Cleaning House-

Provide different household items and props for children to pretend play like they are cleaning the house. Items that could be used include: a vacuum cleaner, dusting cloths, sponges, mops, brooms, empty spray bottles, buckets, aprons, bandannas tide up for a cleaning hat, squeegee etc.

Household Tracings

Provide several different small household items (spatula, spoon, phone, book, comb, hanger, etc) for children to trace with crayons or pencils on paper. They can also use scissors to cut out their tracings.

Graham Cracker Home

Give each child a graham cracker (house), triangle-cut pieces of cheese (roof) and raisins (windows, doors, bricks, etc) for snack. They can be encouraged to build their house and then eat it.

Home Building Observation

If possible, visit a local construction site. Talk about the role of a construction worker in building homes and other types of community buildings and stores in your city, town or neighborhood.

Nail Pound

Let children pound nails into soft pine wood scraps or styrofoam at a work bench with an ADULTS SUPERVISION. Talk about the process it takes to build a home.

Home Graph

Make a graph out of either or both of the following:
Ask your children what kind of home they live in.
Ask your children what their favorite place in their home is.

Homes Fingerplay

Here is a nest for a robin.
(hold hands open)
Here is a hive for a bee.
(close hands together)
Here is a hole for a bunny.
(make a circle with hands)
Here is a home for me.
(point all around you)

After the finglerplay, you can read a book and/or talk about what types of homes different animals have.

Sand Home Building

Add wet sand to the sensory table. Provide different containers (empty cans, plastic containers, buckets, milk cartons, shaped blocks, etc.) for children to build different kinds of homes and buildings that have seen or that they can invent.

Homes Journal Page

Read a book about different types of homes then hand out a journal sheet with this question on it: "What is special to you about your home?" Record the children's responses and let them draw a picture to go along with their response.

Click on the image to view and/or print.

Building Materials

Provide building materials (wood, brick, canvas, tar paper, shingles, etc.) and magnifying glasses in an area where children can observe and examine the materials. Encourage discussions about why the different materials would be good to use for building different types of houses or parts of the house.

Rooms of You Home

Bring in items from several different rooms of your house. Make boxes with labels for different rooms (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, garage, living room, etc.). Ask your children where each household item would go and let your children sort which items go in where.

Homes in Common

Talk to your children about how different people live in different types of homes. Then ask them what they think all homes have in common. Some ideas are kitchens, love, bedrooms, water, etc.

Homes Lesson Plan

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Colors Sensory Ideas

Place any of the following (from the sensory recipes page) in the sensory table for the kids to explore: play dough (provide red, yellow & blue to mix colors), goop, silly putty, white slime & markers, mold with baker’s clay or white clay and paint when hardened.

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Colorful Art

Let the children do any of these activities with a variety of colors: easel painting with tempera paint, finger painting, yarn and glue designs on construction paper, color spin art painting, paint blots (fold paper in half, squirt paint one one side, fold, press, unfold), water color over crayon drawings, glue & glitter.

Purple Cow

Combine equal parts of grape juice and milk, along with some ice cubes (6 per 1/2 gallon or milk) in a blender, blend for one minute, serve and enjoy.
This is a childhood favorite of mine, but we used ice cream instead of milk, which is also VERY yummy!

Paint Store Play

Provide paintbrushes, buckets, paint sample books, paint rollers, pans, paint caps, smocks or paint clothes, drop cloths, cash register, play money, pads of paper, etc. Children can pretend play like they are painting a house or selling paint supplies at a paint store.

Color March

Tape *colored shapes to the floor, march, hop, tip toe, etc. around the colors to music.

*I got some free paint sample from the hardware store and used them for this activity, as well as several other colors activities.

Colors in Our World

Go to any of the following places to learn about how important colors are in our world and how they are used differently in nature and by people: a green house, an art store, or a paint store.

Math in Colors

Do any of the following activities: sort different colored shapes, make patterns with colored beads on string/yarn, set out different color bags (kids find and sort things by colors by placing them in the blue bag, etc), make a color patterned paper chain, use colored paint samples to play memory or match

Finding Colors

Finding Colors (Tune: Muffin Man)

Oh can you find the color____, the color____, the color____?
Oh can you find the color____ somewhere in the room?

Let the children each find the color and repeat the song several times using other colors: yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, brown, black, white, gray, etc.

Colored Science

Make any of the following (from the sensory recipe page) to explore colors: colored *soap crayons (use in the sink when dry), rainbow stew (provide different colors for the children to explore mixing colors with)

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Favorite Colors

Ask every child what their favorite color is and make a chart of favorite colors, display in the classroom.

Paper Towel Dip

Fold paper towel several times in half, dip in red water & then yellow water, open the towel carefully and allow it to dry, orange designs will appear on the towel. Talk about how red and yellow mix to make the color orange.

Colorful Snack

Serve different fruits for snack, include all the colors of the rainbow. Children can help prepare it.

Colors Journal Page

Read a book about colors then hand out a journal sheet with this question on it: "Why do we need colors?" Record the children's responses and let them draw a picture to go along with their response.

Click on the image to view and/or print.

Color Hunt

Go on a color hunt around a classroom, home, neighborhood, park, store, etc.

Colored Ribbon Dance

Let the children dance with colored ribbons (dowels & crepe paper) to different types of music.

Colors Lesson Plan

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