Art Activity: Transportation Stencils

A very simple activity for this day.  We gave the children transportation themed stencils and colored pencils.  The children used the materials to trace cars, trains, trucks, and other transportation items.

Art/Language Activity: Up, Up, and Away

This activity was a combination of art and language.  We gave the children a picture of themselves, colored circles that represented balloons, and glue sticks.  First, the children glued the colored circles to their paper to make it look as if they were being lifted by balloons. 

Next the children chose a spot on a road map to where they would fly with their balloons, and then told a story about what they would do when they got to that destination.

The art and language activities were combined into one to create a story with a cool visual to go along with it.

Story Book for May 7, 2009

Our story book for May 7th was Argyle Turkey Goes to Ganderland by James E. Davis.  It's Argyle Turkey's birthday, and his birthday wish is to visit someplace new, far away, and fun. His friend Gilda Goose suggests a trip to Ganderland. The only problem is Ganderland is very far away, and turkeys can't fly. His friends come up with a solution to help Argyle fly. They tie helium balloons around him to make him fly. He meets new friends as he flies across mountains, valleys, forests, deserts and finally to a cave before getting to Ganderland.

Art Activity: Roller Skate Painting

This was a pretty simple activity, but it took up a lot of space to implement.  We laid down a couple pieces of large paper.  Next we let the children put on some roller skates and roll through various colors of paint.  To prevent the children from falling in the paint, a teacher helped them keep their balance while skating across the paper.

Story Book for May 6, 2009

Our story book for May 6th was This Is The Way We Go To School by Edith Baer.  This story illustrates the many different way children around the world get to school.

Language Activity: Position Words with Vehicles

The teachers and children built a sort of obstacle course in the block area for this activity.  The teachers gave the children specific directions on how to move their vehicles through the course.  The children had to follow such commands as:  drive under the bridge, go through the tunnel, drive around the school, go over the hill, etc...  This was a good way for the children to get familiar with these directional words.

Art Activity: Playdough Vehicles

We gave the children various colors of playdough along with pieces of foam, pipe cleaners, and other collage materials.  We asked them to make their favorite mode of transportation.  The children made motorcycles, trains, cars and other vehicles.

Story Book for May 5, 2009

Our story book for May 5th was Sputter, Sputter, Sput! by Babs Bell.  The story of a little guy, with a big head, that drives his car around the town.  He runs into trouble when his car runs out of gas.

Math Activity: Transportation Shape Match

This teacher made activity is a simple matching game.  The children match up the mode of transportation to its black silhouette.  This was also a good vocabulary builder.

Art Activity: Paper Airplanes

This was a very simple but fun activity.  We gave the children sheets of paper and asked them to decorate the paper on both sides using markers, crayons, and colored pencils.  When the children were finished, the teachers folded their papers into paper airplanes.  The children flew their airplanes around our gross motor room later in the day.  Some even held paper airplane races with their creations.

Story Book for May 4, 2009

Our story book for May 4th was Flying by Donald Crews.  A small propeller plane takes a trip across the country going over cities, mountains, and clouds before landing.

Science Activity: Ramp Races

For this activity we made ramps using the blocks in the block area.  We gave the children 4 items that roll (car, tube, ball, egg) and asked them to predict which item would roll the farthest.  After the children made their predictions they rolled the items down the ramps and measured how far each item rolled.  After all the items were rolled, the children were able to tell if their prediction was correct.

Art Activity: Boats

For this activity we gave the children sections of foam that were cut from swimming pool rafts.  We also gave them pipe cleaners, toothpicks, plastic people, animals, buttons, beads, and other collage materials.  The children used the toothpicks and pipe cleaners to connect the other materials to their foam pieces.  Each child designed a unique boat that was able to float in water.  Many of our kids took them home to use in the bath tub.

Story Book for April 29, 2009

Our story book for April 29th was Sail Away by Donald Crews.  A family sets out in their sail boat for a fun day on the water.  The story gets exciting when they encounter a storm, but in the end they return home safely. 

Field Trip: KY Derby Festival Pegasus Parade Preview

Every year the Kentucky Derby Festival invites schools to preview the attractions that will be featured in the Pegasus Parade.  We got to see all of the floats, balloons and other attractions that were to be in the parade this year.  It was almost like going to the parade without having to fight the crowds.

Story Book for April 28, 2009

Our story book for April 28th was Freight Train by Donald Crews.  A colorful train makes it's way across the country.

Story Book for April 27, 2009

Our story book for April 27th was Late For School by Stephanie Calmenson.  A school teacher, Mr. Bungles, is late for school.  He keeps trying different modes of transportation to get to school, but something always seems to go wrong.  His car won't start, he misses the train,  there are too many people on the bus, etc....

Science Activity: Hand Crane

For this science activity we let the children use the hand crane.  They used the crane to pick up cotton balls and toy cars.  We hoped this activity would help illustrate how a real crane works, and how simple machines help make work easier.

Art Activity: Transportation Collage

For this collage activity cut out pictures of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and boats from an AutoTrader magazine.  We also put some of the magazines on the table so that the children could cut out their own pictures.  The children selected which pictures they like and then glued them onto their papers to make a collage.

Story Book for April 24, 2009

Our story book for April 24th was On the Go by Ann Morris.  This book uses photographs to show how children, from all over the world, travel.  The modes of transportation in this book include walking, traveling by boat, bicycle, trains, and others.

Art Activity: Stick Horses

For this activity we gave each child horse head cut outs, markers and yarn.  First, the children colored their horse with the markers

Next, the children laced yarn through holes to make a mane for their horse.

The teachers helped the children connect their horses to a stick.

After the horses were finished we were able to have a stick horse derby in the cafeteria.

Math Activity: Counting People in Vehicles

This was a teacher made math game using people counters and pictures of vehicles with numbers on them.  The children counted out the number of people that were to go in each vehicle.  For those children who can't yet recognize numerals, they placed a counter on each one of the dots on the card.

Story Book for April 23, 2009

Our story book for April 23rd was I Wish I Were a Pilot by Stella Blackstone.  This rhyming book explores many different types of transportation including flying an airplane, driving a car, and riding a horse.

Art Activity: Truck Painting

We gave the children several different toy trucks to paint with for this activity.  The children dipped the tires in paint, and then rolled the trucks across their paper.  Each of the trucks had different styles of treads on their tires, so they all made different patterns as the children rolled them across the paper.