Spring is the season of the year between winter and summer when the weather becomes warmer and plants revive and popularly considered to comprise March, April, and May, according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Spring is a great time for daycare providers to enhance their curriculum with story-time books and activities that celebrate the spring season.

Consider the following reading lists and resources for free Spring worksheets, coloring pages, and handwriting practice sheets for your child care center:

Reading List

Spring Board and Picture Books Baby-Age 3

Spring by Geurda Muller [Floris Books, 1994]

God Made Spring: A Really Woolly & Friends Fuzzy, Shiny Flap Book by Beatrix Potter [ThomasNelson, 2008]

Spring by Maria Rius [Barron’s Educational Series, 1998]

Guess How Much I Love You in the Spring by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram [Walker Books, 2009]

Spring: Seasons Board Book by Chris L. Demarest [Red Wagon, 1997] (more…)

Preschool teachers and daycare providers can help children learn to recognize and write the letter V through fun activities that support clear learning objectives.

Learning Objectives

• The students will identify the letter V.
• The students make and recognize the V sound.
• The students will learn to trace and write upper and lower case V’s.
• The students will identify objects that begin with the letter V.
• The students will make a Valentine’s Day wreath.
• The students will make a letter V vase.
• The students will learn about volcanoes and create an erupting volcano.
• The students will listen to books that feature the letter V.

Handwriting and Alphabet Recognition

Introduce the children to the letter V along with simple objects that begin with the letter V. Create a colorful letter V poster board or bulletin board that presents both the upper and lower case V. Include pictures of objects cut from magazines that begin with the letter V. For example: valentine, violin, vulture, volcano, vegetables, van, vase, vine, vacuum, vest, volleyball, and vampire.

Write both the upper and lowercase V on a whiteboard or chalkboard. Demonstrate the V sound and ask the children to make (repeat) the V sound. Next ask the children to think of words (names, objects, or places) that might begin with the letter V.

Allow the children to practice tracing the letter V in both upper and lower case using a letter V worksheet. A good example of such a worksheet is available on the Kid’s Learning Station website. Children can also practice writing and tracing the letter V on blank sheets of paper using pencils, colored pencils, or crayon. (more…)

Presidents’ Day is a holiday which honors two presidents of the United States: Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Presidents’ Day is celebrated in the United States on the third Monday in February. Celebrate Presidents’ Day in your daycare center by reading age appropriate stories that focus on great presidents, the presidency, and President’s Day-themed activities.

Consider the following reading lists and resources for free Presidents’ Day worksheets, coloring pages, and handwriting practice sheets for your child care center:

Reading List

Presidents’ Day Board and Picture Books Baby-Age 3

The Story of Abraham Lincoln by Patricia A. Pingry and Stephanie McFetridge Brit [Candy Cane Press, 2001]

The Story of Gettysburg by Patricia A. Pingry and Stephanie McFetridge Brit [Ideal Publications, 2003]

A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln by David Adler, John Wallner, and Alexandra Wallner [Holiday House, 1990]

The Story of George Washington by Patricia A. Pingry and Stephanie McFetridge Brit [Candy Cane Press, 2000]

A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln by David Adler, John Wallner, and Alexandra Wallner [Holiday House, 1990]

My First President’s Day Book by Aileen Fisher and Lynda Halverson [Childrens PR, 1987] (more…)

When developing curriculum, daycare providers must include age-appropriate activities for young children that develop fine motor skills. This Valentine’s Day Caterpillar craft is an activity that will support a Thanksgiving unit as well as promote visual motor coordination, bilateral coordination, and hand strength.

Fine motor skills are actions that involve the small movement of hands, wrists, feet, fingers, toes, tongue, and lips. In contrast with gross motor skills which involve larger muscles of the arms, legs and feet, fine motor skills focus on small muscle movements in coordination with the eye. Some important fine motor concepts and skills that preschool age children learn to master are bilateral coordination, visual motor coordination, grasp, hand use, manipulation skills, pincer grasp, wrist rotation, pre-writing grasp, hand strength, and tactile awareness.

Children learn fine motor skills through practice. Activities which involve writing, drawing, cutting, stringing, and buttoning are great examples of activities that promote the development of fine motor skills.

This Valentine’s Day craft includes the preparation instructions, procedure, and materials list for this activity. It also provides age-appropriate learning objectives and a sample of the simple supporting verbal cues necessary to encourage participation and support learning.

Valentine’s Day caterpillar Materials (more…)

February is Black History Month, a month set aside to celebrate the accomplishments and culture of African Americans. Get a head start by planning history lessons, creative activities, and music and movement activities in your daycare center that celebrate the history of blacks in America.

Here are a few simple ideas in a variety of categories.

History

Books to Share

The ABC’s of Black History: A Children’s Guide by Craig Thompson [Beckham Publications Group, 2005]

Harriet Tubman and Black History Month by Polly Carter and J. Brian Pinkney [Silver Burdett PR, 1996]

If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks by Faith Ringold [Aladdin, 2003].

The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Johnny Ray Moore and Amy Wummer [Ideal Publications, 2002]

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles and George Ford [Scholastic, 2004]

Arts and Crafts

Growing Peanuts

George Washington Carver is best known for inventing peanut agricultural science. A fun craft which celebrates this invention is growing peanuts. Gather raw peanuts (available at most health food stores), zip loc bags, paper towels, and water.  Let each child put a couple of raw peanuts in a baggie along with a damp paper towel. Seal or zip the baggie and observe daily how peanuts grow. Remember to check with parents for allergies before attempting activities with peanuts!

Unity Wreath

A unity wreath symbolizes cultural unity. Children can cut out construction paper hands in skin tone colors (red, yellow and brown and white) to represent diverse “skin tones”. Children can then glue the hands to a wreath made of a heavy weight paper plate with the center cut out.

Music, Movement, and Gross Motor Skills

Garret Augustus Morgan is credited with inventing the traffic light. This action rhyme, courtesy of Gayle’s Preschool Rainbow, is a great way for children to symbolically honor Morgan.

Stop at the corner (both hands raised)
Wait for the light.
Look to the left      (turn head to one side)
Look to the right    (turn head to other side)
If nothing is coming
Then start and walk   (pick up legs as if walking)
Go straight across the street
Be careful and don’t talk    (Place finger at lips).

Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play in the major leagues since the 1880s. This song celebrates his accomplishments.

Jackie Robinson was his name
Playing baseball was his game.
First black man on a major league team
In 1947 he fulfilled his dream.
Jackie Robinson was his name,
He made it to the Hall of Fame.

Black History Month Resources

For further ideas for planning activities in your child day care center for Black History Month, try:

• African American Awareness by Evia L. Davis [Good Year Books, 1998]
• Crafts That Celebrate Black History by Kathy Ross [Millbrook Press, 2002]
• Black Books Galore’s Guide to Great African American Children’s Books by Donna Rand, Toni Trent Parker, and Sheila Foster[Jossey-Bass, 1998]

January 18, 2010 is Martin Luther King, Jr. day. This federal holiday commemorates the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the civil rights movement, and is celebrated every year on the third Monday of January.

While young children in a child care center may or may not be able to grasp the concepts of civil rights, slavery, and racism, preschool teachers and daycare providers can share crafts and books that teach peace and unity.

Peace and Unity Arts and Crafts

Unity Hand Shake Craft

Allow children to cut out construction paper hands in two different skin tones (for example, red, yellow, brown or white). Next let them cut out rectangles the size of cuffs and glue them to the wrists of the hands. Arrange the two hands into a handshake formation and secure them with a brass fastener.

Dream Collage

Gather the children and discuss the concepts of hopes and dreams. Next, prompt each child to discuss their hopes and dreams for the future. Each child can talk about what they would personally like to have, be, or do when they grow up. Next give each child a piece of square construction paper and let them draw whatever their dream happens to be. From these pictures create a dream collage. (more…)

In part two of our interview with Jan Z. Olsen, Olsen discusses how learning through play leads to real life learning in physical and cognitive development and offers examples of activities that a daycare provider can easily implement.

OwnADaycare: How does play lead to real life learning in the area of physical development? What are some examples of play activities preschool teachers can offer in this area?

Olsen: It is important that children practice gross and fine motor skills, and coordination.  Dance with your children, give them a ball to kick around and help them at the playground to better encourage gross motor skills and coordination.  To encourage the fine motor skills needed for handwriting and keyboarding, sing songs that use their fingers, like the “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, and “The Crayon Song” on the Get Set for School™ Sing-Along CD.  To further encourage proper fine motor skills for handwriting, give young drawers broken pieces of chalk or crayons to use.  The small size encourages correct grips. You can offer children, even ones as young as 9 months, to pick up tiny pieces of food, like Cheerios, with their fingers, and older children can do crafts involving small, age-appropriate objects, to develop writing muscles and good coordination.

OwnADaycare: How does play lead to real life learning in the area of cognitive development? What are some examples of play activities preschool teachers can offer in this area? (more…)

Children learn through both direct and indirect play. Child day care providers can take advantage of opportunities for social and emotional learning through play activities.

In our interview with expert Jan Z. Olsen, OTR, co-creator of The Get Set for School™ readiness program and founder and creator of Handwriting Without Tears^®, explains the importance of learning through play.

OwnADaycare: What is the importance of learning through play?

Olsen: Children are naturally curious, active, and eager to learn and try new things.  To keep them that way, preschoolers need a readiness curriculum that encourages “playful learning.”   A strong preschool curriculum builds learning opportunities directly into  play so that learning keeps pace with the growing child.

• Singing, with movement: Develops memory and language, social participation and imitation, rhythm, rhyme and body awareness
• Playing  encourages social skills, such as cooperation, taking turns and following instructions
• Hands on Letter Play: Builds pre-writing skill. The teacher shows how to make letters with dough, wood pieces, or magnetic stamps. They learn letters (and numbers) in multi-sensory active play.
• Coloring  and Drawing : Small crayons  help children develop a good pencil grip and developmentally appropriate pages make for easy coloring and drawing. Building people and simple shapes with wood pieces leads naturally to drawing success. .

(more…)

Motor skills are actions that control how muscles move the body. Gross motor skills are those that control the large muscles of the body which are used to walk, run, crawl, sit, jump, and other large muscle activities. Preschool teachers and daycare providers can enhance gross motor skill development through effective lesson plans that include gross motor activities.

Activities for preschool children should include those that develop physical gross motor skills. Snowman bowling is an activity that will promote major muscle coordination and it’s just plain fun for preschool aged kids.

According to the Encyclopedia of Children’s Health, gross motor skills are the abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body. Some important physical gross motor concepts and skills that preschool age children learn to master are balance, spatial orientation (which means that the child is aware of the position of his or her body in space as well as in relation to other people and objects), laterality (which means that the child is aware of the left and right sides of the body), and the coordination of major muscles.

Daycare centers can encourage gross motor skill development through effective lesson plans and play. A fine example of an activity that promotes the development of gross motor skills is snowman bowling. (more…)

Preschoolers and young children in child care centers can successfully learn to write the letter C as well as recognize objects beginning with the letter C through simple, fun activities. This activity ties in well with a Christmas lesson plan.

Learning Objectives

• The students will identify the letter C
• The students make and recognize the hard C sound
• The students will learn to trace and write upper and lower case Cs
• The students will  sort, find, and identify objects that begin with the letter C
• The students will learn that C is for Christmas
• The students will create a candy cane reindeer
• The students will listen to stories about Christmas

Handwriting and Phonetics

Create a letter C poster board which shows both the upper and lower case C. On this poster board, glue pictures of objects cut from magazines or draw objects that begin with the letter C and make the hard C. Display this poster board up for the duration of the Letter C unit. (more…)