match the tools and/or vehicles to each community helper.

Community Helper Books

We filled the bookshelf with tons of fiction and non-fiction community helper books. Check out my favorites in the Community Helper Booklist post.

The kiddos went crazy for our community helper word cards in the writing center. They were talking, writing, and drawing all about different community helpers. It also sparked conversations about what they wanted to be when they grew up!
>>Grab the FREEBIE by entering your email in the box at the bottom of this blog post!<<
Community Helpers Activities for the Blocks Center

I like to give students an opportunity to build their own communities. On the wall, I posted some STEM I Can Build Posters to give students a visual of what various community buildings looked like. I also put out wooden vehicles, community signs, and sign books.

To make the signs, just print, laminate, and tape to a block. I used Jenga blocks.I taped road tape to the floor too! Check out the community my preschoolers created!

Community Maps

For a small group, students created community maps with paper squares (to represent buildings) and a white crayon (to represent roads).

Community Helpers Activities Number Mats

My kiddos LOVE number mats, so I created these Community Helper Number Mats with community vehicles. Students count the number of vehicles, trace the number, and build the ten frames with play dough (or you can use counters). I used play dough to sneak in some extra fine motor work.

Mail Measure

Students LOVE envelopes, making mail, and getting mail! This Mail Measure definitely sparked their interest! Students measured how long each item was, then sorted it by size, just like real postal workers do! I added in a few real envelopes for students to measure and sort as well.

Fire Sensory Writing

Learning how to write all the letters is HARD, so make it fun with these fire sensory writing bags! Just squirt some red, orange, and yellow paint in a baggie and tape it shut. Then, students pick a fire letter and write it on the baggie with their finger or a q tip.

You can also build and write names or sight words with the fire letters, then write them on the fire baggie!
>>Grab the FREEBIE by entering your email in the box at the bottom of this blog post!<<
Fire Finger Painting

Another way to sneak in fine motor work is with finger painting! Learn about firefighters and create fire finger paintings with red, yellow, and orange paint.

Hammer the Letters

One of my students' favorite community helpers are construction workers, so I wanted to create an activity using construction worker tools. I wrote letters (you can do numbers or shapes, too) on thick cardboard, and students hammered golf tees (aka nails) on the letters. They LOVED this activity and played it over and over again during center time!

Letter Soup

We read a book about chefs and made letter soup as a follow-up activity! Students rolled a color dice and picked a matching veggie counter or magnet letter! Simple, but a ton of fun! Students were talking all about letter names and sounds, too!

Anytime I can have an opportunity to teach kiddos about being healthy, I do! I did a few activities about dentists and the tools to keep our teeth healthy. To play Dirty Tooth, students rolled a die and counted out the coordinating number of food (aka pom poms). When the tooth was dirty, they brushed it clean with a real toothbrush.

Some of my pre-k kiddos rolled two dice, added the dots, and counted out the total.

X-Ray Play Dough Tray

Dentists, doctors, and veterinarians all use X-rays, so I thought an X-ray play dough tray was perfect for our community helper theme! I put out people's (aka gingerbread) cookie cutters, hand cookie cutters, dog cookie cutters, and block play dough. I also put out white pipe cleaners (aka bones)! Students LOVED exercising those little muscles to create their play dough x-rays!

Community Helpers Activities Vet Graph

Little learners can collect data and report their findings in super simple ways like this Vet Graph! Students counted and covered each item and represented the total on the graph using bingo chips. Once all the data was collected, and counters are placed on the graph, students can compare the quantities (more, less, equal too).

Garbage Sensory Bin & Science Table

I think every student in my class is fascinated by garbage and recycling trucks! They are so big and smash all the trash. For the sensory table, I put in paper pet bedding (the garbage) from Walmart, garbage trucks, recycling trucks, tweezers, trash and recycling bins, and tissue squares.

Students used the tweezers to collect the trash and smashed it into the bins!

Teach students all about the impact trash can have on the environment and how to recycle at the science table. Make pollution sensory bottles, sort different types of recycling, and try to clean up litter. Grab my All about Recycling and Trash science unit HERE from my TPT store for all the printables, activities, read-aloud, journal pages, parent notes, and more.

Recycle Cutting Collage

To build on the recycling theme, students made a cutting collage with newspapers. I cut the newspaper into strips and placed dot markers on the table. Students cut the newspaper strips up and glued them to the paper. Lastly, they dotted their collage with the dot markers.

There are so many options for the dramatic play center when you do a Community Helper theme. Try a Fire Station! It's a ton of fun, and kiddos can learn all about how to be safe in an emergency! Read all about my Fire Station and my favorite tricks to make some DIY firefighter props.

Do you want ALL the Community Helpers activities and printables (plus a ton more)? Grab my Community Helper Math and Literacy Centers pack HERE from my TPT store. I created all the activities for you, so all you have to do is print and prep!

Want to see the community helpers activities in action? Check out the video.

Love these community helpers activities? Pin this image!

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Community Helpers Activities and Centers for Preschool and Kindergarten - Pocket of Preschool

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Community Helpers activities and centers for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. Plus FREE community signs & fire finger painting printable.

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6 Ways to Help Children Learn Reading Through Name Charts

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A name is very powerful. It is often the first example of a written word a child sees. Name charts can help children learn their own names and the letters in the names of their friends, notice that names begin with an uppercase letter, and make connections to other words that have the same first letter or similar word parts.

Here are six ideas for quick games you can play using a name chart:

1. Read the names in a shared way as you use a pointer to point to each (in order or randomly).

2. Have children line up, quickly touch their own names when they come to the chart, and then sit down.

3. "I'm thinking of someone who has a name that begins with M. Who can come up and find it?"

4. Deal out cards or slips of paper on which children's names are written. Call the names in alphabetical order. The child who has the name you called puts it in a pocket chart.

5. Place a set of name cards at the word study center. Have the children sort the names by first letter or match pairs of name cards.

6. Clap each name and have children tell the number of syllables they hear.

From When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (c) 2009 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.

Tue, May 23, '17

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6 Ways to Help Children Learn Reading through Name Charts

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A name is very powerful. It is often the first example of a written word a child sees. Name charts can help children learn their own names and the letters in the names of their friends, notice that names begin with an uppercase letter, and make connections to other words that have the same first letter or similar word parts.

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Creating class books to celebrate our differences and diverse communities we belong to

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What ideas from this site align with inquiry based learning?

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Literacy center set-up ideas and pictures for your Preschool, Pre-K, or Kindergarten classroom.

ABC Literacy Center Set Up

How to set up a literacy or ABC center in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom. Literacy center ideas and activities for teaching letter recognition and the alphabet.

What do you put in your literacy center?

The tools and toys in your literacy center should be those that the children are familiar with and which you have introduced during small group activities. This will ensure that your students know how to use the materials in your literacy center properly.

Literacy Center Learning Materials

The materials you select to include in your literacy center should be very engaging and fun for your young learners. Pictured above you can see two of the most popular alphabet toys in our literacy center, the alphabet cars and roads and the Alphabots.

The two toys pictured above are also super popular in every preschool classroom; the Alphabet Puppy Chow activity and the alphabet fishing game.

These letter builders and large alphabet lacing beads are also very popular in the preschool classroom.

Books in the Literacy Center

Of course, books are an important part of every center in the preschool classroom. Here I have some of the alphabet books the children are familiar with available for reading or reference when they are in the center interacting with the materials. You can find a list of my favorite alphabet books here.

Do you change out the items in your literacy center?

Yes, I change out some of the items according to the students interests and ability levels. As the children mature during the school year you can add new materials to challenge your little learners, and remove those which they have outgrown.

The magnetic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree pictured above is one of the items that holds the children's interest all year long. In the beginning of the year they enjoy retelling the story and putting up the first letters in their names. As the year goes on, they begin to spell their entire names, names of their friends, and sometimes even simple words on the tree.

Click HERE to find the full instructions for making your own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree, plus download a free printable recording sheet.

Alphabet Puppy Chow Game

Another super popular alphabet activity is this "Feed the Dog" game.

Click HERE to find the full instructions for making your own feed the dog activity, plus download a free printable recording sheet.

Best Tools for Learning the Alphabet

Here are some of the most popular materials and those that children enjoy using in the literacy center over and over again.

Alphabet I-Spy Bottles: Read the tutorial for creating your own I-spy bottles HERE.

ABC Center Sign: Learn about the benefits of using center signs HERE.

More Center Ideas from Pre-K Pages

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Pre-K Literacy | ABC Center | Alphabet | Preschool

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Literacy center set-up ideas and pictures for your Preschool, Pre-K, or Kindergarten classroom. How to set up a literacy or ABC center in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom. Literacy center ideas and activities for teaching letter recognition and the alphabet.

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Travel through the community and enjoy a fun read-aloud with this book activity celebrating a variation of The Wheels on the Bus. This book and activity would work well with a theme or focus on school, transportation, neighborhoods and communities, or for beginning of the school year.

The Wheels on the Uh-Oh! Literacy Activity

The skills covered in this activity include:

listening responsively to a book

identifying and sequencing story details

retelling a story

recognizing environmental print

The Book: The Wheels on the Uh-Oh!
Gather the students together and show them the front of the book, The Wheels on the Uh-Oh! Read the title and ask the students what might happen if there was an "uh-oh" with the bus. Ideas may include running out of gas, the bus gets lost, or there is a flat tire. Encourage the preschoolers to think and list different types of "uh-ohs."

Ask the students to listen for the "uh-oh" moment and to touch their ear when they know it. Begin to read the story to the children stopping and acknowledging the "uh-oh" moment. Then continue to read for pure enjoyment. Throughout the week, you can reread the book several times to work on different literacy skills such as sequencing, alliteration, and cause and effect.

On one repeated reading, you can emphasize sequencing and let the students tell you the order of events in the story.

During another reading of the book, focus on alliteration in the story. Take a few phrases from the story such as "click, clack, click" and "grumble, grumble, groan" emphasizing the beginning sound of each word. Invite the students to name other words with the same beginning sounds.

Around the Town Community Activity
Materials Needed

The Wheels on the Uh-Oh! book by Sue Tarsky

Poster board, white sheet, or plastic shower curtain liner

Permanent markers

Toy cars, trucks, and buses

The kids will enjoy playing this activity with a partner or small group. Add the activity to the block area or dramatic play area.

Setting Up the Activity
Create your town map for the activity on a piece of poster board, white sheet, or a shower curtain liner. Add landmarks from your community to the map and lots of roads.

Gather a variety of toy cars, a bus, construction vehicles, and any loose tires from broken vehicles. Add our environmental print road signs to bump up the literacy value of the activity.

Starting the Activity
Gather the kids and describe the resources you have for the students to explore.

Invite the students to retell the Wheels on the Uh-Oh! using the props. Also, invite the students to describe their travels as they play and move the vehicles through the town.

Variations and Modifications

1. Add a dot sticker labeled with a letter to each vehicle to add a little alphabet practice into the play.

2. Tape pictures of local restaurants or other business signs onto blocks or boxes and include those in the play to work on strengthening environmental print. Preschoolers can use these signs as billboards or buildings.

3. Include books with other variations of the Wheels on the Bus for the students to enjoy. Compare and contrast the different versions. Or read other books about buses.

4. Visit the area where the students are working and describe their play using descriptive language to build their vocabulary. For example, "I see you are driving your car north on Park St."

BIO: Jodie is the creator of Growing Book by Book. She believes that we can meet the needs of all our growing readers. She guides you through developmentally appropriate book lists, reading activities, circle time ideas and literacy-building tips for young children. Check out her Book Activities for your favorite pre-k titles. You can also connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.

Activities Related to Community Helpers

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All Around the Community Literacy and Map Activity - Pre-K Pages

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Travel through the community and enjoy a fun read-aloud with this book activity celebrating a variation of The Wheels on the Bus. This book and activity would work well with a theme or focus on school, transportation, neighborhoods and communities, or for beginning of the school year.

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A name is very powerful. It is often the first example of a written word a child sees. Name charts can help children learn their own names and the letters in the names of their friends, notice that names begin with an uppercase letter, and make connections to other words that have the same first letter or similar word parts.

Here are six ideas for quick games you can play using a name chart:

1. Read the names in a shared way as you use a pointer to point to each (in order or randomly).

2. Have children line up, quickly touch their own names when they come to the chart, and then sit down.

3. "I'm thinking of someone who has a name that begins with M. Who can come up and find it?"

4. Deal out cards or slips of paper on which children's names are written. Call the names in alphabetical order. The child who has the name you called puts it in a pocket chart.

5. Place a set of name cards at the word study center. Have the children sort the names by first letter or match pairs of name cards.

6. Clap each name and have children tell the number of syllables they hear.

From When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (c) 2009 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.

Tue, May 23, '17

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6 Ways to Help Children Learn Reading through Name Charts

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A name is very powerful. It is often the first example of a written word a child sees. Name charts can help children learn their own names and the letters in the names of their friends, notice that names begin with an uppercase letter, and make connections to other words that have the same first letter or similar word parts.

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Lean into opportunities for authentic student writing - Photo from https://www.kristimraz.com/2018/08/22/kids-first-from-day-life-after-clip-charts/

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With the start of the school year in mid-August, the kids and I began diving in earnest into our geography lessons. We started with a series of activities to learn about maps and directionality. The Montessori mapping activities I'm sharing in this post come mostly from our KHT Montessori geography album. (I received the album when I took KHT Montessori's online training course, but as of this writing you can get a free copy of the geography album if you sign up for Deb Chitwood's newsletter at Living Montessori Now.)

All of the Montessori mapping activities below were designed to introduce my children to what maps are, what maps are used for, the symbols on maps, and how to use a map. We also read a number of books about maps and globes during the days we were doing these mapping activities, and those books really complemented the activities I share below.
Note: You can find more kid-friendly geography activities on my geography unit study page.
Primitive map drawing

The goal of this activity was to introduce my kids to maps, and more specifically, to introduce them to the fact that maps use symbols to represent real objects.

I prepared the activity by creating a control sheet showing symbols that included a moon, mountains, tree, river, and teepees. I presented the control sheet to my kids along with a tray filled with yellow craft sand. (The picture below shows the images already drawn in the sand, but the sand was a blank slate when I presented the tray to my kids.)

I showed my kids how to use their fingers to draw symbols in the sand. And then I gave them an opportunity to draw symbols as well. QBoy really loved this activity. It was easy to "erase" his primitive map with just a simple shake of the tray so he could draw the symbols over and over again.

Mapping a place setting

This goal of this next activity in which we mapped a place setting was to help my kids understand that maps represent real places, and they tell us where things go. To do this activity, I put two sheets of poster board on the table (one for each kid) and then invited my kids into the kitchen.

I then asked the kids to get out everything they would need for a meal and to set the table accordingly. (This was also a great opportunity to reinforce where everything goes in a place setting!) They set everything on top of the poster board.

I then invited them to use a pencil to trace around all of the objects on their poster boards to show where each item goes.

When they finished, they were so excited to have a map of their place setting. They wanted to use their maps as placemats for the next meal. 🙂

Mapping a room

After mapping a place setting, I thought they were ready to tackle a more challenging mapping assignment - mapping their room! My kids share a room, so one day I walked in their room with them and sat down with pencil and piece of paper. I asked them to observe while I drew a map of their room. I included their beds, their desks, their dresser, their closet, their windows, and their book basket. I then labeled the map "QBoy and XGirl's room" and drew a simple key to say what the objects were.

After I finished mapping their room, I invited them to make their own maps. Here is a picture of XGirl's finished map. It wasn't drawn to scale, but she did a great job of including all of the elements that make up her room! And since every map needs a title, she even labeled it "My room."

Drawing maps of anything and everything

During our pirate unit, which coincided with our geography unit, we read the book How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long. In the story, a young boy helps a band of pirates bury some treasure in his backyard. He then draws up a map of his backyard to show the pirates where the treasure is buried.

My kids got really excited about maps during this unit, so XGirl took it upon herself one day to recreate the map from the book. I thought she did an excellent job representing all of the objects from the map in the book. She even drew a very basic compass rose at the bottom.

This was just one of many random maps my kids drew during this time. It seemed like every time I turned around they had drawn another map from a book or from their imagination.

Go on a treasure hunt

For this next activity, I created a map of our entire house, including the kitchen, living room, dining room, bedrooms, and bathrooms. I included virtually all the big pieces of furniture on the map (e.g., tables, chairs, beds). (If your kids are younger or are simply not ready, I would suggest doing a map of just one room rather than a whole house.)

After preparing the map, I created a small 'X' on the sticky part of a sticky note pad, and cut it to size so I just had a small 'X' on a piece of paper about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch square. I set up the activity by hiding two pieces of "pirate gold" somewhere in the house. Then I invited the kids to come see the map.

QBoy shocked me by immediately recognizing the map as being a map of our house. XGirl needed a bit more orientation, but it wasn't long before she too understood what each item on the map represented.

I then placed the 'X' on the map to show where I had hidden the "treasure," and I sent my kids off in search of the pirate gold.

After they found the treasure, I hid more treasure in a new spot and moved the 'X' on my map accordingly. After my kids took several turns finding the treasure I had hidden, I gave them a chance to hide the treasure and mark the spot on the map for me to find. They loved, , this activity!

Make a map of our street

The last mapping activity we did - at least for the time being - was to make a map of our street. One morning my kids and I all went outside with a pencil, a sheet of paper, and a clipboard. We worked together to make a map of our street, focusing just on the few houses on either side of our house on both sides of the street.

Here is XGirl's map of our street. She was adamant about including the key at the top to explain what the symbols meant, which was really cute. 🙂

More geography resources

More geography posts from Gift of Curiosity:
You can find more kid-friendly geography activities on my geography unit study page and my Geography Activities for Kids Pinterest Board. Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity's board Geography activities for kids on Pinterest.
Products mentioned in this post:

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Montessori mapping activities for introducing geography

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With the start of the school year in mid-August, the kids and I began diving in earnest into our geography lessons. We started with a series of activities to learn about maps and directionality. The Montessori mapping activities I'm sharing in this post come mostly from our KHT Montessori geography album.

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Games that teach numeracy, subitizing, equivalency

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Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative

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Jugando juegos de cartas conocidos o fáciles de aprender ayuda a los niños pequeños a entender conceptos de matemáticas temprana como la cardinalidad, la composición y descomposición de cantidades y la comparación de las cantidades representadas por los números.

Usando cartas que representan la cantidad con imágenes en vez de números escritos, permite que los niños pongan más atención a la numerosidad y también agrega novedad a los juegos clásicos como Pesca o Memoria.

¿Por qué son tan importantes las cartas de cantidad?

Las cartas de cantidad tienen imágenes de pequeños conjuntos del 1 al 10 en puntos, patrones de dedos y marcos de 5 y 10 . Las cartas de cantidad obligan a los niños a que miren la imagen y digan cuántos "ven". Al poner atención a la numerosidad, los niños desarrollan la habilidad de subitizar. O sea, los niños verán instantáneamente una pequeña cantidad y la etiquetarán con una palabra numérica. La mayoría de los preescolares reconocerán tres dedos sin contar, "uno, dos, tres".

Emparejar cantidades iguales ya sea con puntos o con dedos desarrolla conceptos de equivalencia. Aunque una carta con tres puntos y otra con tres dedos se ven muy diferentes, -son iguales en un aspecto importante: su numerosidad. El reconocimiento de que a pesar de que las imágenes de la misma cantidad se ven diferentes, en realidad, la cantidad es equivalente es muy importante. Para ver esta equivalencia los niños deben de abstraer el atributo de cantidad que no es necesariamente intuitivo. Esta idea tan importante no se puede enseñar directamente es algo que los niños construyen mentalmente a través de muchas experiencias. Lo bueno es que al jugar juegos de mesa con las cartas los niños van desarrollando este concepto de una forma divertida.

¿Quién puede jugar estos juegos?

Estos juegos son para todas las edades. Aunque los números sólo llegan al 10, el uso de diferentes representaciones de las cantidades ayuda a niños y adultos a pensar y hablar. Mira este video de una madre y su hijo jugando juntos el juego "Guerritas". Además de las risas, escucharás mucha plática de matemáticas que es natural y muy juguetona.

¿Cómo empezar?

Para empezar a jugar con tu hijo de edad preescolar o de kindergarten, primero imprime nuestras cartas de cantidad en papel grueso y córtalas para hacer un paquete de 20 cartas; ve el enlace abajo.

O haz tus propias cartas con cartulina y calcomanías, estampillas de puntos o dibujando puntitos. Puedes experimentar con diferentes arreglos de puntos - patrones de dados, figuras geométricas y líneas. Usa nuestra tabla de patrones con puntos que te dará diferentes ideas. Puedes usar puntos de dos colores, para ayudar a los niños a ver subgrupos dentro de una cantidad mayor, por ejemplo, dos puntos azules y dos rojos que componen un conjunto de cuatro puntos. Tener una variedad de combinaciones refuerza la habilidad de los niños para visualizar los números en sus mentes.

Diviértanse jugando su juego favorito como Pescar o Memoria usando las cartas de cantidad. O prueba uno de nuestros juegos, como Guerritas. Lo más importante es observar y escuchar a los niños al jugar. Encontrarás que hay mucho de qué hablar cuando el enfoque de los juegos de matemática temprana es en el reconocimiento, la composición y la comparación de cantidades.

Download

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Playing Card Games with a New Focus | Early Math Collaborative

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Jugando juegos de cartas conocidos o fáciles de aprender ayuda a los niños pequeños a entender conceptos de matemáticas temprana como la cardinalidad, la composición y descomposición de cantidades y la comparación de las cantidades representadas por los números.

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Close your eyes and imagine what a simple stick on the forest floor can become:

A stick, or any material that can be moved and manipulated, is considered "loose parts," a term introduced in 1971 by the architect Simon Nicholson and adapted in modern early childhood education.

Unlike traditional parks and playgrounds in which the structure and environment are static, loose parts engage children's natural creativity and encourage them to invent, problem solve, and construct the world around them. Natural environments like forests and beaches often provide significantly more loose parts than man-made structures, and a simple stick, as mentioned above, offers limitless possibilities.

In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it."

-Simon Nicholson

How to get started

The simplest way to play with loose parts is to get outside! Nature provides an abundant supply of materials for each of the senses to explore free of charge. Start your collection with sticks, pinecones, rocks, seashells, acorns, bark, and fallen leaves. Note: only take what is available on the forest floor or trail.

Next, gather everyday items in bulk to add to your loose parts supply. Ideas include:

Tubes made from cardboard, concrete forms, plastic piping, dowels, stakes, or old playground slides

Wheels like tires and inner tubes, bicycle wheels, or wire spools (from the small ones your electrician might purchase, up to the larger ones that electrical utility companies use)

Rope of various weights; string, duct tape and nails, pegs, fishing nets, heavy netting, fabric and carpets (landscape fabric also works to keep small pieces from getting lost in the grass)

Cardboard boxes, suitcases, or heavy duty stackable crates

Wood, both planks (for see-saws and ramps) and smaller wood pieces (for stacking or construction)

Costume pieces like hats, capes, goofy glasses and other accessories, or items like garbage pail lids (they make great superhero shields!)

Electronics and keyboards because these are usually off-limits to kids and they love to disassemble them and reconfigure them into things like robots

Kitchen items for a mud or dry kitchen centre could include a bowl or basin for a sink, as well as rolling pins, sieves, cookie cutters and moulds, muffin tins, and metal dishes (bowls, platters, trays, pitchers)

Tools like scissors, hammers, mallets, or even saws (depending on the age of the children, of course)

Natural pieces such as wicker baskets, large bark mulch, tree slices, tree stumps, pebbles, cones

Growing your loose parts collection doesn't have to be costly. Engaging your community, nearby businesses, and online parent networks is an environmentally responsible way of collecting and reflecting the local culture. Even recycled materials make for imaginative play. Items like corks, lids, paper towel rolls, and bottle caps enhance a collection.

If you're worried about the mess that loose parts can leave, use various containers to organize and store materials. Recycled egg cartons, ice cube trays, and utensil holders double as storage and sorting bins. Plus, rotating loose parts in and out of play keeps children interested without becoming overwhelmed by choice.

How to use loose parts

This is where the fun begins! With loose parts, children have the freedom to choose what each item will be and how it will function, developing skills as they play. The role of the adult is to observe and reflect with the child, following their lead and ensuring their safety. Preparing and organizing a variety of appealing spaces for children to explore loose parts sparks their interest and enhances their experience. For a great introduction to the facilitation and benefits of loose parts play, visit your local early-years centre.

Why loose parts?

There are many studied benefits of playing with loose parts, including:

increased physical activity

more symbolic and imaginative play

improved cooperation and communication with others

problem-solving and mathematical thinking

emotional advantages of playing in nature

Not to mention, the affordable advantages of loose parts over modern toys. Now think back to the simple stick on the forest floor. Inspired yet? Share with us your collection of loose parts and how you're playing today.

For more, this resource provides a detailed description and toolkit regarding loose parts.

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What can you do with a stick, or cardboard, or old buttons? Lots! Learn how to build your loose parts collection to engage children's natural creativity and encourage them to invent, problem solve, and construct the world around them.

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Dramatic play is an integral part of early childhood. This post office pretend play is perfect for a classroom teacher to change up this center for a community helpers theme or for anytime play at home with your preschoolers!

It provides plenty of opportunities for authentic pre-reading, writing, and fine motor practice as well as fun.

Why Is Dramatic Play Important?

Dramatic play encourages children to put themselves in other people's shoes by acting out and becoming someone else. It helps to build empathy.

They will learn important social skills and helps with language development.

Delivering Mail Dramatic Play

You will need:

The first step in opening your post office is to read some books about the topic, you can find a list of our favorite post office read-alouds here.

Then, show your children the Open/Closed sign! We glued our signs back to back and punched a hole in the top so the preschoolers can switch the sign easily at the beginning and end of their day.

Prompt the children with a few post office jobs. Our kids enjoyed sorting the package labels, cutting the stamps out themselves, and writing the hours that the post office was open on the sign. (Read more about How to Teach Scissor Skills here!)

We just slipped the Post Office Hours sheet into a reusable clear sleeve, but you could also choose to laminate it. This way children are working on pre-writing, cutting, and math skills while they play!

Post Office Play

We added a ruler so our preschoolers could measure the boxes and classify them as large, medium, or small. They really enjoyed writing and gluing the labels to the boxes. You could attach a clear plastic pocket to the boxes to reuse the materials year after year!

A favorite idea that we included was a Do-a-Dot Stamp Marker so the children could pretend they were postmarking the envelopes over the stamp. Bring in a real piece of mail to demonstrate how this aspect of our postal system works.

Include pencils, pens, and paper for lots of writing opportunities. Collect junk mail and old magazines for additional mail materials. Add postcards with pictures of different locations; or make postcards by printing photos or clip art onto heavyweight paper and cutting into rectangles.

Place shoe boxes or magazine boxes in different locations of the room. Children can deliver mail around the room to these "mailboxes."

Read books about the post office and mail delivery. Your preschoolers may have more ideas about what can be added this dramatic play center.

Our children loved the post office we created with the props from the Post Office Dramatic Play Kit!

More Dramatic Play Activities

Dramatic Play Center Books for Preschool - Do your little learners love to play in the dramatic play center? Pretend play is an important part of every early childhood classroom. To enhance literacy in your dramatic play center you can add some picture books. Here's a list of my favorite books to keep in the dramatic play center.

Pretend Smores for Dramatic Play Camping Theme - A camping theme in the dramatic play center is perfect for late spring or summer. Young children are fascinated by nature, you can easily harness their natural interests and include a pretend play camping center in your classroom.

Dinosaur Dig Dramatic Play Preview - Do you struggle to find time to change out the props in your dramatic play center? These printable props will help you easily transform your dramatic play center into a fun dinosaur dig site.

BIO: Devany LeDrew writes at Still Playing School where she shares intentionally planned play based learning activities. Follow Still Playing School on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!

More Dramatic Play Ideas:

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Delivering Mail Dramatic Play - Pre-K Pages

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Dramatic play is an integral part of early childhood. This post office pretend play is perfect for a classroom teacher to change up this center for a community helpers theme or for anytime play at home with your preschoolers! It provides plenty of opportunities for authentic pre-reading, writing, and fine motor practice as well as fun.

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Song Read-Along

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We All Go Travelling By (UK) | Barefoot Books Singalong

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Using read aloud text to set the stage for mathematical problem solving

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Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative

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People Sort - Elementary School Math Games and Lessons

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Children sort and re-sort each other based on various attributes. Just one of many elementary school math games and lessons that includes foundational math.

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Using student photos as counting manipulatives or for sorting/comparing.

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Over the course of the last few months, I've received many emails asking me to post the evolution of a class project.

I'm sharing this one in hopes that it helps those who are struggling with finding their path.

I must stress that this is only our way of working and it should be used as a guideline if it fits your practice.

Most school years, project topics present themselves quite readily. However this year, there hasn't been much buzz about one particular area of interest. There are many smaller experiences floating about as well as our work on the changes in the season and all that it presents.

We decided that a provocation was needed so we decided to see if we could somehow expand our inquiry into what makes each of us unique. The children had already made their portraits and addressed what makes them special.

We considered the possibility of inviting the children to consider how each of them fit into their community.

Communities are made up of individuals all working for a common purpose. Each person brings their own talents and skills to the table.

However, before we could delve into the work we would first have to see WHAT their understanding of community was.

WHAT is a community?

As expected the children offered the physical aspects of a community.

It's where we live.

It's the places we go, church, school, grocery store, community centre, daycare...

This was our launching point.

The entire classroom was cleared of furniture and the children were invited to create the places that make up our community.

You will notice that I have highlighted the WHAT. This is the first part of your work as a teacher.

What is the topic choice?

What do the children know?

This will lead into the SO WHAT

Now that you have a topic you must validate the choice you have made.

So what will you do with the choice.

So what comes next?

If you can validate the WHAT with the SO WHAT your project will take off.

Had the children not responded to the teacher's invitation, this project would not have taken flight.

To enhance their structures, we added drawings onto the overhead projector.

Finding the space for all their ideas is challenging and this is a great way to boost the work!

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Over the course of the last few months, I've received many emails asking me to post the evolution of a class project. I'm sharing this one in hopes that it helps those who are struggling with finding their path.

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Using map for counting mats.

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Community Helpers Math Activities for Preschool

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Community Helpers Math Activities for Preschool

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Do you teach a community helpers theme in your preschool or pre-k classroom? You can help your kids celebrate all the different types of work that people do by extending the learning into your community helpers math center activities.

As your kids participate in these fun, hands-on community helpers math center activities around a common theme, they will begin to develop important math skills that will help them build a solid foundation for future math success.

Community Helper Math Activities

Your kids are going to love these fun, hands-on community helpers activities and games that will help them develop number sense and build important math skills like counting, one-to-one correspondence, numeral recognition and more!

Here are just some of the helpers you might want to include in your community helpers preschool theme:

Construction workers

Librarian

Teacher

Custodian

Sanitation worker (garbage truck)

Veterinarian

Doctor

Dentist

Mail Carrier/Postal Worker

Fire Fighter

Doctor

Farmer

Community Helpers Graph

Are your kids learning about the concept of more and less? Here's a community helpers activity that will provide your students with a fun way to collect and record data! Students will enjoy rolling the cube and recording their rolls on the recording sheet. This printable activity is available in the Community Helper Math Packet.

Counting Book

Are your kids learning how to count to 5 and recognize numerals? This easy to assemble community helpers printable book helps reinforce number sense, numeral identification, and counting; it's available in the Community helper Math Packet.

Community Helpers Patterns

Help your students develop logical thought and reasoning skills with this patterning activity available in the Community Helper Math Packet.

Races Games

Are your kids learning how to count with one-to-one correspondence? This fun community helper races game will help build number sense and one to one correspondence skills. Students will roll a die and move their playing piece towards the hospital. You can find this activity in the Community Helper Math Packet.

Board Game

Here's a fun board game that supports the development of number sense and one-to-one correspondence skills. Can you help the police officer get to the station? This printable board game is located in the Community Helper Math Packet.

Play Dough Counting Mats

Do your kids love to play with play dough? They'll have a blast counting and loading trash bags on the garbage truck with this fun play dough math activity! The Community Helper Play Dough Counting Mats are available in the community helper Math Packet.

Number Identification Game

Are your kids learning how to identify numerals? This is a super fun game that can be played using numbers 0-10 or numbers 0-20 depending on your student's ability levels. The playing cards are available in black and white and color for your convenience. Also included are two printable recording sheets in black and white, one for each version of the game. This game is available in the Community Helper Math Packet.

Numeral Quantity Game

This is the ultimate number sense game! Invite your kids to identify the numeral on their wheel, and then match the cards with the correct quantity to the wheel. This game is available in the Community Helper Math Packet.

Community Helpers Books

Oh, and you're going to want some good community helpers books to read aloud to your kids! Don't worry, I've got your back, you can find a huge list of age-appropriate community helper books for preschool HERE.
More Community Helper Resources

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Community Helpers Math Activities for Preschool

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Do you teach a community helpers theme in your preschool or pre-k classroom? You can help your kids celebrate all the different types of work that people do by extending the learning into your community helpers math center activities.

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Let's discuss the "So What"

It is here that teacher's must think deeply about "what" will make the topic choice a rich and meaningful project. So many ideas float around in a day and its impossible to pursue them all. We must look for ones that will leave the children enriched.

We look at what we hope the children will gain on the journey.

If we can validate the choice then the topic is worth exploring. That is the so what.

Like the children, each time we encounter a topic we expand our knowledge base.
The So What of the community project
In order to thrive everyone must feel connected to other people.

Communities are part of life.

More that just a place to live it is a place of people, voices, shared space, rituals and customs. Coming form the Latin term meaning "with gifts" the term suggests a general sense of humanity, reciprocity and a shared practice of doing good for others that comes from working together for a joint purpose.

If we give credence to the old African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child" then we can

understand the impact that community has in

helping us raise our children.

Children need more that just supportive parents. As they branch outside the home they require a larger support network to grow into healthy citizens.

It is a child's right to expect the community to provide them safe neighborhoods, adults who are good role models and dedicated teachers and politicians who keep children's rights at the forefront.

When children feel a connectivity to their

community they are more apt to develop a sense of civic and social responsibility. They build trust, learn to resolve conflicts peacefully and have a genuine sense of caring for others.
Given this premise we move forward to engage our children in this exploration.

The initial provocation to build a community left us with a good base to begin our work.

We had many questions and thoughts to plot out a plan of attack.
What forms of the Hundred Languages would the children use?

What would be addressed first?

As we move along in sharing our work, I'd like you to bear in mind that no project is ever linear. It does not follow a direct path. We often find ourselves going in circles, returning to a previous thought sometimes weeks after the idea was initially addressed and explored.

The framework for the community was up and the discussions continued among the children and teachers.

After each of the children added their homes we began to add elements such as street signs, people, vehicles, and community building.

While we worked the children demonstrated a sound understanding of the physical elements that come together to make a community.
When we begin to work with the children on their questions and thoughts around a topic we call this the "Now What."

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Let's discuss the "So What" It is here that teacher's must think deeply about "what" will make the topic choice a rich and meaningful project. So many ideas float around in a day and its impossible to pursue them all. We must look for ones that will leave the children enriched.