Hey y'all! This week was another amazing preschool week with C is for community. Something that I think is an amazing introduction to our children on the values of being a hard worker, how everyone works together (without even being together), and more. A theme that could probably go on for a few weeks, but since this was our first time discussing what a community is, this week was a great introduction!
Books
Day 1: Here Come the Helpers by Leslie Kimmelman
Day 2: When I Grow Up by Tad Carpenter
Day 3: What Hat is This? by Sharon Katz Cooper
Day 4: I Want to be a Veterinarian by Laura Driscoll
Day 5: I Want to be a Police Officer by Laura Driscoll
Fine Motor Activities
Day 1: Extract the Teeth
Materials: Red play doh, white beads, and tweezers.
Instructions:
Form the play doh into the roof of the mouth.
Add the white beads along the sides to create "teeth".
Let your toddler use the tweezers to pull each tooth (bead) out of the gums (play doh). Explaining to them how dentist sometimes do it with their job and how important dental hygiene is.
Day 2: Make a Building
Materials: Shaving cream, blocks, small bowl, and butter knifes.
Instructions:
Spray some shaving cream into the small bowl.
Invite your child to spread the shaving cream onto the blocks to make them stick together.
Day 3: Put the Fire Out
Materials: Laminated houses (In worksheets below), Big piece of cardboard, tape, shaving cream, yellow/orange/red washable paint, spatula, and loaded water guns.
Instructions:
Tape the houses onto the cardboard.
Squirt the shaving cream over the houses and add a mixture of the paint across the cream to create "fire". And pat the cream until the colors combine a little to create the fire effect.
Place the cardboard against a wall outside with the water guns.
Encourage your child to pretend to be a firefighter by using the guns to squirt the water onto the cream, putting the fire out.
Day 4: Band Aid Animals
Materials: Baby doll, dry-erase red marker, and band aids.
Instructions:
Draw a few "scratches" on the baby with the red marker.
Encourage your child to heal the baby's wounds by opening up the band aid package and sticking it properly on the baby.
Day 5: Community Helper Tracing
Materials: Community helper tracing papers (In worksheets below) and a writing utensil.
Instructions:
Let your child use the writing utensil to trace the different wacky lines to match the worker to their corresponding hat.
Gross Motor Activities
Day 1: Community Simon Says
Materials: Community Simon says cards.
Instructions:
Call out the cards one by one and encourage your child to do the action
Tip: If you're child still doesn't quite grasp the concept, help them by doing the game along with them. After a few rounds they'll be sure to get it!
Day 2: Drive the City
Materials: Community place cards (In worksheets below) and transportation.
Instructions:
Make two copies of the place cards.
Use one copy to cut apart, placing each one somewhere around the house/yard.
Let them hop in their transportation (ours was his bike because his truck was dead...bad mommy) and let them visit each location.
Tip: Enhance their imagination and play in this activity by having them pretend to do an action that corresponds with each place that they visit (Example: Picking up cupcakes for a friend at the bakery).
Day 3: Fire Water Squeeze
Materials: Chalk and Hose.
Instructions:
Draw some little balls of fire all over the sidewalk with the chalk.
Let your child use the hose to wash away the chalk, encouraging them to "put out the fire".
Day 4: Find and Match the Tools
Materials: Various tools, paper, and marker.
Instructions:
Gather together some safe tools and trace them with the marker onto the paper.
Then hide the tools around the house (easy enough for them to find, but still a bit challenging).
Encourage them to match the tools with the traced ones on the paper, helping them name them as they find them.
Day 5: Wash the Windows
Materials: Spray bottle and squeege.
Instructions:
Let you child use the spray bottle (up to you if you want to fill it with just water or let them use actual cleaning products) and then use the squeege to wipe the window clean.
Food/Snack
Day 1: Teeth Brushing
Ingredients: Twinkie, mini marshmallows, fruit strip, and white/blue icing.
Instructions:
Slice the twinkie in half.
Add some marshmallows to it to create some teeth.
Then cut a thin slice of the fruit strip to create the handle of the toothbrush.
Finish it off with some icing to act as the toothpaste.
Day 2: School Bus
Ingredients: Twinkie, white icing, chocolate syrup, rolos, and red skittles.
Instructions:
Cut a wedge from the front of the twinkie, cutting a bit of the bottom off, and reattaching it to the same spot to create a hood.
Use the white frosting to create little dots for windows.
Add on a line parallel to the bus under the frosting dots.
Attach the skittles to the back with icing for tail lights and the rolos for wheels.
Day 3: Fire Engine
Ingredients: Fruit strips, vanilla wafer, 2 chocolate donuts, red skittles, and white icing.
Instructions:
Start with the fruit strips, cutting one end to make it rounded for the front of the engine.
Cut the other to lay perpendicular to the first.
Add the wafer for a ladder.
Put the donuts for some wheels.
Add the skittles for some lights.
And finish it off with some details with the windows and headlights with the icing.
Day 4: Thermometers
Ingredients: Pretzel sticks, white/red melting candy, bowls, wax paper, and a ziploc bag.
Instructions:
Melt the white candy in a bowl.
Dip the pretzel in the white and set it on some wax paper to dry.
Melt the red candy in a bowl.
Place it into a ziploc bag and cut off a small piece on one tip of the bottom of the bag.
Pipe some lines to mimic a thermometer.
Day 5: Police Car
Ingredients: 3 vanilla wafers, brown skittles, and red/blue icing.
Instructions:
Stack together two of the wafers, with the third stacked in half.
Attach some brown skittles for the wheels.
Finish it off with some red and blue icing to make some lights.
Sensory Activities
Day 1: Wash the Alphabet Teeth
Materials: Alphabet teeth (In worksheets below), soap, bin, water, and toothbrushes.
Day 2: Construction Bin
Materials: Dirt, rocks, and constructions toy trucks.
Day 3: Firefighter Bin
Materials: Water, water guns, caps, bin, and red food coloring.
Day 4: Syringe Painting
Materials: Syringes, paper, cups of paint, and bowl of water.
Day 5: Mail the Letters
Materials: Alphabet envelopes (In worksheets below), bin, pipe cleaners, and color coordinated shoe box.
Other
Day 2: Climb into a Construction Truck
My husband works construction, and his uncle for an asphalt company. So Chris loves being able to (safely) climb into a construction truck with some supervision.
Day 3: Community Puppets
Materials: Community puppets (In worksheets below).
Day 4: Art for the Nurses
My mom is a manger/registered nurse on the Pediatric floor at our local hospital. So we got to make some "art" and send them off to her staff to hopefully give them a good smile.
Day 5: Leave a Nice Note for the Mail Man
I had my son try to write some nice notes, along with myself, on post-its to leave on the outside of our mailbox with tape for our mail man.