Play Center

By: Alison Carter

#28

Table of Contents
Slide
3.................Science
Slide
4.Math
Slide
5..Art
Slide 6....Language and Literacy
Slide 7.Social/Emotional
Slide 8..Physical Development
Slide 9..Physical Development
Slide 10Physical Development
Slide 11Physical Development

Firework Science

What You Need:

Large, tall clear glass jar filled with waterhalf a gallon or more works best!
Blue, red and yellow liquid food coloring
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Small jar
Spoon or stir stick for mixing
Clear Pyrex measuring cup
What You Do:
Fill a large clear glass jarhalf a gallon or largerwith plain water. Place it on a table where your child can
watch it from several angles.
Invite your child to pour 2 tablespoons of oil into a clear Pyrex measuring cup. (Remember: measuring is a
core science and math skill in elementary school, and theres no such thing as too much practice.)
Now help your child put in about 5 drops each of red, blue, and yellow food coloring into the oil. Stir each
color into the oil.
Have your child pour the oil onto the water in the jar all at once. At first, the oil will be spread around in
globules, but keep watching: right before your eyes, the oil and food coloring will first float to the top, and
then the globs will find one another and come together.
Now its time for even more fun as the fireworks begin! The food coloring will begin to separate from the oil
and move back into the water, in long streams of each of the three colors. The colors will separate from one
another as if they never mixed in the first place, and stream through the water in the three original colors
that you began with. For both adults and kids alike, the results can be mesmerizing.

http://www.education.com/activity/article/Chromatography_liquid_fireworks/

Get Loopy

What You Need:

Box of Froot Loops or other similar rainbow-colored o cereal
Length of clean string, about 24"
Scotch tape
What You Do:
To prepare for this activity start by cutting a small length (about ) of scotch tape. Wrap it
tightly around one end of the string to form a firm end, sort of like a shoelace tip. This helps
little hands get strings through the holes in the cereal.
Help your child tie a firm knot about 2" from the other end of the string.
Pour out a large bowl of the cereal, and explain to him that he'll be making a necklace using
exactly 100 of these o's. Here's the catch: in keeping with primary math standards, you'll be
doing this a special way, counting by tens.
Have him start with ten o's of one color, and string them on.
He'll then move on to 10 pieces of a different color, and so on up to 100, until he completes a
full rainbow necklace.
These necklaces usually look great and are lots of fun to make. But before you tie it off and
place it on his neck, take a minute to savor some important learning. Stretch the string
lengthwise on a table, and invite him to join you in counting off by tens!

http://www.education.com/activity/article/get-loopy-hundredth-day/

Make Your Own Building

Blocks

What You Need:

4-10 large paper supermarket bags
Strong tapeeither duct tape or packaging tape
Large stack of newspapers
Flat pieces of corrugated cardboard
What You Do:
With your child, stuff a grocery bag loosely with crumpled paper. Try to
maintain a block shape to facilitate easy stacking.
Fold the top edges of the bag over and seal the "block" tightly with tape.
Retain the handles for easy carrying.
Brainstorm other potential building structures with your child, such as
bridges, tunnels, moats, and roofs.
Help him build any desired extra structures out of the corrugated cardboard.
Play with the blocks!

http://www.education.com/activity/article/kick-tumble-kidsize-blocks/

Jumping Bean Phonics

What You Need:

Five pieces of large thick paper (oak tag or cardboard work well)
Index cards or construction paper
Markers or crayons
Masking tape
What You Do
Start by writing the following consonants on the index cards or construction paper:
B,C,F,H,M,P,R,S,D. Review the sounds these letters make with your child and ask him to say them
aloud, so you're sure he's familiar with the sounds each of the letters makes.
Next, take out your five large pieces of thick paper. On each sheet, write one of the following ending
blends: -at, -ig, -og, -an, -it. Tape each sheet to the floor (leaving a bit of room between each).
Start by looking at the ending sounds on the floor and saying them together.
It's time to jump! Tell your child that he's a Mexican jumping bean, and that his job is to find a
partner. Then explain the rules of the game: each time you give your child an index card with a letter
on it, he'll try to jump onto as many word matches for it as he can find. (You can use a timer if you'd
like, to make things more challenging.) For example, if he had the letter m, he could jump on "at"
to make mat, or he could jump on "an" to make man."But if he jumped on "it", he would lose
his turn, because "mit" is not a word (it's mitt!). The goal is to make as many words as possible,
before the timer rings, or the player makes a mistake.
http://www.education.com/activity/article/jumpingbean_kindergarten/

Who Stole The Cookies?

WHO STOLE THE COOKIES? GAME
Here is an old favorite of many teachers.
Have children sit in a circle.
Place a cookie jar in front of you.
Start the game by looking in the empty cookie jar and saying, Who stole the cookies
from the cookie jar?
Then point to a child and say their name. Such as; Mary stole the cookies from the
cookie jar.
Mary responds, Who me?
Then all children respond, Yes, you.
Mary responds, Couldnt be
The class says, Then who?
Mary points to another child (whos name she knows) and says, Tommy stole the
cookies from the cookie jar.
Game continues until all children have had a turn.
A fun ending, is for the teacher to confess, All right, I confess, I stole the cookies from
the cookie jar and here they are.
Teacher passes around a plate of cookies for each child to take one.
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/game_station05/game_station_sep05.shtml

Beach Ball Volleyball

What you need:
- Volleyball net for children or you can make your own
- Beach balls (all sizes)
What you do:
- Play volleyball
- Use easier rules if needed such as no limit for hits on each rally

Baton Twirling
What you need:
- Batons
- Outdoor area
What you do:
- Teach the older kids the basics (thumb toss, figure 8, horizontal)
- The younger kids just let them mess around and have fun

Popcorn Parachute
What you need:
- Parachute
- Plastic balls
What you do:
Popcorn - The kids throw soft balls on the parachute and we shake it and sing
the popcorn song
Tune - I'm a little teapot
Song - Popcorn
I'm a piece of popcorn in a pot
heat me up and watch me pop
when I get all fat and white I'm done,
oh, popping corn is so much fun.
With the older group of kids, we will make big waves to pop the balls off. Of
course, parents are always helping.
http://lizzyborden1.blogspot.com/2009/02/parachute-play.html

Jump Rope Activities

JUMP A STATIONARY ROPE
The rope is stretched out across the floor. The jumpers line up and jump the rope one at a time on a signal. As the jumper
approaches the rope he plants both feet together and broad jumps across the rope. Cue: take off on 2 feet and land on 2
feet.
JUMP THE SNAKE
Rope turners crouch or kneel and wiggle the rope from side to side, (no more than 12 inches). Jumpers take off and land as
they did with a stationary rope. The goal is to avoid touching the rope. SIDE SWING
Fold the rope in half and turn around with your body in a circular fashion. Have the partner jump over the rope as it goes
around in a circle.

SIDE STEP SIDEWARD

Again fold the rope in half with both hands to one side of the body. Swing the rope to the left side of the body and then the
right side. Jump over the rope as it touches the left and then the right side of the body.
STRADDLE JUMP-Alternate
A regular jump with a straddle jump. The straddle jump has the feet spread to shoulder width.
SKIER
The skier is a double-foot jump similar to a technique used by skiers. The jumper stands on both feet on a line. Jumping is
down sideways back ad forth over the line. Children should also try it in a backward and forward direction.
HEEL TOE
The Heel-toe, as the rope passes under the feet, the jumper jumps with the weight landing on the right foot while touching
the left heel forward. On the next turn of the rope, he humps lands on the same foot, and touches the left toe beside the
right heel. This pattern is done again with the opposite foot bearing the weight.
http://www.jumpropeinstitute.com/kids.htm

Capture The Flag

Capture the Flag is a favorite game to play outdoors.
There are two teams. Team 1 has the front yard and Team 2
has the back yard, or a field is split between the two teams.
The teams are given a time period (e.g. 5 minutes) to hide
their flag in their part of the yard.
[optional] During this period spies were sent out to see were
the flag was hidden as well as look-outs to catch the spies.
When the flag is hidden you call out that you are finished. Then
you simply try to get the other teams flag. If you get caught
and tagged by the opponent on their territory you had to go to
jail and could only be freed by a teammate who grabs you
when your opponent isn't looking.
The first team to capture the flag wins. In most versions you
had to both get the flag, and bring it back to your side.