Animal Week Fun!

Animals were a hot topic this week for us in preschool as we made turtles with shells and talked about where they might live and the parts of a turtle before assembling them.

Then we moved over to the farm for a while on Monday.  We sang the "Old MacDonald" song and used stuffed animals to learn the parts of the song.  When the children heard the name of the animal they were holding they raised it up high in the air.  

We talked about what animals live on the farm and what sounds they make as well.  Then we made some little pigs by discussing the shapes the teachers had set out for us.  We practiced the procedure at the circle all together then the children went to the tables to make them on their own.

The children also learned about fish and ducks and how they both like water and then helped the ducks "swim" across the "pond" using spay bottles to work on our fine motor muscles while watching them move across the surface of the water.  Other children then took turns fishing in a separate pond.

Speaking of water, this week we made an octopus out of paper plates and pipe cleaners.  As children work on their small muscles threading, it can be a bit of a challenge and discouraging.  Therefore, we used stiffer materials like pipe cleaners to help the children build their threading confidence as they thread them through the holes made in the base of the plates.

We enjoyed some boat races this week as well while we talked about the water and what animals we see if we are in a boat on the ocean.  It was a lot of fun and we even had children ask if we could write up directions for parents to make them at home!

By Friday we were able to sort while animals are pets, which ones are farm animals and which are wild animals we might only see in a zoo or in the wild.  After discussing these things at the circle, we went to the tables to be in small groups to sort animals into these groups.  After that we also sorted them by color and land and sea animals too.  Sorting items is a fan favorite and we had  great time talking about all the animals we had to work with for this activity.

On Friday we also used various geometric shapes to complete pictures of animals by putting them together to fill a space on the page like a puzzle.  While some kids were sorting and others doing geometric shapes, we also played with the Ele-fun!  The children always giggle with delight with this game so we brought it out for a fun Friday activity with the kids in honor of animal week.

What's Coming Up?

We finally have a full week of preschool again!  The theme this week will be all about fun Halloween things like pumpkins, ghosts, mummies, etc.

Don't forget about the FREE PHS Trick or Treat event we will have this Thursday evening and our Halloween Preschool Party will be next Monday during preschool hours.