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Welcome to Early Childhood Newsletter's
"Summer Session." During June and July, I will share some of my favorite
"anytime activities" from newsletters published in prior years as well as
some of the best online Web resources I've found for early childhood
educators. I hope you'll find here some fun ideas and useful resources for
engaging your students.
While this newsletter is in summer session, I am hard at work creating new
themed newsletters that will debut starting in August. Among the themes
I'm working on are Insects, Fire Fighters and Other Community Helpers, and
Giving Thanks.
--Susan LaBella, Editor, Early Childhood Newsletter
Education
World's Early Childhood Education Newsletter, June 8, 2006
 ACTIVITY
IDEAS
SANDY CRAFTS FOR YOUR CLASSROOM...
 Sand
paintings
Help each child drip or paint glue on paper to make letters,
numbers, or a design; sprinkle sand over paper and shake off the excess
sand.
Sandy Candles
Cover a pillar candle with non-flammable school glue. Roll in
colored sand.
Make a Mini Beach
Materials:
-- baby food jars w/ lids (Other small jars -- such as jelly jars -- can
be used. Small, clear-plastic ones are always preferable to glass. You
might be able to locate small, plastic peanut butter jars.)
-- sand
-- shells (Pasta shells can be used to represent real shells.)
Fill a baby food jar ¼ to 1/3 with sand. Arrange pebbles and shells. If
you want to add "water," place blue plastic wrap inside the jar before the
sand and objects.
HAVE A FRIENDSHIP FAIR
Set aside a day for a Friendship Fair. Have children play partner
games, paint cooperative pictures, or use paper plates and scrap materials
to create funny friendship hats for each other to wear. Encourage children
to choose a new friend for each activity of the day; they can do that by
picking a classmate's name out of a bag. At Circle Time, read the book
Will I Have a Friend? by Miriam Cohen. Ask children if any of them ever
felt as Jim felt. Continue the discussion by letting children share their
"friend stories."
 GO
ON A MEASURE HUNT!
Talk about basic units of measure with children. Show children the
length of an inch, a foot, and a yard. Provide small groups of children
with pieces of string that represent an inch, a foot, and a yard. Invite
the groups to search the classroom to find items that are best measured in
inches, feet, and yards. (For example, a crayon is best measured in
inches, a table in feet or yards, the classroom in yards or feet.) Create
a chart with three columns: Inches, Feet, and Yards. Have children report
their findings as you write the names of measured items in the appropriate
column(s) on the chart. Finish by asking each group to choose an item to
"measure' with the appropriate length of string. Write statements that
tell about those measurements. For example, Our table is 2 yards long.
ONE CLASS, MANY CHILDREN
Pre-cut a very large sheet of paper into puzzle-like pieces. Be sure
to have as many pieces as you have children and give one piece to each
child. Encourage children to draw themselves on their pieces and to
decorate the pieces as they wish. Write each child's name on his or her
piece. Place the puzzle pieces together on the bulletin board with the
title "We Fit Together."
ON
THE WEB
Check out the following Web sites for more background and activities.
 Kids'
Party Fun
Have an indoor beach party on a rainy day. Skip the sand, but turn up
the heat, turn on the bright lights, play some beach music, and serve
summer treats. On this site, you will find some great ideas for indoor
beach days.
http://www.kidspartyfun.com/pages/themes/beachparty.html
KinderKonnect Kindergarten Units
Discover a recipe for making Friendship Bread and learn about some
other friendship activities.
http://www.kinderkonnect.com/febunits.htm
Ocean Unit
An entire unit on The Ocean filled with activity suggestions and lots
more.
http://www.prekinders.com/oceanunit.htm
America Zoo
Warm weather? See some really cooool animals here -- wonderful photos
and information too.
http://www.americazoo.com/kids/antarctica.htm
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