Activities

Engage children with meaningful constructive play! This book provides educators of young children with guidance in how to create early childhood environments that support children's natural need to play. It includes strategies for creating and scaffolding the block play experience, recommends children's books that support the learning, and outlines ways to match behaviors, content, and concepts to learning standards. Lesson plans include: Thanksgiving -- sharing and giving; our families and ourselves; winter and winter animals; large buildings around the world; birds, insects and spiders; the ocean and ocean life; amphibians and reptiles; ways to travel; and wild animals. 128 pages. Paperback.

With new activities and explorations, tips and information to help you understand how to support the littlest learners, and research nuggets to enhance your own professional knowledge, the Encyclopedia of Infant and Toddler Activities, revised, will be your go-to resource! Activities will help you support curiosity, play, exploration, persistence, emerging foundations in literacy and math, problem solving, and so much more! Paperback. 288 pages.

Young children are naturally interested in their world. With Social Studies and Me!, you can support children's curiosity by using storybooks to engage them in social studies and literacy learning. Each storybook exploration includes: Social studies standards and learning objectives, ways to link the book to children's experiences, ways to foster standards-based discussion about the book, ideas for extending, observing, and assessing the learning, and ways to connect with families.

Young children with special needs often face physical, emotional, or social barriers to deep engagement with the natural world. These challenges need not prevent them from enjoying the many benefits nature has to offer. Nature is a necessity. Research tells us that we are happier, healthier, more socially engaged, and more creative when it is part of our daily lives. These benefits apply to people of all ages and abilities. In this inspiring book, Dr. Ruth Wilson explores the great potential of connecting young children with special needs to the natural world. Drawing on her knowledge of research and her decades of work with children in nature, she weaves together advice, real-life examples, and testimonies from educators and families on the healing, nurturing power of nature in the lives of young children with diverse abilities. Paperback. 192 pages.

What can you add to your early childhood classroom that will immerse children in rich learning, reduce challenging behaviors, and develop confidence as well as critical thinking and problem-solving skills? A makerspace! Filled with colorful photographs taken in real early childhood settings, this book will guide you step-by-step in making a makerspace that invites young children to boldly explore materials and create something only they can imagine. Discover how to: draft a plan and gather materials, set up your makerspace, garner administrator and parent buy-in, focus on goals and support specific skill development, and facilitate children's learning to deepen understanding. Paperback. 152 pages.

There is nothing that children love more than a good story. Story S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-r-s for the Primary Grades, Revised connects 90 of the best children's books to early learning centers, stretching each story five ways with lively and entertaining activities that heighten reading readiness, sharpen comprehension skills, and expand the excitement of story time. Pulling the best stories from the original books, this new edition also features new children's books as well as old favorites, refreshed activities, and online references for expanding story experiences. 256 pages. Paperback.

Fun activities to develop the fine motor skills preschoolers need for school success! Teachers know how important it is to develop children's fine motor skills as a stepping stone to future learning, and Mighty Fine Motor Fun provides you with the tools and information you need to teach fine motor skills to children ages 3 to 5. The activities in Mighty Fine Motor Fun are organized by age; they are useful and creative, but most important, they are fun! With few materials needed, the activities are perfect for both large and small groups and are easy to integrate into any curriculum. Activities include: Moving Bubbles, Hide-and-Seek Playdough, Tape It Up!, Shape Person, Itsy Bitsy Writing Utensils, Paper Mobile, and many more! Paperback.

When a story comes to the end -- it does not have to be the end of the story. Instead, teachers can continue the learning with activities and experiences to promote conversation about that story. Story Play encourages even the most inexperienced teacher, librarian, child care professional, or family member to become a storyteller with ideas for expanding stories into meaningful learning experiences. With stories, poems, songs, chants, and fingerplays, as well as ideas for working with puppets and props, Story Play brings all the fun of storytelling into the classroom in new ways. These easy-to-follow ideas focus on literacy skills and are perfect for engaged, active learning. 224 pages. Paperback.

With the help of the stories and activities in this book, take the time to watch, wonder, ask questions, talk about, and explore the world of science with your child. Use favorite children's books to investigate animals and insects, learn how plants grow and change, and discover how shadows grow and shrink. With four chapters that cover a multitude of themes, it's never been easier to deepen your child's understanding of important science and reading concepts at the same time! 144 pages. Paperback.

Build the home-school connection to prepare for Kindergarten! Studies show that parent and family involvement with school is an important factor in children's later academic success. Many families of young children want to learn ways to support their little ones in preparing for and getting the most out of kindergarten. With easy-to-share parent letters and simple, fun activities for families to do together at home, Kick-Start Kindergarten Readiness is the perfect tool for early childhood teachers to involve families in understanding and supporting the rich learning taking place in your preschool classroom. Paperback. 120 pages.

Children love outdoor play. Now teachers can combine the magic and excitement of the outdoors with activities that encourage and support learning! This book includes more than 100 new teacher-created, classroom-tested outdoor activities that engage children's minds and bodies as much as they explore the limitless bounds of the outdoors while also building key skills in areas like math, literacy and language, science, art, and music. Perfect for ages 3 - 6. Activities include: counting, alphabet, colors, shapes, art, touch, sound and sight, plants and gardening, bubbles and air, light and shadow, animals and insects, dramatic play, and large motor skills. 144 pages. Paperback.

Thoughtfully created learning centers are bubbling with opportunities for active learning. Dr. Jean, beloved author of dozens of books and songs, and coauthor Carolyn Kisloski bring you a collection of practical ideas and tips to inspire engagement and spark learning in your classroom centers-and, importantly, keep children coming back for more. Children learn best through play. Discover how you can help them thrive in your learning centers. The Possibilities of Play brings expert tips for selecting and managing materials, facilitating explorations, and challenging children to: explore on their own time and at their own level, engage in hands-on discovery, solve problems and use critical-thinking skills, practice emerging skills across domains, share and get along with others, develop language, and realize their own sense of creativity. Paperback. 240 pages.

Now more than ever, adults must help children develop the skills necessary to navigate through life successfully. By focusing on building social and emotional strength, we increase children's resilience and prepare them to handle the challenges in life. The strategies and activities in "Socially Strong, Emotionally Secure" help children become socially and emotionally healthy for life. Organized into five chapters, the activities support and build resilience in children ages 3 to 8. 160 pages. Paperback.

Rainy Day Activities has everything you need to make being stuck inside fun! This resource is filled with quiet games to create relaxing moments, active games to get the wiggles out, and games that require no materials at all. 64 pages.

Recent research has drawn the link between children's brain development and time spent in the natural environment. Every child deserves a safe play to play, supportive adults to watch him grow, and an environment that offers them endless possibilities. In "Seasons of Play," Rusty Keeler takes readers on a photographic journey through real child care centers that have embraced his philosophy that natural play environments create new opportunities for children to explore and grow. This book illustrates how to design natural play environments that encourage exploration and creativity in all seasons of the year. Keeler's own drawings complement the photos with renderings of how the play spaces were designed. Interviews with center directors add a personal touch to how the spaces improve learning at the centers. Paperback. 216 pages.

When teachers implement the project approach to learning, young children can follow their own real-world interests to gain deeper understanding. Children wonder about a topic, formulate their questions, and then figure out the answers for themselves in their own way. The project approach helps children dig deeply into intellectual and social experiences that can help them see meaningful benefits of the skills they are acquiring. "Picturing the Project Approach" will lead teachers every step of the way toward incorporating this teaching method in any toddler, preschool or elementary classroom. Paperback. 120 pages.

This resource supplies 25 two-week themes, with a total of over 2,000 activities and ideas. Paperback, 463 pages.

This book features classroom activities from teachers around the globe, all focused on topics that teachers use every day. Organized by curriculum area, Learn Every Day® About Colors has 100 activities for children ages 3-6, providing teachers with innovative and fun ways to introduce and reinforce learning about colors. Each activity features learning objectives, related vocabulary, related children's books, materials needed, directions for preparation, instructions for each activity, and an assessment component. Many activities also feature teacher-to-teacher tips that provide additional ideas for expanding the activity in new ways, or suggestions about finding materials. 128 pages.

This award-winning curriculum for 3-6 year olds offers a complete plan for every learning style. Revised and updated, the new edition of this classic bestseller is full of new activities based on the latest research about how children learn. The comprehensive appendix has been updated and the patterns are now available exclusively online so teachers can easily print them onto paper at any time! 416 pages.

An invaluable collection of over 600 activities covering 48 themes, created by teachers from all over America. These are ideas that work and keep children learning and happy for days, weeks and months. Many activities include suggestions for extending the circle time or group activity into other areas of the curriculum such as math, science, snack, language, or field trips. Books and songs related to the acrtivity as well as original songs and poems are included. 510 pages.

More than 300 theme activities written by teachers for teachers! Actively engage children's imaginations with more than 300 activities for young children organized into a variety of popular themes -- from the alphabet to the weather. The result of a nationwide contest among teachers, the classroom-tested activities in Another Encyclopedia of Theme Activities for Young Children provide many months of learning fun! Each activity is complete with learning objectives, materials list, related children's book suggestions, step-by-step instructions of what to do, teacher-to-teacher tips to expand on children's learning, assessment strategies, and related songs, poems, and fingerplays. 448 pages. Paperback.

PreK & up. Self-directed, open-ended activities incorporating daily events and ordinary materials help children easily learn science and math. 246 pages.

This block play guide enhances the classroom block corner with over 50 great activities. Clear description of what children learn by playing with blocks accompany the activities. Each suggestion encourages problem solving, the development of math, science, language, and social skills.

From 'The Alphabet Song' to 'The Nursery Rhyme Rap', children will sing and learn about a place they spend much of their time: school. The enclosed CD features 28 fun songs, old favorites and originals. The book offers more than 300 activities that teach children about starting school. All children love to sing and learn, so the book includes both English language learner strategies and special needs adaptations.