Interview this week for a nursery school. Have to do activity please help!!!!?

Question

I am required to do a 20 min session with a 3, 4 and 5 year old girl to explore playdough. Was thinking of saltdough? That way they can make & decorate something then once it goes hard its theirs to keep? What can they make tho to suit each age group or any other ideas????

Answer 1

You can also print out shapes/letters/numbers on paper, laminate them and work with rolling snakes and placing them on the shapes.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2263218_own-play...

You can also take the ingredients to make your own with the kids, help them make it, and then play with it with them.  They can take it home with them.

Or bring in a bunch of kitchen utensils (the more unusual the better), chop sticks, cookie cutters, etc and play with them.  Kids already know play dough, but making their own is fun and you can do a basic lesson on color mixing (take food coloring and color the water and ask what colors to mix), measurement, and fun.

Answer 2

With the four and five year olds, I would let them help me make the daltdough.  I am assuming you allready have a recipee but if not there are plenty of easy to follow recipees on yahoo.  Not only will this take up time but it will have the children activly involved.  After that I would have them make a handprint craft.  With the four and five year olds have them role out a large flat piece of dough and then firmly place their hand in it.  They you cut the dough around thier handprint into a shape such as a square.  The five year olds may actually be able to do that part theirself.  Then have the child use tempra paint to paint the handprint.  At the bottom write their name and the date on it.  This is something that mothers love.  You could alos put a poem about hands in the middle.  With the 3 year olds give them a clump of dough to do whatever they want with while you prepare their square of dough for their handprint.  Three year olds have short atteniton spands.  Have them one at a time come to press and paint their hand print.  They usually love making handprints too.  Have fun and just remember relax and smile.  

Poem

I miss you when we're not together

I'm growing up so fast

See how big I've gotten

Since you saw me last?

As I grow, I'll change a lot,

The years will fly right by.

You'll wonder how I grew so quick

When and where and why?

So look upon this handprint   (these handprints)

That's hanging on your wall.

And memories will come back of me,

When I was very small.

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing -

I'll be grown some day

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away.

So here's a little handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small.

Children have a certain way

of growing bigger every day,

But these little hands

and this special smile

will stay in our

hearts a long, long while.

There are many more cute poems on the dltk website located below

Answer 3

Great ideas already.  20 minutes is a long time with a 5 year old.  It is a really long time with a 3 year old.  I think making the playdough with them would be great.  You can use glitter, beads, etc... in the playdough.  I loved the shell idea.  You can put all sorts of things in Playdough.  You can use the small koolaid packets for coloring and smell.  Or you could make white playdough and mix colors.  You get a ball of dough, flatten it slightly put one color (like yellow) on one side and blue on the other and when the child starts to knead the dough together it makes green.  you can add smells like peppermint, root beer, almond, etc..from the extract isle.  You could start by making the clay and using cooking and utensils for measuring and premath, then have the children mix the colors by kneading the two colors together and then have them roll them out to the letters of thier names (4 and 5) and for the three year old bring it down a few notched depending on the child.  She could mix the colors and then use a rolling pin and cookie cutters.  Leave it open ended.  It will take up more time.  Always have a few back ups in your bag of tricks so that if they get bored you can whip out something else.  Like toothpicks and popsicle sticks to put in the playdough to make a castle or a building...etc.

Answer 4

Since its the summer why don't you bring along some small beach shells and have them decorate the salt dough like its the beach (you'd have to keep the salt dough plain, no food coloring)? Plenty of craft stores are carry bags of shells or stones this time of year. The smaller the shells the better the fine motor work will be for this project. It is also an easy activity for both younger and older preschoolers. Once the dough dries, the shells will be stuck in there for good and they will have a summery sculpture to send home :)

Answer 5

You might have them make a box to hold small items like jewelry or paper clips that they could decorate.  Or if you have a large amount or saltdough, they could make masks using paint, glitter and yarn for hair.  Or animal figures.

Before I read the details of your question I had the idea of having the kids make a fresh fruit salad.  Along the way you could teach them the different types of fruit and they would be able to work on cooperating with each other and fine motor skills.