Creative Curriculum Activities?

Question

Do these sound like good ideas

Dramatic play- Bringing in puppets to see where the kids take their imaginations.

Blocks- Bring in pictures of architect objects and have them try to build them or make up their own ideas

Sand and Water- I'm still thinking but ideas would be great if you have any

Outside- I'm still thinking but ideas would be great if you have any.

Let me know what you think all of these activities are for children who are 3

Answer 1

Dramatic play- Make prop boxes that contain all the items the children would need to act out different themes. For example a doctor's prop box could have a doctor's kit, gauze bandages, old x-rays etc. Some other ideas are a fix-it center with old broken appliances (watch out for sharp or small pieces) and play tools so they can pretend to fix it, vet office, business office with a typewriter or computer keyboard, tea party, exercise center, or even just a plain old cardboard appliance box that they can make into anything they want.

Blocks- add dinosaurs, people, cars, animals, etc so they can build houses, cages, roads, ramps, etc.

Sand and water - uncooked noodles, rice, or oatmeal. Fake spider webs that are sold around Halloween or Easter grass, Dirt and worm (real or fake). Mud. Flour. Ice water for a polar theme. Fake flowers.

Outside- have a box full of blocks, construction hats, trucks, balls, baby dolls, etc. Take out books, paper , crayons, and markers. Play a lot of games with them. Take out spray bottles of water paint and let them paint giant pieces of paper clipped to the fence. Give them paintbrushes and buckets of water and let them paint the playground equipment.

Answer 2

Check Usborne Books for some great activity books for kids of all ages!  They are great references for teachers...

http://www.ubah.com/g2687

Answer 3

Sand & water - add plastic sea life, colour the water blue, small plastic boats

Answer 4

For drama I'd say that's perfect although you might want to add dress ups as well.

Blocks - let the kids build what they want. Also if you want something more structured try Duplo (it's a little kids form of lego) I believe they have some kits which you can use to make different scenes like farms etc

Sand and water - you can use things with them like buckets, spades, rakes etc. You could also hide "treasure" in the sand. for water you can use small cups, larger jugs and water wheels

Outside - Climbing equipment, make beams out of pieces of wood which are rested on these (the same way you would rest a painter's scaffold but lower), tires for them to either step on or in. You could make an obstacle course with these things.

Answer 5

to a web search on preschool activites...tons will come up...also try kidshealth.com for more ideas...have fun!

Answer 6

Those sound like good places to start. Find out what the children really enjoy. Is there a theme or topic that interests them like fire trucks, the beach, insects, etc?

Then, when you've found a focus, create a unifying theme among all of your areas. For instance, with fire trucks:

*Dramatic play: bring in firefighter puppets, hats, and dress up fire suits.

*Blocks: Paint some blocks to look like parts of a fire house. Or use the cardboard bigger blocks and encourage the children to create their own.

*Sand and water: Get those small hand pumps, cut up some different lengths of garden hose, see how far they can pump or spray the water.

*Outside: Create a pretend fire using white board (you can buy for cheap at the hardward store in the bath tub section) and red and orange finger paint. Have the kids put on their fire helmets and use a hose to spray off (wash off) the fire.

*Field trip: Visit your local fire house and get a tour from the fire fighters. They can show the children their equipment, teach them about fire safety, and usually have fun give aways like badges or stickers. Make it fun but also a chance for children to learn how to be safe in a fire.

Or you can always combine areas. Collect big appliance boxes, some scraps of paper, small boxes of different sizes and encourage the children to create their own firetrucks. What do they need to make it a 'real' truck? Hoses? Wheels? Ladders? A dalmation? When they have completed the fire trucks, have them 'race' to a fire outside. See who can make it to the house, run around cones, jump over things, etc. You can easily combine the imaginary, art, and physical/gross motor play into a themed activity.

Answer 7

The Creative Curriculum is a framework. You will also need a daily curriculum with lessons in all domains.

When you teach a theme, add materials to each center that are related to that theme.

Links to Literacy is an excellent curriculum sold at www.kaplanco.com. It is theme-based and literacy-based.

Answer 8

personally, i remember liking playing with paints and crayons and coloring and such.