If You're Happy and You Know It

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it.
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands

Sing the song several different times, using different emotions and actions (children can give their ideas too). Here are some ideas we had:
If you're happy and you know it stomp your feet, nod your head, etc.
If you're sad-frown real big, cry out loud, etc.
If you're excited-dance around, jump up and down, etc.
If you're angry-furrow your brow, grind your teeth, etc.
If you're scared-hug your mom, say a prayer, etc.
If you're bored-read a book, call a friend, etc.
If you're tired-go to sleep.

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Listen or download the song here: http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=266&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=266&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Emotional Expressions

Place pictures of children showing different expressions (laughing, surprised, mad, crying, smiling, etc.) Put a mirror next to the pictures and let them try copying the expressions. Encourage them to talk about how they are feeling when they are making expressions.

Emotional Painting

Give your children a blank piece of paper. Have them paint at the speed and feeling of different kinds of music you play (classical, country, rock, etc.). This is a great way to illustrate how music makes us feel different.

My Book of Emotions

Make a book about feelings:
I feel happy when __________,
I feel sad when ___________,
I feel frustrated when __________,
I feel loved when ___________,
I feel scared when___________, etc.
Record the children's responses in their books. Children can illustrate each page. Talk about appropriate reactions to emotions.

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Finding Feelings

Go to a puppet show or a play. Have the children watch how the actors or puppets portray the different emotions of each character. Encourage them to reenact some of the emotions they watched during the show.

Dancing Our Feelings

Have the children dance to different types of music according to how the music makes them feel. Help them verbalize the emotions they are feeling and how they are expressing them in their dance.

Homemade Playdough

Mix 1c. flour,
1/4c. salt,
& 2T. cream of tarter in a pot.
Add 1c. water,
2tsp food coloring
& 1 T oil.
Stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, scraping the sides and the bottom of the pan well. When mixture forms a ball, remove from the pan and knead on floured surface. Store in the fridge.

Feelings Journal Page

Read a book about feelings/emotions then hand out a journal sheet with this question on it: "How are you feeling?" Record the children's responses and let them draw a picture to go along with their response.

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Mini Cheesecakes

Place 1 vanilla wafer in each lined muffin tin.
Mix 16 oz softened cream cheese,
1/2 c. sugar,
& 1 tsp vanilla on medium speed until well blended.
Add 2 eggs and mix well.
Pour mixture into tins.
Bake for 25 min. at 325°F.
Top with fruit.
Makes 12.

Emotional Play

Proved different costumes or set up a puppet theater and let the children act like different people, emphasize different emotions they could portray.

Emotional Sorting

Give your children magazines. Help them find and cut out pictures of people that are showing different emotions. Let your children sort them into different emotions piles.

Feelings Lesson Plan

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Fire Station Visit

Visit a fire station or police station on a field trip, or have a firefighter or police officer visit and talk about what they do to help people be safe, their equipment tools and what we can do to be safe and help to prevent emergencies.

Safety Sign Shapes

Have the children match different safety signs with each of the sign shapes (triangle, circle, octagon, etc.). The following website can be used as a resource for safety signs and their shapes: http://www.trafficsign.us/

Stop, Drop, Roll

Use a book or the information from either of the following websites(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop,_drop_and_roll or http://www.statefarm.com/learning/kid_stuff/smoke/cmndctr/stopdrop.html) to teach the children the "stop, drop, roll" fire safety technique. After explaining, demonstrate and have the children practice "stop, drop, roll" several times.

Emergency Identification Card

Put out items to help children prepare an identification card. Have them include on their card: their height, weight, color of hair and eyes, fingerprint and signature. Explain that this is important information that they shouldn't share with strangers, but they should keep it safe in case of an emergency.

Red Light, Green Light

You can use a red and green circle images below. Cut them out and paste them back to back on a posicle stick or tongue depressor. To play the game:
Choose one child to hold the stoplight. The other children should be lined up facing the "stoplight" at least 15 feet away. When the "stoplight" shows green the players run toward him. When the "stoplight" shows red they stop running. If someone is still moving on a red light, they have to go back to the start. The first one who makes it to the "stoplight" gets to be the "stoplight" during the next round.

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Fire Painting

Let kids paint with red, orange and yellow thick paint on black construction paper. Spread plastic wrap on top and pull it off again to create a fun flame texture.

Breadsticks

3/4c. warm water
2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs oil
2 cups flour
1 beaten egg

Dissolve yeast in water. Add salt, sugar, and oil. Mix in flour. Knead the dough. Divide dough and roll into snakes or hoses. Brush with a beaten egg. Bbake 10-12min at 425ºF.

Police Station Play

Set up a police (or fire) station for dramatic play. You can use any of the following suggested props: safety signs, uniforms, phones, cars (boxes or chairs & stirring wheels), safety equipment, phones, etc.

Fire Hose Squence

Cut up an old bike tube different sized pieces (small to large). Let the children place them in sequential order. They can also use it like a puzzle and put it back together in a big circle.

Safety Walk

Take a safety walk in your neighborhood. Talk about obeying traffic lights, crosswalks and signs when walking along and crossing the street. Point out special hazards to the children.

Hoses and Pumps

Water pumps, hoses and water can be placed in the sensory table for children to pretend play with. You can discuss how firefighters use hoses, pumps and water to put out fires in emergencies.

Emergency Plan

Have your children draw the route they would take to get out of their house in case of emergency. Challenge them to come up with different routes. Send home their ideas for them to plan and discuss emergency situations and escape routes with their families as well.

Safety Sign Design

Provide your children with different shapes of cardboard or use the shapes in the image below. Let children design their own safety signs.

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Car Seat Practice

Talk about how we use car seats for children riding in cars to keep them safe in case of an accident. Provide car seats for the kids to practice buckling themselves or baby dolls into.

Safety Obstacle Course

Talk about how firefighters have to be in good shape to help rescue people in an emergency. They have to practice climbing ladders, descending polls, using heavy equipment, etc. Set up an obstacle course to help the children practice too. Include things to run around, jump over, go under, climb up, ride on, push, pull, etc. Demonstrate how they can go through the obstacle course in a specific order.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Traffic Light

Tune- "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Twinkle, twinkle, traffic light,
Standing on the corner bright.
When it's green it's time to go.
When it's red it's stop, you know.
Twinkle, twinkle, traffic light,
Standing on the corner bright.

Safety Journal Page

Read a book about safety then hand out a journal sheet with this question on it: "How can we be safe?" Record the children's responses and let them draw a picture to go along with their response.

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Safety Vehicles

Place safety vehicles and sand in the sensory table.

Emergency Information

Help children learn their address, phone number and how and when to dial 911-Get several old phones (or draw one on paper) and have your children practice dialing 911 in an emergency.

Putting Out Flames

Draw flames on a sidewalk with red & yellow sidewalk chalk, let you children "put them out" by squirting them with water bottles.

Safety Lesson Plan

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Friendship Exchange

Provide some exchange papers (see attachment below). Help children print their name & their friend’s name on the paper. Kids can use paper scraps, tissue paper squares, fabric scraps, glue , rubber stamps, etc, to make a special picture for their friend. When they are dry, they can deliver them. This is a great activity to do around Valentine's Day.

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Silly Putty

Place silly putty in the sensory table or on an activity table. Children can make new friends and share while they explore the silly putty together.

Silly Putty
Mix together food coloring,
1 cup liquid starch,
and 1 1/4 cups white glue.
This mixture usually needs to be stirred continuously for an extended period of time until it comes together and is ready to play with.

Friendship Bulletin Board

Have children bring pictures of their friends into class. Remind them that friends can be family members and animals too. Hang the pictures on a bulletin board of friendship for everyone to look at and enjoy.

Visiting a Nursing Home

Arrange to visit a nursing home. Let the children interact and build friendships with elderly friends. You may want to come prepared for the children to share a song, skit, story, art project or cards, or something special to them, like their teddy bear.

Friendship Cards

Make friendship cards (individual pictures of the children with their names on it). Let the children sort them by hair color, eye color, oldest to youngest, etc. You could also have each child autograph (with help or just their first letter of their name, if needed) their card and display them after playing with them.

Rice Krispies Treats

Melt 3 Tbs butter in large saucepan on low heat.
Add 40 large marshmallows (10 oz), stir until melted.
Remove from heat.
Add 6 cups rice krispies cereal, stir.
Quickly press mixture evenly into a greased 9x13 pan.
Cool, cut, serve.
Kids can make these to give to friends or for a friendship party treat.

Friends Journal Page

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

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Bowling Game

Set up pins or plastic bottles in place for bowling. The children can play bowling with their friends by taking turns trying to knock down the pins with a ball they roll on the ground.

The More We Get Together

(Tune: Have you ever see a lassie?)
The more we are together, together, together,
The more we are together, the happier we’ll be.
For your friends are my friends,
and my friends are your friends.
The more we get together the happier we’ll be.
(Children can walk around and give hugs while singing.)

Friends' Fingerprints

Provide ink pads and white paper for the children to make fingerprints. Set out a microscope or magnifying glasses for the children to compare and examine their fingerprints of their friends’ fingerprints.

A Friend Party

Set out decorations (balloons, streamers, signs, etc), dress-up clothes, play dishes and pretend food, paper and pencils for making invitations. The children can decorate and throw a friend party to celebrate friendship at school.

Friends Balloon Ball

Provide balloons and paddles (you can make them by bending coat hangers into a paddle shape and stretching nylons over the top). The children can work together with a friend to hit the balloon to each other and try to keep the balloon from hitting the floor. CAUTION SUPERVISION NEEDED. Watch for broken balloons, they are a choking hazard!

Friends Lesson Plan

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Making Pretzels

Mix together:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbs yeast
1 Tbs sugar
Set aside for 5 minutes.
Mix together in a separate bowl:
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour
Add yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together to make dough. Roll the dough into a long snake. Cut the dough into small sections with scissors. Form individual shapes. Brush beaten egg on the pretzels shapes with a pastry brush and sprinkle with coarse slat. Bake at 425°F for 12 minutes.

cutting the pretzel dough apart with kitchen scissors

painting on some beaten egg with a pastry brush

watching and waiting for them to bake

enjoying the finished product

Yummy pretzels!

Open Shut Them (scissors)

Open, shut them, open, shut them
(make scissor motions with fingers).
Give a little snip, snip, snip
(snip with fingers three times).
Open, shut them, open, shut them
(make scissor motions with fingers).
Make another clip
(final snip with fingers).

Cutting Playdough

Set out playdough and scissors for the children to shape, mold and cut.

Homemade Play Dough
2 cups flour
2 cups water
food coloring
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 Tablespoons oil
Combine all ingredients (add coloring with water). Mix until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring and scraping the side and bottom constantly. When stiff, scrape out of pan, knead until smooth.

Body Cut Out

Have each child lay down on a large piece of butcher or easel paper. Trace their bodies. Let them use scissors to cut out their tracing. Provide a lot of different brushes (paint, toothbrush, cleaning brushes, make-up, hair, cooking, house painting, shoe & clothes brushes, etc.) and paint for them to explore painting with a variety of brushes as they paint their tracing.

Hair Salon Pretend Play

Set up with empty hair spray and shampoo bottles, a variety bushes and combs, chairs, mirrors, old appliances (blow dryers, curling irons) with cords cut off, wigs, dolls, bibs or aprons, plastic or pretend scissors (I use plastic playdough scissors that are not sharp at all), signs, cash register, etc.

Hair Salon

Visit a hair salon to observe a person’s hair being cut. Help the children notice the different scissors and brushes that are used. Have the stylist explain how they use each of them.

Brushes and Scissors Journal Page

Read a book about uses of brushes and scissors then hand out a journal sheet with this question on it: "How do you use brushes and scissors?" Record the children's responses and let them draw a picture to go along with their response

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Outdoor Brushing

Place buckets of water and large paintbrushes outside. The children can use them to pretend paint the building, sidewalks, fences, etc.

Balancing Scissors and Brushes

Set up a balance scale and provide a variety of scissors and brushes for the children. Encourage the children to weigh and balance the brushes and scissors. Discuss with them the differences in weight.

Scrubbing Veggies and Fruit

Add water, vegetable brushes and plastic fruits and vegetables to the sensory table. The children can scrub the vegetables and fruits to prepare them for pretend cooking and pretend eating.

Brush Bristles and Magnifying Glasses

Set out magnifying glasses and a variety of brushes with different bristles (paint, toothbrush, cleaning brushes, make-up, hair, cooking, house painting, shoe & clothes brushes, etc.). Allow the children to observe the different bristles up close. Discuss the similarities and differences of the brush bristles.

Scissor Safety

Discuss scissor safety together. Let the children help make a list of how to use scissors safety and display the chart in the classroom.

Brushes in My Home (Chant)

Chant the following rhyme together & act out brushing things:
These brushes in my home are simply everywhere.
I use them for my teeth each day, and also for my hair.
We use them in the kitchen sink and in the toilet bowls,
for putting polish on my shoes and to waterproof the soles.
Brushes are used to polish floors and also paint the wall,
to clean the outdoor barbecue. It’s hard to name them all.

Brushes and Scissors Lesson Plan

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