My Top 8 Favourite Activities to Occupy Preschoolers

Having taught preschool for 10 years, here is my go-to list when it comes to fun activities.

Dodgeball

To start things off, we have a fun activity that the 5- to 6-year-olds will enjoy. I prefer to play this in an indoor space so the ball does not go too far away.

How to Play

So you need an indoor space, some masking tape, and a ball. Instruct them on the following rules: You can only throw the ball at the arms or legs, not at the face or body. If you do that, you are out. If the ball hits you on the legs or arms, you are out. 

The teacher can decide if children can run with the ball or not. Sometimes I end the game when there is a certain number of players left in one team; you can also end it when all the players are out in a team.

Sometimes I have interclass competitions, as the space allows, so children can enjoy having a friendly match.

Soccer

Then we have an activity that boys and girls can enjoy, though there are some girls who dislike this.

How to Play

You just need a ball and some chairs to delegate as goals. I will divide the class into 2 groups, one standing on each side of the court. I will also get one team to tuck out their shirt so they can recognise each other. Have them assign a goalkeeper that will stand on the other team's goal, so if the ball goes through, then the team that kicked the ball scores a goal. Before the match begins, I tell them to send 1 representative from each team to stand in the middle with me, and I will toss the ball up. Remind them not to use their hands, only feet.

Silent Ball

This is more fun than it seems; kids really enjoy it. You might think kids prefer loud or messy games, but this works so well once they understand the rules.

How to Play

For this game, you just need a ball. No teams required. The rules are simple. Stay silent. If you make a single noise, you are out. So no laughing or random noises. If someone tries to pass you the ball and you try to catch it but fail, you are out. If someone tosses you the ball but you avoid it, then you are safe. I will give the ball to a child to start the game. This game requires some getting used to. Feel free to change the rules as you deem fit.

Rhythm Game

I am not sure of the name of this game, but I always call it the rhythm game. You simply do this pattern: tap, clap, point, point, name-name.

How to Play

Get the children to sit down, preferably in a circle formation where they can see each other. So you demonstrate first by tapping your thighs, clapping, pointing to the right, and pointing to the left. Then you repeat, but this time you call out your name twice when you point to the right and left. Then you repeat the pattern, and on your next pointing you call out a child's name. So the child does the same by calling their name, and then calling out another friend's name. This game does take some getting used to, but once the rhythm flows, it can go on and on.

Apple Pie

Such a fun yet simple game to occupy the class during transition or when you are waiting for something (which happens a lot in a preschool!).

How to Play

Call out a child to stand with you, and then have them turn their back to face the class. Then you point to one child, get them to say "Apple pie," but have them change their voice. Then the child who is standing with you has 3 tries to guess who said "Apple pie". Some students are able to mask their voice, and some are able to guess all the time correctly.

Musical Chairs

This needs no explanation, but for the sake of this post, I shall briefly go through the instructions.

How to Play

You need a device that can play music, preferably at a child's level. Count the number of students you have and set chairs in a circle; ensure it is 1 less than the number of students. Play the music and instruct children to walk in a circle without touching the chairs. Pause the music, and then they will sit down. The child who does not get a chair will be out. I have fun tricking them as they like to look at me when I am about to press the button.

I let the child who is out control the music so I can control the class. This also allows them to not feel left out. However, when the next child is out, this current child has to go away from the music player.

Musical Costumes 

I found this fun activity online.

How to Play

Prepare a bag of costumes. This game is similar to "Pass the Ball". Get children to all sit in a circle. Play music, and the children have to pass the bag from child to child. When you pause the music, the child holding the bag has to take out 1 costume and wear it. Repeat the game until the bag is empty.

Trading Game

I saved the best for last. You will not find this anywhere on preschool websites or blogs; I found it on a classroom activity meant for older students and adapted it for preschool level.

How to Play

-Talk about a trading game they will play: divide the class into small groups; each group is a country, and the teacher is the "trader", with lots of small manipulatives to represent dollars.

-There are a few rich, a few poor, and a few middle-income countries.

-Give each group an envelope with: a few pieces of paper, 1 ruler, and 1 pencil. Richer countries have more resources.

-Teacher draws a chart on the whiteboard to illustrate what a few of each shape costs. (4 Circles, 4 Squares, 4 Rectangles, 4 Triangles- all $1 each)

-Have them make as many pieces as they can, and the teacher judges the pieces and rejects pieces that do not look like proper shapes.

-Change the prices as and when according to "demand", or whether a shape is too much or too little.

-Ring a bell from time to time, to sell "upgrades" like scissors, rulers, pencils, more paper. Do a 10-second or 20-second countdown for the "upgrade" deal to be over.

-Introduce new shapes, e.g cloud, from time to time.

-Facilitate the activity; ensure that when children have less money, give them more time. When they have more, start raising the prices for the "upgrades".

Let me know in the comments below if you found this useful or if you have any other suggestions!

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Invented Spelling

Children are writing.

Spelling as we know in school is a formal memorising of words and applying them during a written test. I do this weekly every Thursday. But the actual definition of spelling is very different.

Nine stages of writing

There are 9 stages of writing, namely drawing, scribbling, wavy scribbles or mock handwriting, letter-like forms or mock letters, letter strings, transitional writing, invented or phonetic spelling, beginning word and phrase writing, and lastly conventional spelling and sentence writing (Byington & Kim, 2017). Each child progresses individually through these stages, and at first, their writing may not make much sense, I did have children at K2 who are still drawing. But that is a writing development stage, albeit the first one. I will focus mainly on invented spelling for this article.

What is invented spelling?

What is invented spelling? It is defined as children using the skills and knowledge they have to show the sounds in words, so they may omit certain letters but focus on the first or last letters (Byington & Kim, 2017). They may write “juice” as “joose” because phonetically the letters do form that word, but as they reach the last stage, “Conventional spelling and sentence writing”, they will understand the difference. What we can do as educators or parents is to be nurturing and guide them along their writing development.

Use environmental print

Environmental print is a useful tool to have to teach children writing, as it is the first writing they encounter in their environment, to learn about the use of written language in various contexts, they can even be food items especially unfamiliar ones so they can learn as this focuses on children’s interests and teach them about sight words (Xu & Rutledge, 2003). This is not that complicated, you already have these things in your house, so you can just be intentional and expose your child to these words. I like to have labels of artworks they have done pasted on the walls, to encourage them to read. It is also amusing to me that whatever I write on the whiteboard interests them.

We must never forget they are visual learners, no amount of shushing can match a reward chart, or no amount of “Can you please eat your food faster?” can match a timer counting down 5 minutes.

References

Byington, T. A., & Kim, Y. (2017). Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing. Young Children, 72(5). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/emergent-writing

Xu, S. H., & Rutledge, A. L. (2003, March). Kindergartners Learn through Environmental Print. Young Children, 58(2), 44-51. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42729931

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Arts and Crafts

Children enjoying doing arts and crafts together.

How constructivism relates to art-making

Constructivism is when a child learns through an active process at every stage, as they construct knowledge internally, and teachers observe children as they learn (Gray & MacBlain, 2015). I wrote this in my first post for this year. This month’s topic is about arts and crafts. I enjoy planning and executing art activities for the little ones. I especially enjoy it when the activities are more constructivist, whereby the children can be free to make mistakes and not stick to my way of doing things.

There has to be a boundary but sometimes a cookie-cutter approach to doing arts is not good. I have seen many teachers doing the same art for every single child based on the same theme. I doubt the children did most of the work themselves. Let’s learn to let go and let children be children, so they can construct knowledge on their own.

Let me share with you some ideas I have for art activities in August:

Aug: Animal Kingdom insects creepy crawlies sea creatures

6/8-Spray Painting (need artpaper, insect cutouts, real plants. spray on insects then glue on artpaper, put plants on paper and spray over then remove)

13/8-Jellyfish in a Bottle (ask parents bring clear plastic bag, clean plastic bottle)

20/8-Fork Painted Puffer Fish Craft

27/8-Paper Plate Spider Web

References

Gray, C., & MacBlain, S. (2015). Learning Theories in Childhood (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

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Writing

Children are writing.

I do regular journal writing with my K2s. In my school, we have a word bank book, a small notebook where they can ask me to write words they don't know how to spell. I encourage them to write anything they want and get them to think of sentences on their own. I usually don't correct their sentences as I want them to not be discouraged, but I do teach them proper writing conventions like finger spacing, upper/lowercase, and punctuation. Otherwise, I basically allow inventive spelling.

Inventive spelling

Inventive spelling is actually very simple; it is just allowing a child to write the way he or she wants to. It is not copying or penmanship. It is creative writing based on the child's own terms. I do not dictate what or how they should write, though sometimes, for certain events, I ask them to write based on a topic. But usually I allow them to be free.

I am heartened that there have been improvements in the children's writing abilities since the start of the school term. Probably due to the efforts of the parents. Some have unfortunately remained stagnant, which I will need to highlight during the upcoming parent-teacher meeting.

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Play-based Learning

Children having fun together.

Being born in Singapore certainly has its perks. We enjoy relatively peaceful lives, our SGD is strong, and salaries are good. If we have a good educational background, we are more or less guaranteed a successful life. However, many parents and teachers believe that the way to nurture a child is through academics. I believe that schools exist to allow children to form socio-emotional skills. You can find any resource you need in the different domains; you don’t need a teacher to teach anything. However, teachers and peers are there to teach children how to problem-solve, interact, and collaborate.

Traditional approach

There are many schools of thought in teaching children, and today I shall talk about two of them. The traditional approach vs the constructivist approach. Worksheets and teacher-directed learning are from the traditional approach. I grew up with this. The teacher is the one imparting the knowledge, while children absorb it like sponges. They are not allowed to speak up, have opinions, or say that they do not want to learn anything. If we are learning about insects, we are not talking about planets at all.

Constructivist approach

As for the constructivist approach, it is the modern method. Things may change soon, but as of now, this is the approach that academic sources and institutions heavily rely on. Constructivism is when a child learns through an active process at every stage, as they construct knowledge internally, and teachers observe children as they learn (Gray & MacBlain, 2015).

Worksheets have always been used to document children’s learning and development, but they are often not developmentally appropriate, so children might be reluctant to make mistakes, whereas a play-based approach allows children to think and explore using their senses (Grossman, n.d.).

As such, it is not easy to find a play-based preschool in Singapore. I can recommend one, Creative O Preschoolers’ Bay. They had a camp where the K2 children went to St John’s Island. J

References

Gray, C., & MacBlain, S. (2015). Learning Theories in Childhood (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

Grossman, S. (n.d.). The Worksheet Dilemma: Benefits of Play-Based Curricula. Retrieved from http://kidnkaboodle.net/noworksheet.html

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Sink or Float

Children observing a boat they have constructed.

This is a popular science experiment for kindergarten children. I have done this experiment 3 times, here is a write-up of each activity. I have to mention that these activities have integrated the different domains required by NEL. There is no need to make time for "English" or "Math" lesson.

Activity 1

.Group children into 4 groups to try the next science experiment. The following are suggested instructions, children only have to ensure area is clean.
.Introduce the following materials: salt, baking soda, stones, 1 marker, 3 containers each group.
.Talk about the activity, and children have to gather hypotheses on which ingredient will cause the manipulatives to sink or float.
.Distribute worksheets with 2 sections. Instruct each group to do 1 worksheet, and to do their hypotheses on the top, the findings at the bottom.
.Get children to pour the ingredients into the 2 containers, 1 container will be empty.
.Pour water equally into the 3 containers, get them to tell the teacher to stop when water level is reached.
.Instruct them to label the containers as such: Salt, Baking Soda, Water
.Give them some time to explore the containers by dropping the manipulatives into the containers.
.Allow free-play, but only introduce the materials for them to use. Allow them to use anything in class, but put them back.
.Summarise the activity by getting children to share their findings, and compare with their hypotheses.

Activity 2

.Introduce the materials used: milk, soap bubbles, coloured water, 3 containers to hold the liquids, 1 transparent cup for them to pour inside, 1 container of random objects, 1 dropper
.Get each group to come to the teacher to collect the containers of liquids and materials, while the rest will wait.
.Encourage them to make their own hypotheses again for this experiment, then test them out by trying.
.Inform them to use the dropper to add in the liquid, so they don't mix together. Then they can add in the small objects to see whether they sink or float.
.Summarise the activity to talk about density.

Activity 3

.Divide children into groups.
.Distribute materials (that can either sink or float on water) for children, get each group to build a mini boat on their own using the materials. They are allowed to use anything else, but they must ask permission.
.Inform them the boat has to stay together and floating on the water.
.Show each boat, ellicit hypothesis from the children on whether each will float or sink.
.Bring each boat to the container of water near the garden to test out, place them one by one gently on the water, to test the hypothesis.
.Mention the boat must float for 10 seconds to succeed. Get them to redo when unsuccessful.
.Summarise the activity, get children to share their honest reflections. Talk about what makes their boat float. (E.g. Using light materials)
.Ellicit curiosity, ask them how a heavy ship floats on water.
.Talk about principle of buoyancy.
.Link to the heavy aeroplane able to fly in the sky.
.Get them to try the experiment with an orange, unpeeled then peeled at home. Get them to share their findings the next day.

(The next day)

.Talk about the Science experiment they conducted at home the previous day, get them to share with their friends on their hypothesis and findings.

.Get them to share about what they did at home, for them to remember what they did. (Nobody tried the experiment at home)

.Link to the principle of buoyancy, of the ship.

.Mention that heavy objects will sink in water, but when placed in an object that has buoyancy it will float.

.Demonstrate the orange science experiment with them, talk about how the skin gives buoyancy but the orange will sink in water.

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Why Kids Should Be Allowed to Be Messy

Messy play.

Why must children be so messy???

We have all seen it before. When you leave children alone for too long, they start to get bored and play with anything they can get their little hands on. Chalk starts to get on the floor, glue is everywhere, and papers are torn and scattered.

Adults will often frown and get angry at such creative expressions. I am no exception. I do not like children touching or messing up my things. Then I have to clean it all up, as chances are they do not know how to clean up.

Breathe out, and let creativity in

But it is so important we do not stifle their creativity. They should be allowed to make mistakes. If everything is curated nicely for them, they will not be problem-solvers when they grow up. When they run into a difficult time, they will flee or seek a common solution. But this world does not need robots. We need creative people. We need ideas. We need bravery.

I believe everything should be done in moderation. Do not limit them, but also do not give them too wide a choice. Guide them along, but do not force them.

One good way to promote creativity is through messy play. Intentionally tell your children that they are allowed to be as messy as they want to, as long as they clean up after themselves. You can set boundaries so that they don't mess up important things. It does take effort from the parents, but you can see the results in your children.

Messy play promotes the use of their senses. Children learn through play. Enough of the tablet or phone games/videos. Children should be allowed to play using their senses. Learn how bubbles form. Feel the texture of mud as it dries up. Pour water back and forth.

Hope your children can have fun!

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