Shaker Egg Activities That Preschool and Kindergarten Love

 

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by L. G. Mooney

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Songs, games, and activities that will have you snapping, tapping, and clapping with delight!

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Our 100th Day Activities

We celebrated the 100th Day of school today, and below are some of the activities we did to commemorate the day.

#1 - Stack 100 cups, to see which team could build the tallest tower.

#2 - 100s Chart Puzzles
To see who could put all the puzzles together the fastest.
(I originally posted about this here.)

#3 - Put together a 100-piece puzzle.

#4 - We covered 10 ten frames.

#5 - We placed popsicle sticks in tally mark formations so that they added up to 100.

Letter I Activities

Wow. When I originally checked the Internet for ideas and activities for the Letter Ii, there were hundreds for ice cream, a couple for insects, and a few for Indians, but otherwise Ii was pretty scarce on anything else. So I came up with some ideas of my own.

For beginners, I took the lower case, and we all made our own butterfly (insect).

 

 

Looking back at a previous activity that got them excited, I made a 20 Is paper, gave a sheet to each table, and some newspaper. First table to fill up their sheet got balloons (my kids LOVE balloons!), and second place winners got a sticker.

Next, I made a sign that said "We drive our teacher buggy because..." (Our unit study this week was about Bugs.) I made these templates: "___ is a SPIDER!" and "____ is a ______!" The children got to pick out one template and color it. Lastly, they got to take their head shot and add it to the top of the bug.

You can get the spider and insect template here.

 

 

I've seen Indians made from hand prints before, but I wanted to change it up a bit. So we started with our fingers closed and thumb out, mitten style. Add the headband, make each finger a different colored feather, and add a nostril to the thumb "nose". An eye and a mouth, and there's our Indian!

I had thought about adding googly eyes instead of drawing one, but I didn't get the chance to go to Hobby Lobby and get more. (BTW, mine is in the center of the circle.)

 

Of course, if you use the lower case i, you have to use the upper case. In this instance, we put a head, toes, and tail on it to make an iguana. Quick and easy!

 

And finally, for Fun Fun Friday, we topped off our week with ice cream! (Or, in this case, Popsicles.)

 

Letter Z Activities

We've had a very full week studying the letter Zz.

First off, we built ABC patterns using pictures of a zipper, zebra, and the number zero.

 

 

On Tuesday, we took a field trip to our city zoo, and got up close and personal with some of the animals.

 

 

The trip inspired us to do a class book called OUR TRIP TO THE ZOO. Every child contributed a page stating which animal was their favorite, and drawing a picture of it.

We then took 1/4 sheets of manila drawing paper. And using catalogs, we looked for pictures of zoo animals. Cutting out the pictures, we glued them to the paper, then cut 2 pipe cleaners in half and glued them to the paper to resemble cage bars.

(Note: Last year, I used popsicle sticks, but they were too wide and covered up too much of the picture. I've discovered the pipe cleaners are very difficult to manipulate. Next year, I'm going to try yarn.)

On a large sheet of paper, we arranged our zoo pictures in sections, grouping like animals the same way a zoo does.

On Fun Fun Friday, I made a bingo template. (I made it generic enough to where I could use it for other subjects.) I also took some animal graphics from the web and added their names to make a selection sheet. Each child cut out their choice of 9 animals and glued them to their bingo paper to make their own game card. (You can get both templates here.)

 We played bingo - the first time for most of them - and had a ton of fun! (Note the animal markers we borrowed from our math centers.)

Letter W Activities

Another round of testing at school meant a few more activities to help fill up those times when there was no PE or enrichment/block!

To begin our letter W fun, we took this master, put our name on the circles (one letter per segment), and made Name Worms!

 

On another day, we made Our Window on the Weather, featuring the days we most often see down in south Texas (sunny, partly sunny, cloudy, and rainy.) The master is here. You may want to substitute snow for one of the days, or whatever reflects your local weather. And don't forget the curtains!

I had seen this idea on Pinterest, but there was never a template, so I created one (which you can download here.) For the seeds, we used a hole punch and black construction paper. Those hole punches certainly help strengthen their arm muscles!

 

For Fun Fun Friday, we played Water games! Our first game we called "Squirt the Bottle". The class was divided up into two teams. I got those neat pool noodle squirters at Walgreen's. Anyway, the kids would fill the squirters with water, then try to hit their target bottle. If they did, their team got a point.

 

Our second game was "Squeeze the Sponge". Each team member got their sponge soaking wet from the tub, then ran across the playground and squeezed it out into the blue containers. Once everyone had had their turn, I measured the water. The team that managed to squeeze out the most water won!

Once we finished our games, it was time to come in for snacks. And what other snack could we have than watermelon!

Letter T Activities

We had a lot of fun with our letter T activities this week.

Of course, we worked on AB patterns with Texas and a top.

I found an old math sheet of various shapes, and created a Triangles/Not Triangles worksheet to go with it. I didn't have the kids color the shapes - just cut out and glue. But I've used that initial sheet as a color sheet (ex: color the squares blue, etc.) In retrospect, I think this sheet should have had fewer shapes on it for this activity, but it was a good way to get a quick observation grade on their shapes.

I also made this worksheet of shapes, that they colored, cut out, and put together to make a truck!

What made it fun was adding their photo to the "cab" so that it looks like they're driving.

But the activity that was the greatest fun was making our paper plate turtles. (You can get the master here.) Unfortunately, I ran out of paper plates (it's been that kind of week), so I quickly traced a plate onto manila construction paper. The kids colored the plate and turtle parts, cut and glued, and then I added googly eyes.

And, since it was Fun Fun Friday, we all enjoyed Trix cereal for our snack/treat! I've never had Trix before today, and I've found them to be fruity and very addictive!

Letter U Activities

Just when we thought we wouldn't have a lot of activities for this letter, we ended up having a terrific week!

 

* We used underwear and umbrellas to make ABB patterns.

 

 

* Speaking of umbrellas, we painted coffee filters with watercolors (giving the parasol portion a beautiful stained glass effect). Once they were dry, we took a pipe cleaner, punched a hole in the center of the filter, made a tiny loop in the top, and curved the bottom section so it looked like the handle.

 

* We suspended them from the ceiling so they would sway and dance and twirl.

 

* Next, I found a boxer pattern and a panty pattern on the internet. Ran them off. Everyone got to design their own underwear.

* We then hung them on the "line" in the hallway, and I invited all the teachers to come vote for their favorite pair (one boy, one girl) by putting a tally mark on the yellow post-it note.

 

* Our underwear contest ended up with a tie for the best girl's panties, and one boy winner!

 

* Because the letter Uu is a vowel, it's more often found inside a word (CVC) than at the beginning. So I created a game called "Buggy".

 

 

* I found a ladybug graphic on the internet, blew it up, and made a game board out of it (4 to a sheet of cardstock.) I then made 35 little copies on a sheet, and pasted pictures from an assortment of worksheets and workbooks on the backs.

 

* Here's how the game works. I placed all the little bug pictures in the empty kleenex box. A student pulls one of the pictures and identifies what it is. (Ex: lips) Does "lips" have the short  /u/ sound? Yes or no. If the child answers correctly, they keep the card, and get to cover one of the spots on their game board. If they get the answer wrong, they put the picture card back into the tissue box. First person to cover their game board wins!

 

* On Fun Fun Friday, I gave everyone a cone template that I found on the internet. They got to color the shape and cut it out. I folded the shape and stapled it into a cone, hole-punched a hole on each side, and gave the student a length of yarn.

 

We ended up with a class full of unicorns!

Letter K Activities

Wow! What a busy week it's been! Because the upper grades were in the middle of state testing, we had to find some extra activities to keep us busy, since we didn't have P.E. or enrichment/block.

* Here, I took an earlier idea and expanded it. I made a template of 20 blocks, and gave a sheet to each table. As a group, the children had to find 20 Ks in the newspaper, cut them out, and glue one per block. I had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.

* I found a key pattern on the web, and inserted pictures from some old worksheets. Each key sports a picture of something that begins with "k". One key bears the title MY KEY RING. They colored the keys, cut them out, punched a hole in the hole, and strung them on a silver ring. You can get my master here.

* We made kites! Using this master, we colored and cut out the shield and the "bows", and used yarn for the tail. Hanging them from the ceiling makes them "fly" when the AC comes on!

* I found a different key picture, and one of a koala, and made copies. We used the pictures to make AAB patterns.

* For Fun Fun Friday, I'd bought some cheap red lipstick. Dabbing a bit on each child's lips, they kissed a sheet with a capital K. Some kids needed 2 or 3 dabs. I tried applying with Q-tips and cotton balls, but the tip of my finger worked best (cleaning it off with a moist diaper wipe after each child.)