Suzanne Said:

I need a gross motor activity for my preschool lesson plan..ANY ideas? please help?

We Answered:

Karen stated what I would have said as well. Have the children demonstrate their "dreams".

If the focus of the future dreams is occupation, then you can introduce different types of occupations by making visual cards of each occupation and having the children come up with an action for it.

You could tape the children's names on bowling pins (or 2L pop bottles) and have the children roll a ball into the pins. The ones that get knocked over are the children that demonstrate their future dreams. The kids can be "cheer leaders" on the side to get even more gross motor involved. You can really get into this if you wish! Get the pom poms out and have someone read the name of the pin(s) that were knocked down with a megaphone, etc.

Good luck.

Margie Said:

i need Preschool activities,crafts,games,songs,prescho… lesson plans.where do i get it?

We Answered:

May I suggest ...The Mailbox Preschool Magazines and other publications. WONDERFUL resource...one of my most used resource.

Also the internet has many ideas. I find that if you have a theme, it will narrow your search down and be more of a help to you. Just search Preschool & "theme name".

Lucy Said:

preschool lesson plans?

We Answered:

The "messier" the better. :-) Actually...even the "messy" stuff isn't so bad...just depends on how you plan/prepare for it.

For example- paint, shaving cream, hair gel, etc on a pan washes right off. Very "educational"...fine motor...can reinforce basic concepts...can include color mixing (science), can make prints (art)

Jump Cards: This is a group activity. Decide what basic concept you want to work with...such as shapes. Create shape cards (a lot of them). Every once in awhile insert a "jump card" (clip art with a child/person jumping). The kids yell the name of the shape you are showing but when they see a jump card...they can get up and jump in place.

Writing strips: I take paper and cut it into strips and arrange it on the walls...vertical, horizontal, sometimes in a shape of letter, etc. This allows for large arm movments and experiementing with markers, crayons, etc. Also, if they have access to a window low enough for them...washable markers will wash write off with a damp cloth/sponge. The kids love that they can write on the "window/door".

Tactile walk: provide many different textured materials/trays for the children to walk through...can even make it into an obstacle course. It's fun to walk barefoot on bubble wrap, foam, corduroy, even hair gel, but make sure the next "tray" is soapy water. :-)

www.childcareland.com has free printables that can be made into games. She has an uppercase do a dot pattern for the letters of the alphabet. The kids love do a dots and it reinforces letters. You can use do a dot markers, bingo markers, paint and circle sponges, stamps, etc.

This is an interesting activity but it doesn't dry....just so you know. The kids loved it and it's a great "process" activity. We covered cardboard with aluminum foil to make it shiny. Then we let them cover the aluminum foil with Vaseline. (Yes...Vaseline). Then we gave them a selection of foamie shapes. Some kids even made "towers" out of their shapes. It was very neat.

Paint bags- I've done it with pumpkins (red and yellow paint) and leaves (red, orange, and yellow paint). You draw your basic shape with permanent marker onto a freezer quart bag. Reinforce with packing tape. Squirt your paint into opposite sections. Zip shut...reinforce the top with packing tape. Then let them squish to their heart's content. I've done this with hair gel as well... you can add beads, shape foamies etc. Blue hair gel (dollar store) and foam fish are pretty neat.

Make Kabobs for snack. Any type of recipe...incorporate a visual recipe to add a literacy component.

Change "Hokey Pokey" to the "Shape-y Shape Shake". Provide "flash cards with the shapes (or letters or numbers) and sing the song accordingly. Put your circle in. Take your circle out....

Anything to do with their names is a great "educational" activity. We have measured our names with "inchworms" during our "Ii" week. We've measured items with apples, pumpkins, etc. (Stickers-Trend Mini Accents, etc).

Oh...I could go on. :-) Have fun...there are a lot of good ideas on the internet. Ask your friend if they use a theme in the class. It sure will help you narrow down results!