Need a preschool class activity for 2-3 year olds, ideas?
930418
there are lots of activities for this age group...\n\nmovement...use music by raffi, greg and steve, and hap palmer...try freeze dance, popcorn dance, use bean bags or nerf balls to go with the music (you can even use basic musical instruments like tamborines, maracas, and drums)\n\nreading/and listening activity....choose an age appropriate book, flannel board story, or fingerplays and tell the story you can give the pieces to individual children after you have read the story a few times and let them help with the story. children of this age are beginning to understand how to listen too and story tapes with a book are sometimes fun if they are not too long...\ncooking or science can be done too....usually making things like pudding or jello, even making popsicles works, science projects like rolling items down a long or wide board is sometimes fun too. i even carved a pumpkin with a group of this age....i did have an assistant to be sure no one got a hold of the knife but the children enjoyed helping clean out the seeds and touching and smelling the parts of the pumpkin..\n\nthere are some great books for teachers of this age too...my favorite is teachable 2's sorry dont remember the author, but ck in the lakeshore catalog for it.
761568
I am a speech therapist and I work with kids around those same ages.  Don't brake the ice, cootie, candy land, chutes and ladders, memory, eye spy, and go fish are some favorites with the kids I work with.  Also as far as active inside games they love throwing a ball, i have a plastic bowling set.  We also play "search party" where we turn off the lights and look for items with a flashlight.  Any arts and craft type games are good and they always like to color.
984365
I think that many of the 'family' theme activities would fit well into this theme.  Here are a few circle time activities:\n\nHave available several paperdolls.  I usually make these and laminate them so that after circle time they can be placed in the manipulative center to further the activity.  I make 3 of each doll--dad, mom, sister, brother, baby, grandma, grandpa, dogs and cats.  I start the circle time by telling them about an activity that I did with my own family over the weekend.  Then I show them the dolls and build my family with my dolls.  I show them how there is a dad, mom, 4 children, and 2 dogs in my home.  Then I pass the dolls to the first child and ask them to build their family with the dolls.  I give each child a turn to build their family.\n\nAnother activity that would do great with this theme is to discuss different types of homes.  You can do a felt board activity with this one.   Make a houses 2 stories, 1 story, an apartment building, moble home, etc.  You can also make garages, trees, flowers, ect.      Let them children take turns showing what they live him.  \n\n\nthis would be a great time to intergrate straight lines and curved lines for math and art.  Encourage the children to use yarn to construct a picture of their home.  \n\nOr you could intergrate geometric shapes.  Make available cirles, squares, triangles, and diamonds made out of construction paper or foam pcs.  Encourage the children to make houses using the shapes.\n\nThis would be a good time to invite the local fire department and learn about home fire safety and then ask the parents to help them make a fire escape plan for their home.\n\n\nYou could make a class neighborhood!  Have each parent send a photo of their child with their family standing outside of their home.  Then have the class construct a collage of the photos and then make a bulletin titled "Our Friendly Neighborhood!"\n\nAlong with the above activity you can do a dictation document witht the children.  Ask each child "What is your favorite thing about your home?"  And then dictate exactly what the child says and hang them on your bullentin board.\n\nfor centers:\n\ndramatic play center make sure to have the usual things available for them to role play about home.\n\nBlock area have cars, streets, people, etc.\n\nScience area:  This one is simple.  You'll want sand and water for this center!    With plenty of objects to help them build houses.\n\n\nThere are alot of activities that you can come up with for this theme.  Just be creative.
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this article should help you ..\n\nhttp://parentcenter.babycenter.com/expert/preschooler/pdevelopment/69440.html
831524
This is a good one and its fun!\n\nhttp://www.childrenssoftwareonline.com/Default.aspx?m=item&pID=218
1122979
water balloons. have lots of water toys.  bubble machine. have a kiddie pool, too, or water slide (if you can fit this on your budget).\n\nhave fun!
816541
One game we used to play in improv class (not sure how old your children are) is to create a story one word at a time. Each child says one word adding on to the story. For ex:\n\nChild 1: "The"\nChild 2 "Bear"\nChild 3 "was"\n\nand so on. It can get quite amusing and helps them develop their intuitive skills.\n\nGood luck!
989251
It's great to see that you are encouraging and creating an environment for your little cousin to stimulate her mind. I tried to think of a book that would be suitable, and came up with "Science Play: Beginning Discoveries for 2-To-6-Year-Olds" by Jill Frankel Hauser. You can probably find it online http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1885593201/702-4873694-5835253 or order it through your local bookstore. If you think that the book is not what you are looking for, you can always go to a very popular site for growing minds, http://www.thinkbutton.com/ If you search by age, you can find different items and books that are age appropriate for your cousin. I hope this helps and have fun!
257140
Child care\nMusic or Art (or any) Lessons\nWoodworking
197411
YOu have asked a difficult question.  I couldn't find any sites specific to your topic. I did a search for "ice breakers for kindergarten" and got a few possibilities.\n\nSorry I couldn't be of more help.
118965
you could do finger painting the alphabet and numbers, my mother runs a child care program and thats what she does with her very inteligent 2 year olds ( she has three of them that can already speek spanish)
921802
For preschoolers, I would have a lot of action and songs.  Examples would include showing them and having them practice Stop Drop and Roll.  Feel free to email me for a cute short song that you could teach them.  Another idea is to have plastic items (from a toy bag purchased at the Dollar Store or Big Lots).  Have them name the different items...firefighter, fire truck, ambulance, etc.  End with a short story...I have various titles in my fire box and would be happy to share with you the titles...Clifford is just one off hand and it comes with a tape.  Another activity you could do for them is to go to the local fire dept and see if they would allow you to record various sounds...sirens, 911 operator, the person who announces a fire, water, maybe a firedog barking etc... or take your video camera or even camera to take photos.  Perhaps you could even arrange for them to visit your school or you go to them.  Also, ask them if they have any coloring books.  One last thought, try various websites for coloring pages and lesson plans (educational sites).  Have fun!!!!!
321579
try this  web site  for preschoolers \nwww.freewebs.com/letsread/\n\nanimations and music enhance learning
40312
My teacher had a great way of doing this. Tell your students to collect various household items and a few bags. Make sure each kid picks out two specific objects. When everyone returns, teach union and intersect using the kids' "sets".
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www.starfall.com\nIf you're looking for something different try this site. My 2.5 yr old son really likes it.  It has preschool through elementary school activities that are totally free. This site provides printable activities to match the online activities.\n\nAs listed above, www.playhousedisney.com, and www.nickjr.com are also good sites. There is also quite a bit on www.pbskids.org.  Another one to keep in mind (for a later date)would be www.handwritingforkids.com\n\nAlso if you don't already have it, buy your child some Fridge Phonics by LeapFrog. You can usually find it under $20. Your child will really enjoy it.
611694
I'm a teacher, too, and I like some of these ideas.  I made cartoony looking fruit faces on my color printer with the kids' names and laminated them and put holes in the top with a string.  I then put a plate with real fruits on it on each table (mine were square-not that it matters) Some of the fruits were cut up.  As children came into the room, I put the fruit necklaces on them and told them they had to find their new "bowl" and not to touch.  Everyone who "played nice" and followed all the rules got to share in the fruity snacks!  Now,  we use the necklaces on cubbies and chairs and for play teams and the like.  Other things could work with this method, too, like sports balls, cartoon characters, stuffed critters, etc.  You just need a good clip art pack!
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I really wish I could help you but my oldest is only in second grade.  Most of the websites I use are for teaching ABC's and 123's.\n\nYou can try this one for math worksheets.\nhttp://www.eduplace.com/math/mw/\nIf you choose your child's grade level and then leveled practice you will be able to print out a lot of worksheets.  You might want to look through them a little to find exactly what you want.  You might want to occasionally choose an easier grade level to print out a few easy review pages.  \n\nFor reading you might want to check with your local library to see if they have a summer reading program.  At my library the kids earn a small prize for every 10 books they read and bigger prizes at the end of the summer.  They love knowing that they can get prizes for books that they were going to read anyway.  \n\nMost libraries will have a few books with simple science experiments.  They are fun and educational.  We do a lot of these durring the summer.  A few weeks ago we planted lima beans and jelly beans.  When only the lima beans sprouted we cut open a lima bean to find the baby plant inside and the the jelly bean to find no baby plant.  We had a lot of fun.\n\nFind out what your child is interesten in and help him/her learn all about it.  My 7 year old is intersted in Archeology and paleontology so much of what he learns involves dinosaurs and ancient egypt.  My 4 year old loves gardening so we are learning about seeds, parts of a plant, and what living things need to grow.  My 2 year old loves bugs so we are learning the life cycles of insects.  We count legs when we can get the bug to lay still enough.  They don't even realize that they are learning when you teach them what they want to know!\n\nGood luck!