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Circle Time Activity |
Making Shapes With Mega Blocks |
Felt Board Stories |
Our preschool curriculum program provides fun daily activities such as circle time or group time, arts and crafts, story time, songs and rhymes, pre reading & pre writing, math {learning numbers, shapes and colors}, science for kids, gross motor, fine motor and other fun hands on learning activities for five days per week. We start our morning program off each day with circle time.
If you have purchased our lesson plans there is a calendar that you can print out, it’s paper sized and you may want to place it onto your bulletin board to let the parents know which activities their children are doing each day. You can check the calendar for a quick reminder of what activity you’re going to be doing next. You may need to refer to the daily lesson plans on how to do the activities for that day.
Free Circle Time |
Free Circle Time |
Free Circle Time |
The weather chart is included in every monthly curriculum package. We start our morning program off each day with circle time. To begin our circle time, we discuss with the children the weather outside. We have the children look out the window and then we ask them “What is the weather outside?” If you have a lot of younger children they may not be able to answer correctly, then we give them hints; such as, {Is the sky white or blue?} if it’s white does anyone know what that means? {It’s cloudy.} “Is it raining outside?" Is it snowing outside?” Is it cloudy outside?" Is it windy outside?" We have a weather chart and each day we have one of the children move the arrow to the correct weather for that day.
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We begin our morning program each day with circle time. To begin our circle time, we discuss with the children the weather outside.
First, we have the children look out the window and then we ask them "What is the weather outside?" If you have a lot of younger children they may not be able to answer correctly, then we give them hints; such as, {Is the sky white or blue?} if it’s white does anyone know what that means? {It’s cloudy} "Is it raining outside?" Is snowing outside?" Is it cloudy outside?" Is it windy outside?" We have a weather chart and each day we have one of the children move the arrow to the correct weather for that day. The weather chart is included in the toddler or preschool curriculum.
Circle Time Calendar Activity |
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Free Circle Time Calendars |
I will ask the children “Does anyone know what day it is?” If no one knows what day it is, I will tell them, “Today Is Thursday” {Or whatever day it actually is}. We have a large felt calendar with numbers that have Velcro on their backs to stick to the calendar. The children take turns putting up the numbers each day to show that day’s date. The Toddlers are too young to understand what a calendar is but they still have fun sticking up the numbers.
Next, we have one blank calendar for each child. Each day we will have the children stick on a circle sticker with that day’s date on it. After they place the day onto the calendar, such as today is May 18th and they place the circle sticker with the number 18 on it on their calendar, then we have the children find the number one on the calendar and point to it and then we begin counting all the numbers that are on our calendars. Have the children point to each number and count up to the circle sticker number, such as number 18.
We write each child’s name on their calendar and then we either stick them onto the wall with a piece of tape or place them into a file folder and put them away until tomorrow. At the end of the month they can take their calendars home.
Seven days of the week song. After we have completed the calendar we sing the seven days of the week song which is shown below.
Circle Time Songs |
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Circle Time Songs |
Each week we teach the children a few new songs or rhymes for that week’s theme. Children like repetition so don’t be afraid to sing any song the children really like on a daily basis, but try to add a few new ones each week. It won’t be long and the children will be following along to the hand movements to the songs and nursery rhymes they hear often and before you know it they will start to sing right along with you! Be sure to include some of the children’s favorites each week. Some of our children’s favorites are listed below.
To help reinforce each week’s theme we introduce a few new songs each week that focus on that week’s theme. Children really enjoy songs that are interactive, where they can act out the songs with hand or body movements. We make sure to include some of the children's favorites each day, such as:
Children enjoy hearing the same songs over and over and it helps them to learn the songs they are hearing over and over, so don't be afraid to sing any song the children really like on a daily basis, but try to add a few new ones each week.
If you have young toddlers in your group, they may not be able to sing along with you, but they really enjoy music so please sing. In time they will be showing the hand movements to the songs and nursery rhymes they hear often and before you know it they will start to sing a word or two.
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Circle Time Story Freddy Farmer Fed The Animals Book |
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Circle Time
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Teddy Bear Color Book
Learning Colors
I see a red teddy bear. |
Free Circle Time Story
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Printable Game
Help Ned Pick Up His Toys Game
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Free Circle Time Game
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Circle Time
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Letter A Poster |
Letter B Poster |
Letter C Poster |
Our curriculum is aimed at teaching the children their alphabet, numbers, shapes, shapes, pre writing {tracing letters}, learning to count, letter and number recognition, learning beginning sounds {by making letter books}, simple science activities and so much more.
Each month the children are taught three new letters and one number {September – May}. Above are our letters posters for the month of September. These posters are paper sized and can be printed from your computer and placed on the wall for your children to be able to view them each day. Each month you will receive three new letter posters to place up on the wall. You will also receive the number, shape and color posters to print out.
During the summer months {June – August} we review the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors the children have been learning through the school year.
Free Letter A |
Free Letter B |
Free Letter C |
Above are three cute letters that you can download and print out for the children in your daycare. You can download all 26 alphabet coloring pages for free {Limited time}. Some children love coloring pages others do not. If you have children in your daycare that love to color then you may want to click the link above to go over to the ABC coloring page to download these for free to share with the children in your daycare.
Coloring pages are a fine motor activity. It teaches children to color inside the lines. Younger children may not color inside the lines they may just scribble all over the page, don’t worry if they are only scribbling on the page, as they mature they will learn to color inside the lines, encourage each child to be creative and let them color the page however they want, inside the lines...outside the lines, it doesn’t really matter as long as they are having fun.
Encourage the children to sit together or near each other as they are coloring, ask the children which letter they are coloring and what color they are using. Make it a relaxing social time for the children, put on some relaxing music {turn it down low}, above all...just have fun!
For those children that do not like coloring pages, offer them some plain paper, markers or crayons and let them use their imagination. The key point is to try and be flexible, not every child is going to like the same things. Try to think how you can offer them something similar but a bit different to make it more enjoyable for them.
Circle Time
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Plant Pot Flower Match Up |
Letter B - Pre Reading Activity |
Fun Shape Game Activity |
The above pictures are from our September preschool curriculum. During the month of September the children will be learning the letters A...B...C. Above is a pre reading activity where the children glued on buttons onto the letter B. If you have children under the age of 3 in your daycare, you may not want to use buttons, you could use pieces of blue paper or use blue stickers.
In our preschool curriculum children will be using glue, paint and working on learning how to cut, trace plus we try to include sensory and fine motor into our lesson plans. Sometimes the children will be using rice in a sandbox or planting fake flowers outside or sticking clothespins into holes in an egg carton. We try to recycle items such as milk cartons, toilet paper tubes, paper towel rolls, plastic jar covers, egg cartons when we can and when these items are no longer usable they can be placed into your recycle bin.
Art Time
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Art Time
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Art Time
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Art Time
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Circle Time Activity
Teddy Bear Letters
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Free ABC Worksheet
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Dragonfly Writing Page |
Math Activity |
What’s Missing? |
Other areas we focus on in our preschool curriculum would be pre math, pre reading, pre writing and science.
Each month the children will be introduced to three new letters, to help the children learn these new letters they will do a craft with each of the letters, a letter book and trace the letters. Above you see the letter D dragonfly from our May curriculum. The children will be learning the letters Y and Z this month and then the last weeks of the month they will be reviewing different letters from previous months.
In the second picture above is one of our many number activities. This one is focusing on the numbers 0 through 5. The children will put dot stickers into each section of the paper by looking at the number that is in that section.
In the last picture above you will see one of our science activities from our preschool September curriculum. This one is from our all about me lesson plans. Each month that you purchase will include four weeks of lesson plans. Some of our other simple science activities include parts of a fish such as the {head, tail, fins}, other science activities would include sorting nuts and seeds, making popsicles, looking at roots, going on a bug hunt, matching up animals to their shadows and so many other exciting activities!
Our curriculum is sold by the month {or by the year}. Each month includes four weekly themed based lesson plans. Children will be learning about the themes through circle time, singing {no music, words to songs}, interactive rhymes, crafts, pre reading and math activities, science & discovery, large motor, etc.
Children will be using glue, paint, crayons, markers, stickers and other craft items throughout the month. They will be learning how to cut, trace, tell time plus working on pre math, pre reading and science. Some of the simple science projects would be sorting fruit’s and vegetables, growing grass, watching an ant farm and so many other exciting activities!
Our Preschool Curriculum
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Mr. Square Craft |
Large Caterpillar Craft |
Flower Garden Craft |
Our preschool curriculum program provides a daily art project {craft} for the children to do each day that goes along with that week’s theme.
After circle time we have the children come to the table and sit down to get ready for art time. You can refer to the preschool daily lesson plans to see which craft you will be doing that day, and if you need to print anything out for that day’s craft. If we are going to use glue I place the glue into tiny plastic cups. I have found that the sample size of play dough cans work great for this. I only put a small amount in each child’s cup; just enough for that days project. I then proceed to pass out child sized paint brushes for the young preschool children to use and for the older preschoolers we offer them smaller brushes.
If we are going to paint I make sure each child has some type of paint shirt on. If you do not have enough paint shirts, you can always use an old sweat shirt and cut off the arms. Anything will work.
You will also want some rags ready. We use our old washcloths for paint rags. You may find it works best to keep a wet rag handy for spills or for a child who is done before the others. Or you may want to have a dish pan with a small amount of water in it for the children who finish early can rinse off until they can get into the bathroom to wash up with soap and warm water.
Arts & Crafts
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Arts & Crafts For Kids
Free Download! |
Circle Time
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Bird Egg Letter Match Up |
Baby Chick Bingo |
Bear Letter Match Up |
Letter M Pompom Activity |
Farm Letter Match Up |
Letter R For Raccoon |
Preschool Learning Activities: Above are six examples of some of our preschool pre reading activities. These activities are made from easily accessible materials and provide a fun learning experience for the children. Our program also offers other types of learning activities such as worksheets, coloring pages, printable games, puzzles, bug hunt, ant farm, nature walk and other fun ideas. These activities are to teach the children about sharing, numbers, alphabet, shapes, colors and much more! The activities shown above may not be available for the month you are purchasing but similar activities are available for each month.
Learning Activities
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Shoe Box Numbers |
Feed The Caterpillar |
Bear Number Match Up |
Play Dough Number Mat |
Muffin Tin Numbers |
Card Number Match Up |
Math Activities: Our preschool program also provides hands on math activities. Shown above are six examples of some of different types of fun hands on math activities that you will receive with our program. The activities shown above may not be available for the month you are purchasing but similar activities are available for each month.
Learning Time:
How many toys?
Let's Count The Toys!
Free Download!
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Circle Time
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Plant The Sunflower |
Teddy Bear Pompoms |
Hair Scrunches |
Special Activities: Our preschool program also provides special activities for each day. Please view three of our examples above. The first picture the one with the flowers is a fun sensory activity where the children will have fun planting fake flowers. The next picture shown above shows is a cute teddy bear from our January preschool curriculum. The teddy bear is a fun color game for the children to play. And the last picture shows an activity of putting hair scrunches onto a card board base.
Special Activity:
How Is Teddy Feeling?
Fine Motor Activity
Free Download!
Teddy Bear Lacing |
Circle Time Activity
Click Here – Teddy Bear Lacing!Directions: Print out the page onto heavy paper such as white cardstock paper. You will need a hand held hole punch and punch a few circles around the outside edge of the circle. You will need a thick piece of yarn and you may want to tie one end to one of the holes so the yarn doesn’t get lost. Because with yarn there is always a chance of strangulation be sure the yarn isn’t too long and supervise children with this activity. To make the yarn like a needle so the children can push it through the holes you will now need tape the other end of the yarn to make it sturdy to use like a needle. Show the children how to lace the yarn through the holes around the seal. This is a nice eye to hand coordination activity for older preschoolers. Some other activities that offer this skill would be stringing beads, puzzles, cutting, nesting toys, pegs and peg boards {these are just a few} there are many other activities that offer eye to hand coordination. A lot of 3’s find lacing too hard to do and get frustrated with it. If you find some of the children in your daycare don't like lacing then offer them some straws to stick into the holes instead. Just make sure the holes are not too tight for the straws to go through, if they are too tight just make them a bit bigger. Using the straws is much more fun for most 3 year olds and lacing the cards will be easier as their development skills grow and develop. |
Toddler Curriculum
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We start our program off each day with circle time. I try to get all the children to sit together in a circle on the floor. I never force any child to participate, but I do try to encourage participation. This is a great time to sing songs, do finger plays, share stories, or introduce the item that you want the children to learn about today; such as birds, frogs, butterflies, etc. If you are working on teaching the children about birds this week, this is a good time to sing a song about birds with the children or show them some pictures of birds, birds nest, eggs, feathers or anything else that is associated with birds.
We gather the children together and have everyone sit down on the floor in a circle. Today were going to learn about birds, so I will place some feathers on the floor in front of me, for the children to see. Then I will ask the children "Does anyone know what we are going to be learning today?" As I ask them this question I will point to the feathers in front of me, to give the children a hint about what they will be learning today. When you purchase my toddler or preschool curriculum, you can look to see which activity to provide the children with each morning for circle time. My circle time activities could be a talk or discussion but usually involves a fun activity such as a learning activity, games, singing songs, hearing a story, etc.
One thing to remember is to be flexible when conducting circle time. You should always follow the lead of the children. If they want to know more about birds, or ask questions you do not know the answers to, then you should try to go to the library to get some books to bring back to teach the children or if you have computer access, then go online and see if you can find the answers to give to the children.
Circle time is a great time for the children to gather together to get to know one another, learn to listen to others, and most of all have a fun time learning, singing, playing games, etc.
Ages 18 Months to 2.5 Years |
Ages 12 to 18 Months |
Ages 1 to 12 Months |