| When instructing preschool, it's best to keep the | | | | cards, and plant that number of flowers in the sand |
| lessons simple and straightforward. One of the most | | | | pot. |
| important preschool lessons is the alphabet and its | | | | Children love games where they get to freeze |
| many letters. Many preschool teachers like to devote | | | | suddenly, as it gives them a chance to test out and |
| one or two days to each letter, exploring the sound it | | | | show off their mobility skills. Once the weather warms |
| makes and some of the words that begin with that | | | | up, try a game of Freeze Tag, where one child is |
| letter. Some like to spend up to a week on each of | | | | selected to be "it". If a child is tagged by the child who |
| these preschool lessons, integrating stories, games, | | | | is it, they must freeze in that spot with their arms |
| activities and crafts into their teaching. | | | | straight out. The only way to become unfrozen is if |
| The Letter F: Fish, Flowers and Freeze Tag | | | | another child runs beneath one of their arms. |
| Children love learning about animals, and many are | | | | Another classic freeze game is Freeze Dance. To |
| fascinated by underwater creatures like fish. When | | | | begin, play some music and have the children dance. |
| learning about the letter F, try some of these | | | | Shut the music off and yell "FREEZE", and the children |
| fish-themed activities. | | | | must stop exactly where they are and freeze in that |
| Fill a number of small balloons with water. Let each | | | | position. They can resume dancing once the music is |
| child decorate a balloon with markers and fins to | | | | turned back on. |
| resemble fish. Place the balloons in the water table or | | | | The Letter G: Groceries |
| pool and watch them swim around. For added fun, let | | | | One of the best ways to explore the letter G is by |
| the children try to catch the fish balloons with a large | | | | learning about groceries, which ties in nicely with a unit |
| fishnet. | | | | about food, or fruits and vegetables. For this game, |
| Here's a game called "Fish in the Ocean" where one | | | | called "Grocery Sort" set up a few grocery store |
| child is selected to be the shark, and the others have | | | | shelves and give child some food items, either real or |
| to cross from one side of the room to the other | | | | fake. They must then sort the groceries as they see |
| without being eaten by (tagged by) the shark. Once a | | | | fit. |
| fish is tagged by the shark, they join the shark in | | | | Another great way to learn about groceries is by |
| catching more fish. The game is over once everyone | | | | making a series of grocery cards by drawing pictures |
| becomes a shark. | | | | on index cards or cutting them out of magazines and |
| Another great way to teach preschool lessons about | | | | gluing them to the cards. Make sure there are two of |
| the letter F is by learning about flowers. Try this | | | | each item so that card games like go fish and |
| activity called Planting Flowers, which will require a little | | | | concentration can be played with these food item |
| preparation at home. To begin, cut at least 10 flower | | | | cards. |
| shapes from construction paper or magazines and | | | | The possibilities here are endless for these preschool |
| glue these flowers to Popsicle sticks. Next, draw the | | | | lessons. Just observe all the things in the grocery aisles |
| numbers one through ten on recipe cards with a black | | | | and in nature around us to keep the ideas fresh and |
| marker. Finally, fill a flower pot with sand. On the day | | | | fun. |
| of the activity, have children draw one of the number | | | | |