Introduction and Preparation for the Focus Area – My Family and My Community
During the first 18 months of life, children are usually referred to as young infants (birth to 8 months) and mobile infants (8 to 18 months). Children between the ages of 18 and 36 months are usually called toddlers.
A child’s world begins with self and immediate family members. In Focus Area #1, About Me, toddlers were involved in experiences that focused on who they are, what they can do and what they feel. Many of the experiences supported Benchmarks from these two Developmental Learning Strands: Introduction 1. To learn about themselves – Self-concept Development 2. To learn about their feelings – Emotional Development
As noted in the Focus Area #1 introduction, The Arkansas Framework for Infant and Toddler Care contains information about each developmental strand and how the strands intertwine with each other. It is suggested that you review the Framework as a foundation for using the Adventures for Toddlers curriculum with your children.
From self and immediate family members, the child’s world expands to include other family members and people and places in the community, including the child care community. In Focus Area #2, many of the experiences will focus on Developmental Strand 3 – To learn about other people – Social Development.
In the child care setting toddlers become increasingly interested in their peers. Friendships between and among toddlers begin to emerge. However, the toddler years are ones of conflict among friends because toddlers are egocentric; focusing on their own needs and wants. Toddlers are not yet able to regulate their own emotions and they have limited skills in using language. So most interactions among toddlers need adult support. This means staying close to toddlers at all times so that you can be aware of behaviors that may require you to step in to prevent problems, to help children gain control of their emotions and behaviors, and/or to redirect children to other activities. You must also model appropriate play behaviors.
Pretend play is a part of the social development of toddlers. They begin to act out events and familiar routines. They begin to explore social roles, especially those of their family members and powerful figures such as doctors and firefighters. In the pretend area they pretend to cook on the small stove, they put their doll into the doll bed and pretend that it is sleeping. They dress up in male and female clothes and pretend to be mommy and daddy. They use a telephone and pretend to call Grandpa. Older toddlers will sometimes pretend without an object. For example, they will pretend to drive a car by turning their hands in space as though they were turning a steering wheel. Older toddlers also begin to engage in symbolic play in which they take on pretend roles and use objects in an unconventional way. An example of symbolic play is when a toddler uses a block as a telephone or a tennis ball as a scoop of ice cream.
In the text, The Comprehensive Toddler Curriculum, the authors suggest the following as appropriate social expectations for toddlers:
• Don’t expect toddlers to adjust quickly when they are left in a new situation unless there are familiar adults.
• Children are unable to “share” until well into the third year. Toddlers can be helped to take turns, share resources such as crayons, or wait for a turn, but spontaneous
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 1 #2.0 - Introduction and Preparation
sharing behavior doesn’t occur consistently until after the third birthday.
• Manners are difficult for younger children. Eating with a utensil instead of your hands, staying at the table until you are finished, and not dawdling are difficult expectations until children are older. That doesn’t mean you don’t have rules about these issues, it just means you have to be the one who enforces the rules.
• Expectations, such as touching softly, playing nicely, and keeping your hands to yourself are also difficult for toddlers. Stay close and help children learn these skills by modeling and supporting them.
The Comprehensive Toddler Curriculum by Kay Albrecht and Linda G. Miller, published by Gryphon House, Inc. (2000)
In this Focus Area and in the Focus Areas that follow, you will find experiences that may not directly relate to the topic. There will be many sensory experiences involving things children can see, touch and manipulate. You will also find experiences that are repeated from earlier Focus Areas. These sensory experiences and repeated experiences are included because toddlers learn through their senses and through repetition.
Through both planned and spontaneous experiences, caregivers can provide opportunities for toddlers to discover many things about themselves and their families and their community, including the child care community. ______
Note that many of the experiences in this Focus Area have an age designation of either Younger Toddler (YT) or Older Toddler (OT) and that these two age designations do not specify age in months. Weekly plan sheets that focus on one or more of the big ideas in a topic are included. One plan sheet for each week will be designated for Younger Toddlers and one for Older Toddlers.
There will be several weeks of plan sheets for each Focus Area. Some of the same experiences will be included for more than one week because toddlers need many opportunities to develop and reinforce skills and begin to understand concepts.
Developers of Adventures for Toddlers suggest that caregivers use their knowledge of individual children to determine which experiences are appropriate for which children in their care. Feel free to adapt the weekly plan sheets or to develop new plan sheets to meet the needs of each child and of the group. Consider adding additional experiences from the many that are a part of this Focus Area.
• Children’s books can be purchased online, from school supply catalogs or local book stores. • Check with your local library for the availability of children’s books. • Contact the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education for the following materials or locate on the Arkansas Better Beginnings website.
Arkansas Framework for Infant and Toddler Care Resources Picture This: A Framework for Quality Care for Infants and Toddlers
Infant and Toddler Family Connection
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A Story a Month – Mother Goose Rhymes: Jack and Jill
A Story a Month – The Napping House (patterns for storytelling figures)
A Story a Month – Are You My Mother? (patterns for storytelling figures)
A Story a Month – The Three Bears (patterns for storytelling figures)
A Story a Month – The Three Little Pigs (patterns for storytelling figures)
A Story a Month – Runaway Bunny (patterns for storytelling figures)
A Story a Month – Peter’s Chair (patterns for storytelling figures)
A Story a Month – Ask Mr. Bear (patterns for storytelling figures)
• The Infant /Toddler Photo Activity Library, A Pam Schiller Resource, published by Gryphon House (52 photos & activity cards focusing on the following topics: Me and My Body, Families, Things I Wear, Toys, Pets, Big Animals, Transportation, Construction.)
• CDs which can be ordered online or from school supply catalogs: o Songs for I Love You Rituals and Songs for I Love You Rituals 2 with songs by Dr. Becky Bailey and music by Mar Harmon o Sea Gulls Music for Rest and Relaxation by Hap Palmer o Baby Beluga by Raffi o Start Smart Songs for 1s, 2s & 3s – Brain-Building Activities by Pam Schiller, KIMBO Educational o Toddlers on Parade, KIMBO Educational o 50 Toddler Sing-Along Songs (2 CDs with 50 activities), Twin Sisters
• Collect pictures that relate to this Focus Area – My Family and My Community. Examples of pictures to collect include: o houses, apartment buildings, mobile homes o people representing different ages; pictures that reflect diversity o families going places and doing things together such as shopping, eating in a café or restaurant, in church, at the beach, at a park, on a picnic, hiking, fishing, boating; pictures that reflect diversity o family celebrations such as birthdays and holidays o children playing together o medical personnel and related items such as stethoscopes and medicine Picture File bottles o police officers, police cars, police on horses and motorcycles o firefighters, fire trucks, hats, hoses Include small (index card size) as well as larger pictures. Consider mounting the small pictures on index cards. Laminate or cover all of the pictures with clear, self-adhesive paper for durability.
• Post some of the pictures on the wall at toddler’s eye level. Observe to see if toddlers look at the pictures and point to and/or name the objects or people in the pictures. Join them and expand on what they say. For example, say to Megan who has pointed to a house and said “house” say “Yes Megan, that’s a house. You live in a house with your grandmother.”
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• Put some of the small pictures in a container and place it in the library area so that it is accessible to children. Observe a child as he takes the pictures out of the box. Should the child bring a picture to you, involve him in discussing what he sees in the picture. “That’s a girl and a boy playing ball together.”
• Keep some of the pictures in a basket or tote bag within easy reach. Use the pictures with an individual child or a small group of children. Invite them to name objects and to talk about what is happening in the pictures. Allow children to look at the pictures on their own. Model and talk with them about the proper way to handle the pictures.
• Determine if funds are available to purchase The Infant /Toddler Photo Activity Library, a Pam Schiller resource published by Gryphon House.
Note: Refer to Curriculum Tips and Techniques – Picture File, for additional information about how to organize a picture file.
The toddler environment should always provide equipment and materials for language experiences, manipulative exploration, gross motor and block play, sensory exploration, pretend play and outdoor exploration. The following additions to the environment are intended for the entire topic: My Family and My Community. Each Weekly Plan Sheet will specify which materials to add for that week.
Library Area • Add the following books: Toddler o Places We Call Home
Environment o Friend, Friend, Who Do You See? We Are Friends o o Our Family’s Favorite Cereal Book o Keeping Me Safe o Keeping Me Healthy • Add container of pictures that have been laminated or covered with clear self- adhesive paper. (See Picture File, page 3 for examples of types of pictures to collect.)
Manipulative Exploration • Putting on and taking off lids • Pegboards (wood or plastic) with large, blunt-ended pegs • Felt houses with felt board
Gross Motor & Blocks • Add cardboard brick blocks. • Post pictures of different types of structures such as houses, apartment buildings and mobile homes • Make family homes blocks as follows: 1. Stuff small boxes with newspaper and tape them shut. 2. Glue magazine pictures of houses, apartment buildings and mobile homes onto the boxes. 3. Cover the boxes with clear self-adhesive paper for durability. 4. Place blocks where they are accessible to children for building. • Add small people figures (wood, rubber, or vinyl) and small vehicles • Make signs from poster board for small vehicles. For example, make a sign for a police car, a fire truck and an ambulance. Attach signs to vehicles with tape. • Add an emergency vehicle made from a cardboard box that is large enough to hold a doll. Write the word EMERGENCY on the front and sides of the vehicle. Draw wheels and headlights on the box. Attach strong yarn to the front of the box for Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 4 #2.0 - Introduction and Preparation
pulling. Add a small pillow, doll and blanket.
Note: Store people figures and vehicles in clear plastic tubs that are labeled with both pictures and words.
Sensory Exploration • Add Textured Houses book • Add matching pajama tops and bottoms and laundry basket • Add matching pajama tops and bottoms made from fabric scraps
Pretend Play • Add tote bag with pajamas or nightgown, stuffed toys and children’s books. • Add Medical Prop Box with a white shirt for uniform, play or real stethoscope, bandages, empty band-aid box, dolls and doll blankets. • Have dress-up clothes for both males and females with large buttons and snaps. Demonstrate buttoning and snapping. Encourage children to button and snap, assisting as needed. • Have unbreakable full-length mirror that is securely fastened to wall. • Add unbreakable hand mirrors. • Add toy telephones (at least 2).
Outdoor Exploration • Draw 5 foot long chalk line on the sidewalk for children to walk on. • Make signs from poster board for wheel toys. For example, make a sign for a police car, a fire truck, and an ambulance or emergency vehicle.
Safety Note: It is the responsibility of the child care program and each employee to ensure the safety of toddlers in the program. This includes the materials and equipment provided for children’s use. Should you have safety questions, the developers of this curriculum suggest that you consult with your Child Care Licensing Specialist for technical assistance.
Curriculum books such as The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & 2s, 2nd Edition, contain safety information. See Curriculum Tips and Techniques, References and Resources, for additional resources. .
Send home a note to families stating that for the next few weeks the children will be involved in the Focus Area: My Family and My Community. They will participate in experiences that focus on who they are, what they can do, and the feelings they can express. How families can be involved in this Focus Area will depend on the situation of each child and his or her family.
Consider some of the following ways to involve the families: Family • Ask families to send the front panel of their child’s favorite cereal, explaining that Experiences the panel will be used to make a book for the children. • Invite families to send a photo of the front of their home, one with their child in it, if possible. • Invite families to send photos of family events such as visiting relatives, going to a park or to the zoo, attending a family reunion, going on vacation, fishing, or boating. Ask them to indicate on the back of each photo the name and relationship of each person in the photo and the event. • Include the titles and authors of some of the child’s books that relate to the Focus Area: My Family and My Community. Suggest that they look for these books in the local library, check them out and read them with their toddler. • Send home the booklet, Picture This: A Framework for Quality Care for Infants and Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 5 #2.0 - Introduction and Preparation
Toddlers. Suggest that families read the booklet, especially pages 6 & 7. • Plan a time for children’s family members to come and play. Consider a Family Play Night where families can have an opportunity to be involved in some of the children’s activities and where families can get to know each other. Take photos of the event and display them in the classroom or in a photo album.
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#2.1 - My Family and Home
Here are some big ideas about toddlers that you can help them explore:
My family includes the people I live with plus other family members.
My family members have names.
I live with my family in a place we call home. Big Ideas
Featured Books Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (+BB) In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest, illustrated by Jill Barton
Key: (BB) – Available in Board Book only (+BB) – Also available in Board Book
Note: See the Book List section, for additional books that can be used should some of the Materials to featured books be unavailable and as supplemental books to read with children. Collect and Books to Make Make Places We Call Home Our Family’s Favorite Cereal Book (Environmental Print Book) Textured Houses
Storytelling Figures • Locate at A Story a Month on the Arkansas Better Beginnings website: Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the book, The Napping House Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the book, Are You My Mother? Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the book, The Three Bears Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the book, The Three Little Pigs Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the book, Peter’s Chair Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the book, Ask Mr. Bear
Additional Materials: o Tote bag, pajamas or nightgown, rag doll o Houses of felt o Large paint brushes o Household items to use as brushes, paint trays, o Large appliance box o Containers with lids of various sizes
*Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
*In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest, illustrated by Jill Barton
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack
Book List The Napping House by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood
*Featured Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats Books Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 8 #2.1 – My Family and Home
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak
The Three Bears by Paul Galdone
The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
Note: Review the section in Curriculum Tips and Techniques on Reading Books with Children, for suggestions on how to use books with children.
Benchmark: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Book: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (YT & OT)
Reading First Reading of Goodnight Moon
Books with • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area and read a story about a little rabbit who is Toddlers going to sleep.” • Show children who join you the cover of the book and say the title. “The name of the book is Goodnight Moon. Can you show me the moon?” • Read the story with the children, pausing as you read each page to allow children to locate the objects named on each page.
Note: You may have to help children with objects such as the old-fashioned telephone and “a bowl of mush.” Say to children that mush is like oatmeal. ______
Second Reading of Goodnight Moon • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area and read a story about a little rabbit who is going to sleep.” • Show the cover of the book and say the title. • Invite children to look at the cover and locate the moon, the stars, and the cow jumping over the moon. • Read a page, omitting an object word, pointing to the object and inviting children to say the word. For example, on page one, read the first two lines and read “And a red ___.” Point to the balloon and invite children to say “balloon.” On page two, read, “The cow jumped over the _____.” and invite children to say “moon.” ______
Third Reading of Goodnight Moon • Invite two or three children to join you in the book area. • Read the book with children, inviting them to locate the objects on each page.
Note: Read the story in a very soft and calm voice to create a sense of relaxation.
Note: This is an excellent book to read with children just before rest time. See Toddler Topic #2.2 Things I Do with My Family for additional information about Rituals and Routines at nap time. ______
Book: In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest, illustrated by Jill Barton (OT)
First Reading of In the Rain with Baby Duck
• Say to children, “I’m going to the book area to read a book about a baby duck who doesn’t like the rain.” Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 9 #2.1 – My Family and Home
• Show cover of book to children and say, “This is Baby Duck and his Grandpa. They’re walking in the rain. Look at Baby Duck. He’s splashing the water with his red boots. That’s an umbrella he’s carrying.” • Ask children if they have ever walked in the rain. Did they wear boots? Did they carry an umbrella? Encourage children to discuss their rainy day experiences. • Consider showing the pictures in order and telling the story during the first reading. Read only key parts such as “Pit-pat. Pit-a-pat. Pit-a-pit-a-pat.” Sing Baby Duck’s song about not liking the rain. ______
Second Reading of In the Rain with Baby Duck • Invite a couple of children to join you in the book area to read a story about Baby Duck and the rain. • Show the cover to children, read the title and invite them to locate Baby Duck, Grandpa, and the boots and umbrella. • Decide whether to read the entire book or do a combination of reading and telling the story. Base your decision on your knowledge of the children and their attention spans.
Note: Continue to read the story to children who are interested. Gradually do more reading than telling.
Benchmark: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Storytelling (YT & OT) Are You My Mother? (A Story A Month) The Napping House (A Story A Month) The Three Bears (A Story A Month) The Three Little Pigs (A Story A Month) Language Peter’s Chair (A Story A Month) and Ask Mr. Bear (A Story A Month)
Cognitive Note: Review the books listed here and look at the storytelling figures. Select the books and Materials storytelling figures that you think will be the best match for the children in your group. If some of and the stories seem too long for your toddlers, consider showing the pictures in order and telling the Experiences story rather than reading it in its entirety. Then present the story using the storytelling figures.
How to begin: • Make either felt or magnetic storytelling figures for each of the stories. • Read the rhymes with children several times so that they are familiar with the characters and the order of events. • Use the storytelling figures to present the rhymes. • Involve children in placing figures on the storyboard when you feel they can do this.
Note: Follow the procedures listed above for the sets of storytelling figures you choose to make and use.
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Benchmarks: 4.4.C Communicates through language 1.1.C Feels valued and attached to others
Grandma’s Glasses
Here are Grandma’s glasses, (fingers around eyes) Here is Grandma’s hat, (hands on head) This is the way she folds her hands, (fold hands) And lays them in her lap. (folds hands in lap)
Here are Grandpa’s glasses, (larger glasses) Here is Grandpa’s hat, (larger hat) This is the way he folds his arms, (fold arms across chest) Just like that. (with emphasis) ______
Hush Little Baby (Song)
Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Papa’s gonna buy you a mocking bird.
If that mocking bird don’t sing, Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring turns brass, Pappa’s gonna buy you a looking glass.
If that looking glass gets broke, Papa’s gonna buy you a billy goat.
If that billy goat don’t pull, Pappa’s gonna buy you a cart and bull.
If that cart and bull turn over, Pappa’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover.
If that dog named Rover don’t bark, Pappa’s gonna buy you a horse and cart.
If that horse and cart fall down, You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town. ______
Five Little Babies (Hold up appropriate number of fingers and make motions to suit the words)
One little baby Rocking in a tree. Two little babies Splashing in the sea. Three little babies Crawling on the floor. Four little babies Banging on the door. Five little babies Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 11 #2.1 – My Family and Home
Playing hide and seek. Keep your eyes closed tight, now, Until I say…..PEEK! ______
Helping Daddy Drive (Suit actions to words)
Open the car door, Climb inside. I get to help my daddy drive! Fasten the seat belt, Shut the door, Start the motor, Hear it roar! Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!
Off we go, Down the street, Waving to people We happen to meet.
Note: Change the family member from daddy to others such as mother, grandmother, auntie, brother, or sister, for example. ______
Going Shopping
Come go the store with me, It’s just down the street. We don’t need a car, We can go on our feet.
Daddy wants apples And onions and steak, Mother wants bread And strawberry cake.
Brother wants chicken And fish and potatoes. I want cereal And lettuce and tomatoes.
Come go to the store with me, It’s just down the street. We don’t need a car, We can go on our feet. ______Who Lives in My House? (Sing to tune of “Farmer in the Dell”)
My mother lives in my house, My mother lives in my house, High-ho the dairy-o. My mother lives in my house.
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Note: Invite children to name persons who live in their house and sing a verse to include that person. Match the words of the song to the different family situations in which your children live. ______
The Work Families Do (Sing to tune of “Farmer in the Dell”)
My father drives a truck, My father drives a truck, High-ho-the dairy-o. My father drives a truck.
My mother works at home, My mother works at home. High-ho the dairy-o. My mother works at home.
My sister goes to school, My sister goes to school. High-ho the dairy-o. My sister goes to school.
Note: Be familiar with each child’s family members and what they do. Invite children to say what different family members do and make up verses to the song. Be creative as you add the verses. ______
Finger Family
Finger family up, (Wiggle fingers up) Finger family down, (Wiggle fingers down) Finger family dancing, All around town. (Wiggle fingers all around) Dance fingers on your shoulders, (Wiggle fingers on shoulders) Dance fingers on your head. (Wiggle fingers on top of head). Dance fingers on your knees, (Wiggle fingers on knees) And tuck them into bed. (Fold hands and put beside face) ______
I Love My Family
Some families are large, (spread arms out wide) Some families are small, (bring arms close together) But I love my family (cross arms over chest) Best of all. ______I Have a Special Grandma (Sing to tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I have a special Grandma, I like to see. I love her and she loves me When I go to see her, we have fun. From early morning ‘til the day is done.
Note: Substitute the names of other relatives when singing this song with children; relatives such as Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. Ask children what they call their Grandma or Grandpa and substitute those names. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 13 #2.1 – My Family and Home
I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee, (cup hands together) Won’t my mommy be so proud of me? (thumbs to chest) I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee, (cup hands together) Ouch! He stung me! (clap hands loudly) ______
Benchmarks: 1.1.C Feels valued and attached to others 1.2.C Becomes aware of self as a unique individual 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Our Family’s Favorite Cereal Book (YT & OT)
Materials: Front panels from empty cereal boxes, one sheet of paper per child, glue, metal rings, yarn or a three-ring binder with clear plastic sheets
How to begin: • Send home a note asking each family to send the front panel from an empty box of their favorite family cereal. Suggest that they write their name and the name of their child on the back of the panel. • Cut out an 8” x 7” section of the cereal box panel. Make sure it has the logo. • Write each child’s name on an individual sheet of paper. • Assist each child in gluing their cereal box panel to a sheet of paper. It is best to do this with one or two children at a time. • Show each child his or her name on the page. Say, “This says Jordan. Jordan, your family’s favorite cereal is Cheerios.” • Put the pages together to create a book. • Make a cover for the book. A suggested title is: Our Family’s Favorite Cereal. • Invite a child or two to join you in the book area. Show the individual page of the children who have joined you and say, “I wonder whose page this is.” • Wait to see if children recognize their individual page. If the child recognizes his cereal, say, “Yes, Jordan, that’s your page.” • Show the child his or her name and say, “This says Jordan. Jordan, your family’s favorite cereal is Cheerios,” as you point to the cereal box panel on the page.
Extensions: • Place the book in the library area for children to look at on their own. • Observe and listen to children. Do they look at the book? Do they name the cereals?
Note: Have extra cereal box panels should a family fail to send one. Allow the child to select one of the panels for his or her page. ______
Benchmarks: 4.5.C Communicates through language 6.2.C Applies knowledge to new situations 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: Packing My Bag to Take to Grandma’s (OT)
Materials: Tote bag, pajamas or nightgown, children’s book, soft stuffed toy
How to begin: • Place pajamas, children’s book and stuffed toy in tote bag. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 14 #2.1 – My Family and Home
• Take the packed tote bag to the Pretend Play area and say to children who join you, “I’ve packed my bag because I’m going to Grandma’s to spend the night. What do you think I have in my bag?” • Pause and wait for children to respond. Accept all answers and repeat what children say. For example “Angelo said he would take his fire truck. Melinda said she would take her pajamas. Let’s see if I have a fire truck and pajamas in my bag.” • Take out one item at a time and ask children to name it and say whether or not they would take the item to Grandma’s. • Encourage children to name other items they would pack in their bag.
Note: You may substitute the names of other family members that children might visit: aunt or cousins, for example.
Note: Leave the tote bag and packed items in the Pretend Play area. Observe to see what children put in the bag and listen to their comments.
Note: Consider putting a second tote bag in the area to prevent children from arguing over “my bag.” ______
Benchmark: 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships
Planned Experience: Houses of Felt (OT)
Materials: Different colors of felt, scissors, felt board
How to begin: • Make pairs of large felt houses that are exactly the same in color and shape. • Invite a child to join you in playing a game with houses. • Allow child to manipulate the houses. • Invite child to find the two matching houses, “the houses that are alike” and place them on the felt board. • Acknowledge the child’s accomplishments by saying, for example, “Steven, you matched the two red houses and put them on the board.” • Repeat the activity with other children who seem to be interested. • Allow children to manipulate the houses even though they may not be able to match the colors.
Extension: • Involve two children in a matching activity. • Invite one child to select a house and put it on the board. • Say to the second child, “Mitch, Steven has put a blue house on the board. Can you find another blue house (or a house just like Steven’s) and put it on the board next to Steven’s house.”
Note: When you invite a child to join you in an activity, make sure the child is not actively engaged in something of interest.
Safety Note: Use the scissors to cut out the felt houses when children are not present. Keep adult scissors out of reach of children.
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Benchmarks: 1.1.C Feels valued and attached to others
4.4.C Communicates through language Places We
Planned Experience: Places We Call Home (YT & OT) Call Home
Materials: Pictures of each child’s place they call home, quart size sealable plastic bags, metal rings or yarn Self, Social and How to begin: • Invite each child’s family to take a photo of the outside of their home; a photo that Emotional includes the child, if possible. Experiences • Create a card stock title page for the book: Places We Call Home, and put it in a sealable plastic bag. • Place each photo in a sealable plastic bag. • Join the bags together (on the sealed edges) using metal rings or short piece of yarn to create a book. • Go to the book area and say to children that you are going to read a book about where they live; their homes. • Allow children who join you to find their home. Make comments such as, “Yes, Aaron, that’s your home. You live in an apartment building.” • Leave the book in the book area. Observe to see if children look at it. Listen to their comments. Do they find their own home? Do they find the homes of other children?
Extensions: • Create a Places We Call Home book from magazine pictures. • Include pictures that are representative of the homes of all of the children in your group. • Involve children in looking at the book and naming the different types of dwellings.
Note: Be aware of the homes in which each child lives. Be sensitive to a child who is living in a shelter, in a foster home, or lives in two different homes, for example If you do not think that all families will be willing to provide a photo of their home, use the magazine picture idea instead.
Note: When you invite a child to join you in an activity, make sure the child is not actively engaged in something of interest. ______
Benchmarks: 1.1.C Feels valued and attached to others 1.2.C Becomes aware of self as a unique individual
Planned Experience: I Know Someone Special (YT & OT)
Materials: None
How to begin: • Gather a small group of children and say the following poem:
I know someone very special. Do you know who? I’ll turn around and turn around (turn around) And then I’ll point to you. (point to child)
• Invite children to say name of child you are pointing to. • Repeat the poem as you point to each child in the group.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 16 #2.1 – My Family and Home
Extensions: • Repeat the poem and change the actions. For example, say “I’ll jump up and down and turn around,” “I’ll clap my hands and turn around, “I’ll hug myself and turn around.” • Invite children to join you in doing the actions in the poem.
Note: This activity adapted from Brain Games for Toddlers and Twos by Jackie Silberg, published by Gryphon House (2002). ______Benchmarks: 1.2.C Becomes aware of self as a unique individual 2.1.C Develops a wide range of feelings and emotions 2.2.C Expresses feelings and emotions through gestures, sounds and – eventually words
Planned Experience: Mirror, Mirror, What Do You See? (YT & OT)
Materials: A hand-held mirror
Hot to begin: • Sit on the floor with a child. • Hold the mirror in your hand, smile and make a happy face as you say: Mirror, mirror, what do you see? I see a happy face looking at me. • Hand the mirror to the child, ask her to look in it and make a happy face as you repeat the poem. • Change the poem and your facial expressions and voice to include other emotions such as sad, grouchy, angry, sleepy and surprised. • Invite the child to copy your facial expressions as you repeat the changed poem.
Extensions: • Have a child stand in front of a full-length mirror as you say the following: Mirror, mirror, on the wall. I see Mitch standing so tall.
Note: Make sure the mirrors in your classroom are safety mirrors. If you have a wall-mounted mirror, make sure it is firmly anchored to the wall.
Note: This activity adapted from Brain Games for Toddlers and Twos by Jackie Silberg, published by Gryphon House (2002).
Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 3.4.C Tries out roles and relationships through imitation and pretend play
Planned Experience: Bathing Babies (OT)
Materials: Waterproof baby doll, shallow plastic tub, soft washcloths, empty baby wash or Sensory shampoo bottle, small towel for drying the doll, large towel to put under the tub, and Art blanket to wrap doll in after the bath Materials How to begin: and • Put only 1 to 2 inches of water in the shallow plastic tub. Experiences • Place tub on large towel. Put doll, 2 soft washcloths and small towel beside the tub. • Invite a child to join you by saying, “Clarice, this baby sure is dirty. I need you to help me give her a bath.” • Invite child to select a washcloth. Suggest that she touch her face with the washcloth to Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 17 #2.1 – My Family and Home
feel how soft it is. Say, “This baby needs a soft washcloth for her bath.” • Observe and comment on what the child does. For example, “Clarice, you put some soap in the water so the baby will get clean.” • Model washing the doll if the child does not seem to know what to do. Describe what you are doing. • Suggest that child dry the baby with the small towel and wrap it in the blanket so “the baby does not get cold.” • Remind child to “be gentle with the baby” and to keep water in the tub if she begins to splash it.
Note: Have children wash hands before and after playing in the water tub. ______
Benchmark: 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships
Planned Experience: Textured Houses (YT & OT)
Materials: Poster board, scissors, markers, textured materials such as fake fur, sandpaper, wallpaper samples, corrugated cardboard, bubble wrap, aluminum foil, glue, hole punch, and metal ring
How to begin: • Cut house shapes from poster board and use markers to decorate the house and to draw windows and doors. • Glue a different textured material on each door. • Punch a hole in each house and attach with a metal ring to make a book. • Invite children to join you in looking at the book about houses. • Invite children to touch the different doors as you “read” the book about the house with the rough door, the soft door, and the bumpy door.
Extensions: • Know your children and create appropriate shapes for places the children call home. For example, if some children live in mobile homes and/or apartment building, create those shapes. • Decorate the doors of the mobile homes and apartment buildings and include them on the ring. • Personalize the homes by saying, “This is a mobile home like Will and Sean live in.” ______Benchmarks: 1.4.C Asserts independence 5.2.C Develops fine motor skills
Planned Experience: Painting with Household Items (OT)
Materials: newspaper or plastic tablecloth, washable tempera paints, trays for paint, paper, household items to use as brushes: dish mops, dish scrubbers, dish sponges, small sponges clipped in a clothespin, paper towels for wiping hands
How to begin: • Protect the work area with newspaper or a plastic tablecloth. • Assist toddlers in putting on paint smocks or shirts. • Place several colors of tempera paint in trays and put trays on table. • Place a sheet of paper in front of each child at the table. • Put several types of household item brushes in a container. • Allow children to choose a brush and to try other brushes. • Stay with children as they paint. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 18 #2.1 – My Family and Home
• Allow each child who wants to paint a turn. • Assist children in wiping off hands after painting. ______Benchmarks: 1.3.C Demonstrates increasing sense of competence and confidence in growing abilities 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills 5.2.C Develops fine motor skills
Planned Experience: Water Painting (OT)
Materials: House painting brushes, buckets or pans for water
How to begin: • Take brushes and buckets outdoors. Fill buckets half-full with water. Sit buckets near wall of building with brushes nearby. • Explain to children who join you that they can paint the “house” with water. • Stay near the house painting, redirecting toddlers who may try and paint another child or themselves, for example, by saying, “Andre, you are a house painter and your house needs painting.” • Make comments about what children are doing; comments such as “You’re painting up and down.“, “You’re reaching way up high with that brush.”, or “Jennine and Mashika, you’re painting side by side.” • Say a painting chant with children: Painting up Painting down Painting, painting all around! • Observe to see if children notice that the water on the wall is drying
Note: You will need to have as many brushes and water containers as there are children who want to paint. Consider spacing the water containers so that children are side by side.
Note: This activity is best done on a warm, sunny day. ______Benchmarks: 1.3.C Demonstrates increasing sense of competence and confidence in growing abilities 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills 5.2.C Develops fine motor skills
Planned Experience: House Painting (OT)
Materials: Large appliance box, house painting brushes, paint rollers, washable tempera paint, paint shirts or smocks, newspaper
How to begin: • Cut out a door and windows in a large appliance box. • Provide enough painting materials for 4 children. • Take box, newspaper and materials for painting outdoors. Place newspaper on a smooth surface and sit the box on top of the paper. Place paint materials on all 4 sides of the house. • Put on a paint shirt and invite 4 children to put on paint shirts and join you in painting the house. • Model and describe the proper way to remove excess paint from the brush. • Stay near the house painting, redirecting toddlers who may try and paint another child or Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 19 #2.1 – My Family and Home
themselves for example, by saying, “Lynne, you are a house painter and your house needs painting.” • Encourage children to paint side by side.
Extensions: • Take the painted house indoors when the paint has dried and place it in area of the classroom where children can play in it. Consider placing it against a wall so that you can see all of the children as they play in and around the house. • Observe to see if children take any of their toys into the playhouse. If not, add a couple of soft pillows, a doll or two and a couple of books.
Note: Consider have an alternative painting experience available on the playground when you plan to have both the Water Painting and the House Painting experiences available for children.
Note: Have more than one color of paint available for House Painting. ______
Benchmarks: 5.3.C Coordinates eye and hand movements 5.4.C Develops fine motor skills 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: Putting On and Taking Off Lids (YT & OT)
Materials: 4 or 5 plastic containers of different sizes with snap-on or screw-on lids, basket
How to begin: • Put the containers and lids in a basket and place the basket on a table or floor within children’s reach. • Observe children’s behavior with the containers and lids. • Introduce the activity if this is necessary. For example, pick up one of the containers and say, “I’m trying to find the lid that fits this container.” • Assist a child who may be having difficulty finding a lid that fits by saying, “Ian, try this blue lid. See if it fits,” or “This is a big container. See if you can find a big lid.”
Note: If this activity seems to frustrate children, put it away and bring it out at a later time.
Benchmarks: 1.3.C Demonstrates increasing sense of competence and confidence in growing abilities 1.4.C Asserts independence 5.4.C Develops self-help skills
Experience: Cereal for Snack (YT & OT)
Food/ Materials: One small cereal bowl, one small spoon and napkin for each child and adult, non-sweetened cereal in a serving bowl, serving size scoop, small glass of milk for Nutrition each child and adult Experiences How to begin: • Sit at table with a small group of children. • Give each child a bowl, spoon, napkin and glass of milk. • Put one scoop of cereal in your bowl and say, “I’m serving myself one scoop of Cheerios. Ariana let me help you serve yourself one scoop of Cheerios.” Assist children as needed to serve themselves a scoop of cereal. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 20 #2.1 – My Family and Home
• Allow children to eat dry cereal and drink their milk or assist them as needed to pour milk over cereal.
Note: Add to the snack what is needed to meet nutrition guidelines.
Note: Name the cereal that is being served. Talk with children about the cereals that were included in the book, Our Family’s Favorite Cereal.
Note: It is important that adults sit at the table and eat with children to serve as models.
Extensions: • Continue this activity each time children are served cereal.
Note: Caregivers and children should always wash hands before participating in a food experience.
Benchmarks: 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships
Planned Experience: Tiny Steps – Big Steps (YT & OT)
Materials: None
Movement, How to begin: Music and • Invite children to join you as you move around the playground, sometimes taking big steps and sometimes tiny steps. Gross • Verbalize what you are doing, changing your voice to be gruff when you take big steps and Motor high when you take baby steps. For example, say in a gruff voice, “I’m taking big steps” Experiences and in a high voice, “Now I’m taking tiny steps.”
Extensions: • Repeat this activity in the classroom if there is space for you and the children to safely move about. ______
Benchmarks: 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Tiptoe Through the House (YT & OT)
Materials: None
How to begin: • Begin to tiptoe in an open space in the room, saying very quietly, finger on lips, “Tiptoe, tiptoe, who will tiptoe with me?” Show toddlers how to tiptoe. • Tiptoe as long as the toddlers stay interested.
Extensions: • Play a piece of quiet music, asking the toddlers to pretend they need to be very quiet so they don’t wake up the baby or Mommy or Daddy or Grandma, for example. • Vary the tiptoe pathways (straight, curving and zigzagging). • Repeat this activity throughout the year.
Note: Walking on tiptoe uses the child’s own body weight to develop strength. It also helps with balance.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 21 #2.1 – My Family and Home
Benchmarks: 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal language 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Move Like a Rag Doll (YT & OT)
Materials: Rag doll
How to begin: • Take the rag doll to an area of the room where there is space for movement and say, “I have a special friend. His name is Yuri. Yuri likes to move his body. Let’s see if you can do what Yuri does.” • Move the rag doll while describing the movement. Introduce actions such as jumping in place, touching your toes, touching your knees, nodding your head, moving your arms in circles, stretching to touch the sky, turning in a circle. • Assist the children in calming down by introducing a slow movement such as clapping hands, tapping toes, and sitting on the floor.
Extensions: Dance with Yuri • Say to the children, “Yuri likes to dance. He wants you to dance with him.” Move Yuri as though he is dancing. • Play a dance tune and you, Yuri and the children dance together. • Say, “Yuri’s tired. He needs to rest.” as you and the children sit on the floor together. ______
Benchmarks: 4.2.C Identifies with a home language 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication 4.4.C Communicates through language 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Movement and Music (YT & OT)
Materials: CD or cassette player and CDs or cassette tapes
How to begin: • Include in your daily schedule a specific time to involve children in moving to music. • Collect CDs or cassette tapes that include a variety of musical experiences for the children. See Resources located in Focus Area #2, Introduction and Preparation for a suggested list. • Review the CDs in advance and select the songs that you think your children will enjoy. • Vary the songs you use each day. Include some of children’s favorites and add a new one. • Conclude the movement and music time with a song that will help children calm down from being so active.
Note: Include songs with words from a child’s home language that is not English.
Note: Include movement and music throughout the day, not just at the schedule time.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 22 #2.1 – My Family and Home
Yuri Says • Use the rag doll in the Move like a Rag Doll experience to direct children to the desired activity. • Say, for example, “Yuri says that Robin will wash her hands for lunch.” ______
Taking Big Steps Transition Times • Practice with children taking big steps. • Invite children to join you in taking big steps as you walk to the playground. ______
A Helper I Will Be (Sing to tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”) • Begin to sing the following song when it is time to put away the toys children are playing with and transition to another activity:
A helper I will be, A helper I will be. I’ll pick up the toys and put them away. A helper I will be.
Note: Consider including a specific toy and inserting that into the song. For example, sing “I’ll pick up the cars/blocks/dolls and put them away.”
Send home the following activity from Infant and Toddler Family Connection
Activity #29 – “Let’s Go Back and Forth” (See Attachment: Let’s Go Back and Forth)
Family Include a Family Response sheet for each activity. (See Attachment: Family Response Sheet) Experiences
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 23 #2.1 – My Family and Home
Younger Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic #2.1 - My Family and Home Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas My family includes the people I live with plus other family members. My family members have names. I live with my family in a place we call home.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Picture about my family Add - Putting on and Add cardboard brick Add Textured Houses Add dress-up clothes, Add 5 foot long chalk and community – p. 4 taking off lids, blocks, pictures of book unbreakable full-length line on sidewalk Add books pegboards, felt houses homes, small people mirror, unbreakable and felt board figures and small hand mirrors vehicles
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times and Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday First Reading of: FP or Song: Hush Little Goodnight Moon – Baby – p. 11 Tiny Steps – Big Steps p. 9 Places We Call Putting On and Taking – p. 21 Yuri Says – p. 23 Storytelling Figures: Home book – p. 16 Off Lids – p. 20 select – p. 10 Movement and Music – p. 22 Tuesday Select from Book FP or Song: Five Little List – p. 8 Babies – p. 11 Textured Houses book Tiptoe Through the Taking Big Steps – I Know Someone – p. 18 House – p. 21 p. 23 Storytelling Figures: Special – p. 16 select – p. 10 Movement and Music – p. 22 Wednesday Second Reading FP or Song: Helping of: Goodnight Daddy Drive – p.12 Moon – The Work Families Do – Places We Call Putting On and Taking Move Like a Rag Doll A Helper I Will Be – p. 9 p.13 Home book – p. 16 Off Lids – p. 20 – p. 22 p. 23 Made Book: Our Family’s Favorite Cereal Movement and Music Book – p. 14 – p. 22 Thursday Select from Book FP or Song: I Have A List – p. 8 Special Grandma – Mirror, Mirror, What Cereal for Snack – Tiny Steps – Big Steps Yuri Says – p. 23 p. 13 Do You See? – p. 20 – p. 21 p. 17 Storytelling Figures: Movement and Music select – p. 10 – p. 22 Friday Third Reading of: FP or Song: Finger Goodnight Moon – Family – p. 13 Textured Houses book Tiptoe Through the A Helper I Will Be – p. 9 I’m Bringing Home a Baby Places We Call – p. 18 House – p. 21 p. 23 Bumblebee – p. 14 Home book – p. 16 Storytelling Figures: Movement and Music select – p. 10 – p. 22
Older Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic _ #2.1 - My Family and Home Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas My family includes the people I live with plus other family members. My family members have names. I live with my family in a place we call home.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Pictures about my family Add - Putting on and Add cardboard brick Add Textured Houses Add dress-up clothes, Add 5 foot long chalk and community taking off lids, blocks, pictures of Book unbreakable full-length line on sidewalk Add books pegboards, felt houses homes, small people mirror, unbreakable and felt board figures and small hand mirrors vehicles
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language and Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday First Reading FP or Song: Grandma’s Glasses of: Goodnight – p. 11 Bathing Babies – p. 17 Tiny Steps – Big Moon – p. 9 Hush Little Baby – p.11 Places We Call Steps – p. 21 Yuri Says – Home Putting On and Taking Movement and Music p. 23 Storytelling Figures: s book – p. 16 Off Lids – p. 20 – p. 22 select – p. 10 Tuesday First Reading of: FP or Song: Five Little Babies – In the Rain with p. 11 Textured Houses book Tiptoe Through the Taking Big Baby Duck – p. 9 Who Lives in My House – p. 12 I Know Someone – p. 18 House – p. 21 Steps – p. 23 Special – p.16 Experience: Packing My Bag to Movement and Music Take to Grandma’s – p. 14 – p. 22 Wednesday Second Reading FP or Song: Helping Daddy of: Goodnight Drive – p. 12 Painting with Household Move Like a Rag Doll Moon – p. 9 The Work Families Do – p. 13 Places We Call Items – p. 18 – p. 22 A Helper I Will Home book – p. 16 Be – p. 23 Made Book: Our Family’s Putting On and Taking Movement and Music Favorite Cereal Book – p. 14 Off Lids – p. 20 – p. 22 Thursday Second Reading FP or Song : Going Shopping – of: p. 12 Bathing Babies – p. 17 Tiny Steps – Big Yuri Says – In the Rain with I Have A Special Grandma – Mirror, Mirror, What Steps – p. 21 p. 23 Baby Duck – p. 13 Do You See? – Water Painting – p. 19 p. 2 Experience: Houses of Felt – p. 17 Movement and Music p. 15 Cereal for Snack – p. 20 – p. 22 Friday Third Reading FP or Song: Finger Family – of: Goodnight p. 13 Textured Houses book Tiptoe Through the A Helper I Will Moon – p. 9 I’m Bringing Home a Baby – p. 18 House – p. 21 Be – p. 23 Bumblebee – p. 14 Places We Call Storytelling Figures: Home book – p. 16 House Painting – p. 19 Movement and Music select – p. 10 – p. 22
THE FAMILY CONNECTION
Toddlers (18 to 36 Months) Activity #29 “Let’s Go Back and Forth” ______
You will need: You and your toddler and time to play ______
Before you begin:
• Talk with your child about a game the two of you will play; a game called “Back and Forth.”
Try this!
• Sit on the floor, facing your child, with legs apart.
• Hold your child’s hand and lean backwards as your child leans forward.
• Lean forward as your child leans backward.
• Try to get a rhythm to your rocking as you say “back and forth,” “back and forth.”
Play “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”
• Add variety to the game by singing a song as you go back and forth.
• Sing this familiar song
Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. ______Connect with your child’s caregiver!
• Share this game with your child’s caregiver. Tell her how much you and your child enjoyed the activity. • Offer to show her how the game is played if she is not familiar with it.
Book
Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Annie Kubler. Child's Play International Ltd; Board edition. 2003.
FAMILY RESPONSE
We’d like to hear from you about this Infant and Toddler Family Connection Activity. Please return this Family Response sheet by ______
Name of Activity: ______
Child’s Name: ______
Tell us who in your family participated in this activity with your child:
______
Help us evaluate the effectiveness of the Family Connection information and activity by rating the items listed below. Check the boxes that best express your opinion.
Interested Excited Bored Frustrated
Family Response
My reaction to the information contained in the Family Connection activity My child’s reaction as he/she participated in the Family Connection activity
The reaction of myself and/or other family members who participated in the Family Connection activity with my child
My overall rating for this Family Connection activity
Give us any additional comments and suggestions. ______
______
______
Your Name: ______Date: ______
#2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Here are some big ideas about toddlers that you can help them explore:
We share love in our family.
We share rituals and routines in our family.
Big Ideas We share special foods in our family.
I like to do things and go places with my family.
Featured Books
Goodnight, My Duckling by Nancy Tafuri (+BB) Kiss Good Night by Amy Hest, illustrated by Anita Jeram (+BB) Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (+BB) Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang (+BB) Time for Bed by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer (+BB) Materials to Collect and Key: (BB) – Available in Board Book only (+BB) – Also available in Board Book Make Note: See the Book List section for additional books that can be used should some of the featured books be unavailable and as supplemental books to read with children.
Mother Goose Rhyme Chart • Illustrated Mother Goose Rhyme Chart and puppet, There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (See Attachment: There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe).
Books to Make None
Additional Materials • Plastic dish tub, dish towel, apron for child • pajama tops and bottoms, laundry basket • Basket • Household items for printing • scarves
*Goodnight, My Duckling by Nancy Tafuri
*Kiss Good Night by Amy Hest, illustrated by Anita Jeram
*Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
*The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
Book List *Time for Bed by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer
*Featured Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack Books Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 1 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Anita Jeram
Have You Seen My Duckling? By Nancy Tafuri
Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak
The Napping House by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood
Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Anne Kubler
Where’s My Hug (originally published as Don’t You Feel Well, Sam?) by Amy Hest, illustrated by Anita Jeram
Note: Review the section in Curriculum Tips and Techniques on Reading Books with Children, for suggestions on how to use books with children.
Note: Consider reading one of these books each day prior to nap time.
Planned Experience: Naptime Rituals and Routines
Benchmarks: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories Reading 1.1.C Feels valued and attached to others 3.1.C Develops trusting relationships with nurturing adults Books with Toddlers Book: Time for Bed by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer
First Reading of Time for Bed (YT & OT) • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area to read a story about some mice, sheep and cats who are getting ready for bed.” • Show cover to children who join you. Give title and allow children to look at the sheep on the cover. • Turn each page slowly and name the animals on the page. ______Second Reading of Time for Bed • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area to read a story about some mice, sheep and cats that are getting ready for bed.” • Show cover and give title of book. • Read the story to the children, pausing after each page to allow children time to examine the animals on the page. ______Third Reading of Time for Bed • Gather a small group of children in the reading area. • Show cover and give title of book. • Read the story to the children. • Follow up the reading by turning the pages and inviting a child to either name the animals on each page or to point to the animals as you name them. • Allow each child a turn. Say, for example, “Diedre, can you tell me the name of this animal?” “That’s right, Diedre, that’s a sheep.” ______Book: Goodnight, My Duckling by Nancy Tafuri (YT & OT)
First Reading of Goodnight, My Duckling • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area to read a story about Mother Duck and her Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 2 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
baby ducklings.” • Show cover of book to toddlers who join you. Read the title, Goodnight, My Duckling. Allow children to look at the illustrations on the cover. Explain to them that baby ducks are called ducklings. • Take a picture walk through the first pages of the book, describing what is happening on each page rather than reading all of the words. Name the different animals that the duckling encounters. • Read the last three pages, beginning with the page that has the words “Sweet dreams, little duckling.” and end with the page that has the word Goodnight. ______
Second Reading of Goodnight, My Duckling • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area to read a story about Mother Duck and her baby ducklings.” • Begin to read the story to the children. Call attention to the little duckling who lags behind Mother Duck and the other ducklings. • Show the double-spread page with no words and say, “The little duckling can’t find his mother and his brothers and sisters. He must be scared.” • Continue reading the book to the end. Point out the turtle carrying the duckling on his back. Say that the turtle helped the duckling find his mother.
Note: Read the book again and again with children who are interested and who request it. Invite older toddlers to help tell the story as you show the pictures. ______
Book: Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang (OT)
First Reading of Ten, Nine, Eight • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area to read a story about a little girl and her dad. The little girl is getting ready for bed.” • Show the cover to the children who join you and read the title. • Show the title page where the father is holding out his hands to the child. Ask children if they think the little girl’s Dad is going to rock her to sleep. Say, “Let’s read the story and find out.” • Read the story with the children. • Follow up by asking children if the little girl’s Dad rocked her to sleep. ______
Second Reading of Ten, Nine, Eight • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area to read a story about a little girl and her dad. The little girl is getting ready for bed.” • Show the cover to the children who join you and read the title. • Read each page, pausing to count the objects found on that page. For example, count 10 small toes, 9 soft friends, 8 square windowpanes. • Follow up the reading by showing each page and inviting children to name the numbered objects on each page. Say, for example, “10 small _____(toes), 9 soft ____ (friends).”
Note: Read the story again and again with children who are interested and who request it. ______Book: Kiss Good Night by Amy Hest, illustrated by Anita Jeram (OT)
First Reading of Kiss Good Night • Invite children to join you in the book area to read a story about a little bear whose name is Sam. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 3 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
• Show children the cover, read the title and say, “This is Sam and his mother.” • Show children the title page and point to the little white house and say, “This is the house where Sam and his mother live.” • Read the story, changing your voice for Sam and his mother, and to reflect what each is saying. ______
Second Reading of Kiss Good Night • Make a stick puppet by attaching to a craft stick the figure of Mrs. Bear that has been colored and laminated. Keep the puppet out of sight until you use it in the story. • Invite children to join you in the book area to read the story about a little bear whose name is Sam. • Show children the cover, read the title and ask children to point to Sam and to his mother. • Read the story with the children. • Use the Mrs. Bear stick puppet to kiss each child (gentle touch on the head) when Mrs. Bear kisses Sam in the story. ______
Book: Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (YT & OT)
First Reading of Runaway Bunny • Invite a small group of children to join you in the book area to read a story about a little bunny who runs away from his mother. • Read the story with the children. Take time to allow children to look at the pictures. On the pages without words, describe to children what the little bunny and his mother are doing and invite them to locate the little bunny. ______
Second Reading of Runaway Bunny • Invite one or two children to join you in the book area to read a story about a little bunny who runs away from his mother. • Begin to read the story with the children. On the pages with out words invite them to describe what is happening to the little bunny and his mother.
Note: Know the children in your group that you think have the attention span to attend to this story. Invite those children to join you in the reading experience. If children do not seem interested in the story, put the book away and bring it out at another time.
Benchmark: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Storytelling, Mother Goose Rhyme (YT & OT) There Was an Old Woman Who lived in a Shoe
There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
Language There was an old woman and Who lived in a shoe. Cognitive She had so many children She didn’t know what to do; Materials She gave them some broth and Without any bread. Experiences She kissed them all soundly And put them to bed. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 4 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
• Read the rhyme with the children from a Mother Goose book that has one rhyme per page so that children can see illustrations.
Extensions: There Was an Old Woman Rhyme Chart and Puppet • Make an illustrated rhyme chart for the rhyme. Laminate or cover the chart with clear self-adhesive paper for durability. (Refer to Curriculum Tips and Techniques, Making Charts, for information on making charts.) • Make a puppet of the Old Woman. Color, laminate or cover with clear self-adhesive paper and attach the figure to a craft stick. • Read the rhyme at another time, again using a Mother Goose book. • Show the rhyme chart and again read the rhyme with the children. • Have the Old Woman puppet give each child a kiss (gentle touch on the head) as you say, “She kissed them all soundly…” • Post the rhyme chart on the wall at children’s eye level. Observe children and, if they notice the chart, join them in saying the rhyme. ______
Benchmark: 4.4.C Communicates through language
Are You Sleeping:
Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, Brother John, Brother John. Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing, Ding, ding, dong! Ding, ding, dong!
Note: Ask children who wakes them up in the morning. Substitute children’s names as you sing the song, using the words brother and sister when appropriate ______
Little Red Box
I wish I had a little red box To put my Jason in. I’d take him out and kiss, kiss, kiss And put him back again.
Extensions: • Use the children’s names in the rhyme. • Have a red box to show the children as you say the rhyme. If you do not have a red box, cover a small box with red paper. • Put the rag doll named Yuri from #2.1- My Family and Home in the box and substitute his name in the rhyme. Bring Yuri out and kiss him, have each child “blow him a kiss” and put him back in the box. ______
I Love My Family
Some families are large (spread arms out wide) Some families are small, (bring arms close together) But I love my family (cross arms over chest) Best of all.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 5 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Going Shopping
Come go the store with me, It’s just down the street. We don’t need a car, We can go on our feet.
Daddy wants apples And onions and steak, Mother wants bread And strawberry cake.
Brother wants chicken And fish and potatoes. I want cereal And lettuce and tomatoes.
Come go to the store with me, It’s just down the street. We don’t need a car, We can go on our feet. ______
Helping Daddy Drive (Suit actions to words)
Open the car door, Climb inside. I get to help my daddy drive! Fasten the seat belt, Shut the door, Start the motor, Hear it roar! Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!
Off we go, Down the street, Waving to people We happen to meet.
Note: Change the family member from daddy to others such as mother, grandmother, auntie, brother, or sister, for example. ______
Skidamarink
Skidamarink a dink a dink, Skidamarink a doo, I love you. Skidamarink a dink a dink, Skidamarink a doo, I love you.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 6 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
I love you in the morning And in the afternoon, I love you in the evening And underneath the moon; Oh, Skidamarink a dink a dink, Skidamarink a doo, I love you!
Benchmarks: 1.1.C Feels valued and attached to others 3.1.C Develops trusting relationships with nurturing adults
Planned Experience: Naptime Rituals and Routines (YT & OT)
Materials: Books about bedtime, naptime and nighttime, soft, soothing music, each child’s comfort item either brought from home or provided by the center Self, Social and How to begin: • Gather information from families about children’s sleeping habits and patterns, Emotional including naptimes when child is not in the center. This information can better help you Experiences understand each child and that child’s naptime needs. • Encourage families to bring familiar comfort items from home; items that can make falling asleep easier, or have comfort items available in the classroom with each child having a special item. Allow children to have the comfort items at naptime. • Establish consistent daily naptime routines and rituals with children’s books so that children know what to expect when it is time for rest. An example follows: Collect children’s books about bedtime, naptime and nighttime. Read a story after lunch, just prior to naptime. Include finger plays that children enjoy. Read a different story until the children have selected their favorite naptime books and make these books a part of the daily naptime ritual. Place the books in a special bag or basket that children will learn to recognize as being for a naptime story. • Place cots or mats in the same place each day. Make sure that you can see each cot. • Dim the lights, leaving sufficient light so that children and other adults can see you and you can see the children and other adults. • Play soft, soothing music; music that seems to help children ease into sleep. • Focus on the children and their individual needs until they are asleep. Know which children need you near and which need soft pats on the pack, for example. • Avoid talking with other adults. This can prevent children from falling asleep. • Work on planning and projects only after the children are asleep. Keep your activities quiet. • Know which children need extra time to become fully awake and functioning after naptime, which children need a few minutes on your lap, and which children are immediately ready to become involved in an activity. • Have available quiet activities for early risers.
Extensions: • Have a good night puppet that visits each child on his or her cot/mat and gives a good night kiss. You and the children give the puppet a name. • Keep the puppet in the special bag or basket with the books.
Note: Avoid withholding the puppet’s kisses from a child who may be having difficulty settling down. The puppet’s kiss is a symbol of love, not a reward for “good” behavior.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 7 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Note: Take children outdoors each day. Time in fresh air and sunshine and active play can help children be ready for rest and sleep.
Note: See the list of books at the beginning of this Toddler Topic for those that relate to naptime and bedtime. The developers particularly like Time for Bed, Ten, Nine, Eight and Kiss Good Night. ______Benchmarks: 1.3.C Demonstrates increasing sense of competence and confidence in growing abilities 1.4.C Asserts independence
Planned Experience: Can You Do It Too? (YT & OT)
Materials: None
How to begin: • Pretend to use an imaginary object as you do things that children might do at home; especially rituals and routines. Then ask the children, “Can you do it too?” Examples follow.
“I am washing my face. Can you do it too?” “I am brushing my teeth. Can you do it too?” “I am brushing my hair. Can you do it too?” “I am eating my breakfast. Can you do it too?” “I am taking a bath. Can you do it too?” “I am listening to a bedtime story. Can you do it too?” “I am kissing Mommy/Daddy/Grandfather goodnight. Can you do it too?” “I am going to sleep. Can you do it too?”
Extensions: • Involve older toddlers in discussing whether they do the things with or without help from others. Discuss with them who helps them with the different activities.
Benchmarks: 5.2.C Develops fine motor skills 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships
Planned Experience: Washing Dishes (OT)
Materials: plastic dish tub, plastic dishes, dish soap, dish scrubber, dish drying rag, smock or apron for child, large towel Sensory and Art How to begin: • Place large towel on low table. Materials • Put 1 to 2 inches of water in the tub, add dish soap and place tub on large towel with and small drying towel near by. Experiences • Say to a child as you hand him some plastic dishes, “Marcus, I think these dishes are dirty and need washing.” • Assist child in putting on a smock or apron. • Suggest that child dry the dishes when they are clean so they can be put in the cabinet.
Extensions: Washing, Rinsing, Drying and Putting Away Dishes • Make this a sequencing activity by adding a plastic tub with water without soap. • Invite child to wash dishes in soapy water, rinse them in clean water, then dry them with the drying cloth.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 8 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
• Add a step to the process when children have mastered the washing, rinsing and drying process by asking child to put the dishes in the cabinet or on the table in the pretend play area.
Note: Have each child wash and dry hands before and after participating in this experience.
Note: Accept that children may just want the experience of playing with the materials for awhile. ______
Benchmarks: 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: Matching Pajama Tops and Bottoms (YT & OT)
Materials: several sets of pajama tops and bottoms (sets must match) and laundry basket
How to begin: • Jumble up the pajama tops and bottoms. • Invite children to help you sort the pajamas by putting together the ones that match.
Extensions: • Make sets of pajama tops and bottoms that match from fabric scraps. Look for fabrics that have different textures. • Invite children to help you sort the pajamas by putting together the tops and bottoms that match.
Note: Give younger toddlers fewer sets, two sets, for example. Older toddlers might be able to match five or more sets. ______
Benchmarks: 5.2.C Develops fine motor skills 5.3.C Coordinates hand and eye movements 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships 6.2.C Applies knowledge to new situations
Planned Experience: Printing with Household Items (OT)
Materials: household items such as cookie cutters, potato masher and thread spools to use as printing tools, tray, large paper, wet paper towels, pie tins, washable tempera paint in two different colors
How to begin: • Place printing tools on a tray. • Spread a large sheet of paper on the table. • Make a printing pad by folding a few squares of paper towels together and holding them under a faucet to moisten. • Place the moistened towels in the pie tins and pour a puddle of paint on the towels; one color in each pan. • Invite a couple of children to put on paint shirts or smocks and join you at the table. • Give each child a sheet of paper and invite him or her to use the tools to print with. • Demonstrate on your sheet of paper if children do not seem to know how to use the printing tools.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 9 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Note: Children may scrub and rub the paper with the printing tools and may even tear the paper. They are exploring and experimenting with the tools. Repeat the printing experience throughout the year. Eventually children will use the tools for printing only.
Benchmarks: 1.3.C Demonstrates increasing sense of competence and confidence in growing abilities 1.4.C Asserts independence 5.4.C Develops self-help skills
Planned Experience: Making Pizza (YT & OT)
Food/ Materials: ½ sliced English muffin per child and adults, pizza sauce in a bowl, shredded cheese in a bowl, 2 serving spoons, one small plate per child and adults, aluminum Nutrition foil and baking pan Experiences How to begin: • Gather a small group of children, 2 to 4 at a time, to make individual pizzas. • Explain to children that they will make their own pizza for snack. • Encourage children to talk about eating pizza with their families; where they go for pizza, do they make it at home, what they like on their pizza. • Place ½ sliced English muffin on your plate and one on each child’s plate, • Model making pizza by placing one or two spoons of pizza sauce on your muffin and topping with a spoon or two of cheese. Describe each step you take. • Assist each child in putting one or two spoons of pizza sauce on their muffin, topping it with a spoon or two of cheese. • Prepare baking pan by covering in aluminum foil. Write the children’s names on the foil leaving spaces for their pizza. • Invite children to place their pizzas on the baking tray. Explain to them that the pizzas will be baked in the oven in the kitchen. • Repeat this process with the other children in the group. • Take the pizzas on the tray to the kitchen to be baked. • Allow the pizzas to cool slightly before you and the children enjoy them with a cold glass of milk.
Note: Consider what you know about your young toddlers before involving them in this experience. If you feel it has too many steps for them, either simplify it or do not include it. Young toddlers will need assistance with using their spoons and getting the ingredients on the muffin.
Safety Note: In some activity books for toddlers you will find suggestions that you use a toaster oven in the classroom for cooking pizza. The developers caution against the use of a toaster oven in the toddler classroom unless you have additional adults whose task it is to do nothing but supervise the use of the oven which should be out of the reach of children. It will also be necessary that the electrical cord be out of reach of children. We realize that the sensory experience of smelling the cooking pizza will be missing when pizza is cooked someplace other than in the classroom. However, with toddlers, as with all children, SAFETY is always the first concern.
Note: Caregivers and children should always wash hands before participating in a food experience.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 10 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Benchmarks: 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Put Your Hands Up in the Air (YT & OT)
Materials: None
How to begin: Movement, • Begin to sing the following song and do the motions with children who join you: Music and Put Your Hands up in the Air Gross (Sing to tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down”) Motor Experiences Put you hands up in the air, In the air, in the air. Put your hands up in the air, Clap, clap, clap.
Put your hands down to the ground, To the ground, to the ground. Put your hands down to the ground, Clap, clap, clap.
Move your arms from side to side, Side to side, side to side. Move your arms from side to side, Clap, clap, clap.
Walk your legs and march, march, march, (march in place) March, march, march, march, march, march. Walk your legs and march, march march, Clap, clap, clap.
Twist your body side to side. Side to side, side to side. Twist your body side to side, Clap, clap, clap. ______Benchmark: 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Dancing with Scarves (OT)
Materials: Scarves for you and each child in the group
How to begin: • Place scarves in a basket. • Begin to play some classical instrumental music such as The Blue Danube or Clair de Lune. • Select a scarf from the basket and begin to move freely to the music. • Allow children who join you to select a scarf. Describe what you are doing with the scarf. Be creative as you move to the music and children will copy you. Swoop the scarf high into the air and then low to the ground. Hold scarf by one corner and move it in front your body from right to left, back and forth, like a windshield wiper. Move the scarf in a large circle in front of your body.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 11 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Move the scarf back and forth as though you were sweeping the floor. Hold the scarf as you turn in a circle. • Conclude the scarf dancing experience with a calming activity such as sitting on the floor and hugging your scarf. • Collect the scarves by putting your scarf in the basket and asking children to put their scarves in the basket
Extensions: • Play marching music such as “Yankee Doodle” while children march around the room waving a scarf in the air like a flag.
Note: Allow sufficient space for this activity so that each child has personal space to move his or her scarf without interfering with another child’s movements. ______Benchmarks: 4.2.C Identifies with a home language 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication 4.4.C Communicates through language 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Movement and Music (YT & OT)
Materials: CD or cassette player and CDs or cassette tapes
How to begin: • Include in your daily schedule a specific time to involve children in moving to music. • Collect CDs or cassette tapes that include a variety of musical experiences for the children. See Resources located in Focus Area #2, Introduction and Preparation for a suggested list. • Review the CDs in advance and select the songs that you think your children will enjoy. • Vary the songs you use each day. Include some of children’s favorites and add a new one. • Conclude the movement and music time with a song that will help children calm down from being so active.
Note: Include songs with words from a child’s home language that is not English.
Note: Include movement and music throughout the day, not just at the schedule time.
Walk Your Legs and March, March, March • Sing the following to tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down” as you and children go outdoors Walk your legs and march, march, march, March, march, march, march, march, march. Walk your legs and march, march, march. March outside. Transition ______Times Driving Daddy’s Car • You and children pretend to drive daddy’s car (or other family members) as you move from one activity to another. • Give directions such as, “We’re coming to a corner, slow down as you turn that corner.”
Note: Adapt other finger plays previously listed, making them transitions to move children from one activity or place to another.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 12 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Goodnight Rituals and Routines • Send home a list of the children’s favorite books for nap time; books such as Goodnight Moon, Time for Bed, Kiss Good Night, Goodnight My Duckling, and Ten, Nine, Eight. • Suggest that families purchase one or more of the books or check them out from the local library and read them to their child each night at bedtime.
Family Making Pizza at Home Experiences • Explain to families that their children were involved in making and eating pizza with the other children. • Send home to families the directions for making pizza from the Food/Nutrition Experiences, p. 10. • Suggest that families involve their children in making and eating pizza with their family members.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 13 #2.2 – Things I Do with My Family
Younger Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic _ #2.2 - Things I Do with My Family __ Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas We share love in our family. We share rituals and routines in our family. We share special foods in our family. I like to do things and go places with my family.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Add pictures about Add pegboards with Add cardboard brick Add matching pajama Add tote bag with Add 5 foot long chalk family and community, large, blunt-ended pegs, blocks, family homes tops and bottoms, pajamas or nightgown, line on sidewalk Add books felt houses with felt blocks laundry basket, fabric stuffed toys and board scraps pajama tops and children’s books bottoms
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language and Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday First Reading of: FP or Song: There Was an Time for Bed – Old Woman Who Lived in a Matching Pajama Put Your Hands Up in the Walk Your Legs and p. 2 Shoe – p. 4 Can You Do It Tops and Bottoms – Air – p. 11 March, March, To?– p. 8 p. 9 March – p. 12 Are You Sleeping? – p. 5 Movement and Music – p. 12 Tuesday First Reading of: FP or Song: Little Red Box Good Night My – p. 5 Matching Pajama Put Your Hands Up in the Driving Daddy’s Car Duckling – p. 2 Can You Do It Tops and Bottoms – Air – p. 11 - p. 12 Illustrated Chart: There To?– p. 8 p. 9 Was an Old Woman – Movement and Music – p. 5 p. 12 Wednesday Second Reading of: Time For Bed FP or Song:. Matching Pajama Put Your Hands Up in the Walk Your Legs and – p. 2 Helping Daddy Drive – p. 6 Can You Do It Tops and Bottoms – Air – p. 11 March, March, To?– p. 8 p. 9 March – p. 12 Movement and Music – p. 12 Thursday Second Reading FP or Song: Skidamarink – of: Good Night p. 6 Can You Do It Put Your Hands Up in the Driving Daddy’s Car My Duckling – Little Red Box – p. 5 To?– p. 8 Matching Pajama Air – p. 11 - p. 12 p. 3 Tops and Bottoms – Illustrated Chart: There p. 9 Movement and Music – Was an Old Woman – p. 5 p. 12 Friday First Reading of: FP or Song: Are You Runaway Bunny Sleeping? – p. 5 Put Your Hands Up in the Walk Your Legs and – p. 4 Can You Do It Making Pizza – p.10 Air – p. 11 March, March, Helping Daddy Drive – p. 6 To?– p. 8 March – p. 12 Movement and Music – p. 12
Older Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic _ #2.2 - Things I Do with My Family __ Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas We share love in our family. We share rituals and routines in our family. We share special foods in our family. I like to do things and go places with my family.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Add pictures about Add pegboards with Add cardboard brick Add matching pajama Add tote bag with Add 5 foot long chalk family and community, large, blunt-ended pegs, blocks, family homes tops and bottoms, pajamas or nightgown, line on sidewalk Add books felt houses with felt blocks laundry basket, fabric stuffed toys and board scraps pajama tops and children’s books bottoms
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language and Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday First Reading of: FP or Song: There Was an Time for Bed – Old Woman Who Lived in a Put Your Hands Up in p. 2 Shoe – p. 4 Can You Do It Washing Dishes – the Air – p. 11 Walk Your Legs and To?– p. 8 p. 8 March, March, Are You Sleeping? – p. 5 Movement and Music March – p. 12 – p. 12 Tuesday First Reading of: FP or Song: Little Red Box – Goodnight My p. 5 Dancing with Scarves– Driving Daddy’s Car Duckling – p. 2 I Love My Family – p. 5 Can You Do It Matching Pajama p. 11 - p. 12 To?– p. 8 Tops and Bottoms – Illustrated Chart: There Was p. 9 Movement and Music an Old Woman – p. 5 – p. 12 Wednesday First Reading of: FP or Song: Going Shopping Ten, Nine, Eight – p. 6 Printing with Put Your Hands Up in Walk Your Legs and – p. 3 Can You Do It Household Items – the Air – p. 11 March, March, Helping Daddy Drive – p. 6 To?– p. 8 p. 9 March – p. 12 Movement and Music – p. 12 Thursday First Reading of: FP or Song: Skidamarink – p. Kiss Good Night 6 Can You Do It Dancing with Scarves– Driving Daddy’s Car – p. 3 Little Red Box – p. 5 To?– p. 8 Matching Pajama p. 11 - p. 12 Illustrated Chart: There Was Tops and Bottoms – an Old Woman – p. 9 Movement and Music p. 5 – p. 12 Friday First Reading of: FP or Song: Are You Runaway Bunny Sleeping? – p. 5 Making Pizza – p. 10 Put Your Hands Up in Walk Your Legs and – p. 4 Can You Do It the Air – p. 11 March, March, Helping Daddy Drive – p. 6 To?– p. 8 March – p. 12 Movement and Music – p. 12
#2.3 – My Classroom Community
Here are some big ideas about toddlers that you can help them explore:
I am a part of a center and classroom community.
I am beginning to make friends with other children in my classroom.
Big Ideas My friends and I do things together in my classroom.
The people in my center have names.
Featured Books
Note: See Book List section, for books to read from the previous two Toddler Topics.
Storytelling Figures • Locate at A Story a Month on the Arkansas Better Beginnings website: Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the Mother Goose Rhyme, Jack and Jill
Materials to Books to Make Collect and Friend, Friend, Who Do You See? (See Attachment: Friend, Friend, Who Do You See?)
Make We Are Friends
Note: This is the same book that was introduced in Toddler Topic #1.4 – Feelings and Emotions
Materials • Photo album • 3 Ring binder • Circular objects for printing • Pictures of trains • Hoop and beanbags
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
Goodnight, My Duckling by Nancy Tafuri Book List Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Anita Jeram
Have You Seen My Duckling? By Nancy Fafuri
In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest, illustrated by Jill Barton
Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer
Kiss Good Night by Amy Hest, illustrated by Anita Jeram Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 1 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
The Napping House by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood
Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
Ring Around a Rosie by Annie Kubler
Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Annie Kubler
Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
The Three Bears by Paul Galdone
The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
Time for Bed by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer
Where’s My Hug (originally published as Don’t You Feel Well, Sam?) by Amy Hest, illustrated by Anita Jeram
Note: Review the section in Curriculum Tips and Techniques on Reading Books with Children, for suggestions on how to use books with children.
Benchmarks: 1.1.C Feels valued and attached to others 1.2.C Becomes aware of self as a unique individual 4.4.C Communicates through language 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Reading Planned Experience: We Are Friends (YT & OT)
Books with Materials: We Are Friends Book Toddlers How to begin: • Take a photo of each child in your group as he or she is engaged in an activity. • Put the photos into a small, one-photo-per-page album. • Label the album, We Are Friends. • Sit on the floor and say, “I’m looking at this book about friends. I see a picture of Jamie playing with the cars. Here’s a picture of Manuel eating his lunch.” • Invite children to join you in looking at the book. • Turn the pages and describe what each child is doing. Be sure to include the child’s name. • Turn the pages and invite children to name the child on each page. Invite older toddlers to describe what each child is doing.
Extension: • Place the book in the Library Area so children can look at it on their own. • Join a child who is looking at the book and involve him or her in naming the children and describing the activity. • Take photos of children playing side-by-side and put them in an album. When sharing this album with children make comments such as, “Randall and James are both looking at books.” Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 2 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
Planned Experience: Friend, Friend, Who Do You See? (YT & OT)
Materials: Friend, Friend, Who Do You See? (See Attachment: Friend, Friend, Who Do You See?)
How to begin: • Take a photo of each child in your group. • Copy the pages of the book. You will need multiple copies of the third page so there is a page for each child. • Attach a photo for each child and complete the page with his or her name. • Laminate the pages or put into clear page protectors. • Bind with metal rings or place in a three ring binder. • Say to children, “I’m going to the book area and read a book about our friends.” • Show the cover of the book and say the title. • Turn the pages and read the book making sure the children can see and name their friends. • Invite older toddlers to join in saying the language pattern of the words.
Extension: • Place the book in the Library Area so children can look at it on their own. • Join a child who is looking at the book and involve him or her in naming the children and saying the language pattern.
Note: When you invite a child to join you in an activity, make sure the child is not actively engaged in something interesting.
Benchmark: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Storytelling, Mother Goose Rhyme (YT & OT) Jack and Jill
How to begin: • Make either felt or magnetic storytelling figures for the rhyme. Language • Read the rhyme from a Mother Goose book with children several times so that they are and familiar with the characters and the order of events.
Cognitive Jack and Jill Materials and Jack and Jill Experiences Went up the hill, To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down, And broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after.
• Use the storytelling figures to say the rhyme. • Change the names in the rhyme to the names of two children in your group and repeat the rhyme with the new names. • Repeat the rhyme with the names of other children in the group. • Involve children in placing figures on the storyboard when you feel they can do this.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 3 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
Benchmark: 4.4.C Communicates through language
Do You Know This Friend of Mine? (Sing to tune of “The Muffin Man”)
Do you know this friend of mine, This friend of mine, This friend of mine? Do you know this friend of mine? Her name is Audra.
Yes, we know this friend of yours, This friend of yours, This friend of yours. Yes, we know this friend of yours. Her name is Audra.
Note: Include each child’s name as you sing the song. When you sing the last line in both the first and second verses, point to a child and encourage children to say the child’s name. ______
Where is Johnny? (OT) (Sing to tune of “Are You Sleeping? / ”Where is Thumbkin?”)
Where is Johnny? Where is Johnny? There he is. There he is. (Child stands up) How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you. Now sit down, now sit down. (Child sits back down)
Extensions: • Have a puppet tap the shoulder of the designated child when you sing “There he is. There he is.”
Note: Gather a small group of children together to sing this song. Have children sitting in a circle with you. Repeat the song with different children’s names. Children will probably not say or sing “Here I am, here I am” and “Very well I thank you.” However, you can invite other children to point to Johnny as you sing his name. ______
The Children on the Bus (Sing to tune of “Wheels on the Bus”)
The children on the bus wave to a friend (wave) Wave to a friend, wave to a friend. (wave) The children on the bus wave to a friend (wave) All through the town.
The children on the bus say “Let’s go and play, (beckon) Let’s go and play, let’s go and play.” (beckon) The children on the bus say “Let’s go and play” (beckon All through the town.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 4 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
Two Little Blackbirds
Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill. (hold up index finger on each hand) One named Jack and one named Jill. Fly away, Jack. (put one index finger behind back) Fly away, Jill. (put other index finger behind back) Come back, Jack. (bring one finger from behind back) Come back, Jill. (bring other finger from behind back)
Extensions: • Change the verse as follows:
Two little friends sitting so still. One named Ivory and one named Megan. Stand up Ivory, (child stands) Stand up Megan. (child stands) Sit down Ivory, (child sits) Sit down Megan. (child sits)
Note: Change “Jack” and “Jill” to two of the children in your group. Repeat the verse, including the name of each child who is in the group. ______Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Reading with a Friend (YT & OT)
Materials: Two stuffed animals and a favorite children’s book such as Goodnight Moon
How to begin: • Go to the book area and begin reading a book to the two stuffed animals. • Say to a child or children who join you, “I’m reading a book with my friends. Would you like to join us? Now we have four friends.” • Continue reading the book to the end. • Tell the children who have joined you that you must leave the area to do something else and encourage the children to select a book from the book shelf and continue reading to the stuffed animals and to each other.
Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 4.1.C Expresses needs and thoughts without using words
Planned Experience: I Need a Hug (YT & OT)
Materials: doll or soft stuffed animal
How to begin: Self, Social • Gather a small group of children together. Show them the doll or stuffed animal and and say, “This doll has been crying because she fell down and bumped her knee. I think she needs a hug.” Emotional • Cuddle and affectionately pat the doll, then hug the doll. Experiences • Say to children, “The doll is feeling much better now. Hugs make you feel better.” • Invite each child to pat the doll and give it a hug. Say, “The doll really feels better now because she got lots of hugs.” • Invite older toddlers to discuss times they have received a hug and how it made them feel. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 5 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
Extensions: • Use a soft puppet for this activity. Give the puppet a name such as Huggy or Huggy Bear. Involve the children in finding a special place for the puppet so that they can give the puppet a hug anytime they want to. • Give hugs to children when they seem to need it; when they seen frustrated, sad, or tired, for example. • Role-play with a child and the doll. Talk for the doll. Talk about how the doll feels sad or hurt. Model how to comfort the doll to make it feel better. Have the doll ask the child if he ever feels sad and what makes him feel better when he is sad. What does he think would make other people feel better when they are sad? ______
Benchmarks: 3.2.C Shows interest in peers 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation
Planned Experience: Sharing Tub (YT & OT)
Materials: dish tub or other container, large pegs and two peg boards
How to begin: • Place a tub with pegs between two peg boards on a table. Make sure there are enough pegs so that two children can fill their peg boards. • Invite two children to join you at the table. Say, “Kasandra, here is a peg board for you and here is one for you, Miguel. You can share the pegs in the tub.” • Observe to see if one child tries to hoard all of the pegs. If so, join them and say, “There are enough pegs for both of you to share. Take one peg at a time.”
Extensions: • Use this same technique with other materials. For example, put play dough toys between two children playing with play dough and invite them to “share the toys.” • Put a tub of crayons between two children who are scribbling. Invite the children to “share the crayons.”
Note: Toddlers are not yet ready to “share” by giving up what they are playing with to someone else or to voluntarily give another child half of their play dough, for example. Providing a sufficient number of interesting toys and materials and duplicates of some toys minimizes conflict over sharing, which is an unreasonable expectation for most toddlers. Use the word “sharing” in situations such as those described in the Sharing Tub experience.
Note: When you invite a child to join you in activity, make sure the child is not actively engaged in something of interest.
Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 5.2.C Develops fine motor skills 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: Printing Circles with Friends (YT & OT) Sensory Materials: newspaper to cover the table, large sheet of butcher paper, circular objects such as and Art lids from small containers, tops for spray cans, empty thread spools, paper towel Materials rolls cut into 2 inch sections, pie pans, washable liquid tempera paint, paint and shirts/smocks, paper towels for cleanup Experiences Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 6 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
How to begin: • Assemble the circular objects and place in a basket or dish tub for children to explore. • Cover table with newspaper. • Pour 2 colors of paint in two separate pie pans. • Add 2 or 3 circular objects to each color of paint. • Cut the large piece of paper into a circle and tape it to the newspaper. • Allow 2 or 3 children at a time to paint with the objects. Assist children in putting on paint shirts or smocks. • Talk with children about friends making circles together. • Observe the children as they use the different objects and describe the circles they are making. For example, “Raymond is making blue circles. Ashley is making a big yellow circle.” • Use paper towels to wipe off hands. Have children wash hands if necessary.
Extensions: • Involve children in creating a Friends Collage. • Have a collection of old magazines such as parenting and children’s catalogs that have pictures of children doing things together. • Invite toddlers to look through the magazines and find pictures of friends. • Assist toddlers to tear out or cut the pictures from the magazines and glue them to a large sheet of paper. Write the word Friends on the collage.
Note: If children are unable to look through the magazines and find the pictures, have a variety of pictures precut from magazines. Invite each child to look through the pictures and find one that he or she likes and glue it to the paper. ______Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 5.2.C Develops fine motor skills
Planned Experience: Friendship Quilt (OT)
Materials: 10” x 10” squares of butcher paper (at least one per child), washable markers, crayons, tape
How to begin: • Plan for this experience to take place over several days. • Offer children different art media for drawing on the squares of butcher paper. • Encourage each child to draw on a square. DO NOT FORCE A CHILD TO DRAW IF HE OR SHE DOES NOT WANT TO! • Tape the squares together on the back side into a quilt pattern. • Say to the children that they have made a friendship quilt. • Display the quilt in the classroom at children’s eye level. • Write on an index card “Friendship Quilt” and post the card on the wall just above the quilt. • Invite families to look at the friendship quilt the children have made.
Extensions: • Gather paper of different textures: butcher, construction, grocery bag, newspaper, old posters, wall paper, wrapping paper, newsprint. • Cut the paper into squares of the same size. • Tape the squares together on the back side into a quilt pattern. • Pour two or three colors of tempera paint into pie pans. • Provide brushes for painting. • Invite children to paint on the quilt. Allow children to paint anywhere on the quilt they Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 7 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
choose, using any color they choose. • Observe to see if children notice how the paint looks different on different types of paper. • Say to children that they have made a friendship quilt. • Display the quilt in the classroom at children’s eye level. • Print on an index card “Friendship Quilt” and post the card on the wall just above the quilt. • Invite families to look at the friendship quilt the children have made.
Note: Have children wear paint shirts or smocks when they are painting. Have wet paper towels handy for wiping off hands.
Note: It is not necessary to write children’s names on the quilt squares, especially if families are invited to look at the quilts. You do not want families comparing children’s art efforts or noticing that their child did not make a square. ______Benchmark: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation
Planned Experience: Friends on the Train (OT)
Materials: pictures of trains, 4 or 5 children’s chairs
How to begin: • Show children pictures of trains. Identify the engine, the cars and the caboose. • Introduce “train” language to the children: choo-choo, chug, chug, woo, woo, and “All aboard.” Invite children to make the train noises with you. • Line up 4 or 5 children’s chairs in a row. • Say, “All aboard the friends train”, sit in one of the chairs and invite children to join you. • Sing a song such as “Down at the Station” or “Little Red Caboose.” Add to the song the train noises you and the children have been practicing.
Extension: • Suggest that children be “train friends.” Model what this means with one child by having the child be the caboose and you be the engine. Shout “All aboard” and have the child stand behind you and hold on to you as you move about the room. • Invite children to pair up to be “train friends.” Make the train noises as the children move about the room. Have the engines and cabooses switch places and repeat the activity. • Play recorded train songs such as “The Little Red Caboose” as the children move about the room in pairs. • Consider doing this activity outdoors where there is more room to safely move about.
Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Ring around the Roses (YT & OT)
Materials: None for first experience – hoop for Extensions Movement, How to begin: Music and • Invite 2 or 3 children to join you and form a circle by holding hands. Gross • Sing the following song: Motor Experiences Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 8 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
Ring around the Roses
Ring around the roses, A pocket full of posies; Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down.
• Fall down with children on the last line.
Extensions: • Introduce a hoop and help each child hold onto the hoop with one hand, all facing the same direction. Help children space themselves around the hoop. • Sing the song as you all move in a circle and all fall down together. ______
Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Hokey Pokey (YT & OT)
Materials: None
How to begin: • Gather a small group of children, no more than 4 or 5. Help them position themselves a safe distance from each other so they have plenty of space to move. • Begin by saying, “We’re going to sing a song and you’re going to do what the song says to do. Put your arms out to your side. If you touch your friends, move so that everyone has enough space.” • Sing the following song and do the motions:
Hokey Pokey
You put your hand in (put hand in circle) You put your hand out (put hand out of the circle) You put your hand in and you shake it all about.(put hand in circle and shake it) You do the hokey pokey (twist body) And you turn yourself around. (turn around in circle) That’s what it’s all about. (clap to beat)
Note: Add other body parts as children are ready for this; foot, elbow, head, and whole body (whole self) for example.
Note: Do not be concerned about right and left. This is a concept that toddlers cannot understand. Knowing body parts and following directions are the important things that are happening with this experience.
Note: The Hokey Pokey song is available on many children’s CDs and tapes. However, the tempo is often so fast that toddlers are unable to follow the directions. Also, the song usually includes “right” and “left” and caregivers sometimes get caught up in this concept, rather than the body parts and following directions experience.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 9 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication
Planned Experience: Pass the Beanbag (OT)
Materials: 2 or 3 identical beanbags
How to begin: • Place the beanbags on the floor in an area that is out of the flow of traffic. • Pick up one of the beanbags and say, “I wonder what we can do with these beanbags.” • Allow children who join you to explore the beanbags. Encourage them to say and demonstrate what they can do with beanbags. • Collect the beanbags and say, “We’re going to play a game with just one of the beanbags” and put the other beanbags out of sight. • Invite the children to form a circle with you by holding hands, then ask children to drop hands. • Say, “I’m going to pass the beanbag to John. John, you pass the beanbag to Audrey, and Audrey will pass the beanbag to Leandra.” • Guide the children through the process of passing the beanbag to each other as you say or sing, “Pass the beanbag to your friend, Audrey. Pass the beanbag to your friend Leandra. Pass the beanbag to your friend, Ms. Brown.”
Extensions: • Vary the game by adding the words “Stop” and “Go.” Say to the children, “When I say ‘Stop’, hold the beanbag until I say ‘Go’.” Make sure each child has a turn holding the beanbag when you say “Stop.” • Add variety by playing music as you pass the beanbag to each other. ______
Benchmark: 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Roll the Ball (YT)
Materials: ball
How to begin: • Sit on the floor with a young toddler. • Roll the ball to the child, chanting the following: “I’m rolling the ball to Marcy.” • Encourage the child to roll the ball back to you and chant the following: “Marcy is rolling the ball to Mr. Jones.” ______
Benchmarks: 3.3.C Demonstrates caring and cooperation 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Let’s Go Back and Forth (YT & OT)
Materials: None
How to begin: • Talk with a toddler about a game the two of you will play; a game called “Back and Forth.” • Sit on the floor, facing a toddler, with legs apart. • Hold the child’s hand and lean backwards as the child leans forward. Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 10 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
• Lean forward as your child leans backward. • Try to get a rhythm to your rocking as you say “back and forth, back and forth.”
Extensions: • Add variety to the game by singing a song as you go back and forth.
Row Your Boat
Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.
Note: Avoid pulling on a child’s arms to bring him forward. ______
Benchmarks: 4.2.C Identifies with a home language 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication 4.4.C Communicates through language 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Movement and Music (YT & OT)
Materials: CD or cassette player and CDs or cassette tapes
How to begin: • Include in your daily schedule a specific time to involve children in moving to music. • Collect CDs or cassette tapes that include a variety of musical experiences for the children. See Resources located in Focus Area #2, Introduction and Preparation for a suggested list. • Review the CDs in advance and select the songs that you think your children will enjoy. • Vary the songs you use each day. Include some of children’s favorites and add a new one. • Conclude the movement and music time with a song that will help children calm down from being so active.
Note: Include songs with words from a child’s home language that is not English.
Note: Include movement and music throughout the day, not just at the schedule time.
Where is Susie? (Sing to tune of “Are You Sleeping? / “Where is Thumbkin?”)
Where is Susie? Where is Susie? There she is. There she is. Go and wash your hands. Transition Go and wash your hands. Times Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 11 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
The Children on the Bus (Sing to the tune of “Wheels on the Bus”)
The children on the bus walk to the playground. Walk to the playground. Walk to the playground. The children on the bus walk to the playground. Its time to go outside. ______
Two Little Friends Two little friends Sitting so still. One named Ivory And one named Megan. Walk to the table, Ivory. Walk to the table, Megan. Sit right down. Sit right down.
Note: These transitions are adapted from finger plays listed earlier. Adapt other finger plays previously listed in other curriculum plans as transitions to move children from one activity or place to another.
Send home the following activity sheet from Infant and Toddler Family Connection
Activity #30 – “Having Fun with a Friend” (See Attachment: Having Fun with a Friend)
Family Include a Family Response sheet. (See Attachment: Family Response Sheet) Experiences
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 12 #2.3 – My Classroom Community
Younger Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic _ #2.3 - My Classroom Community Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas I am a part of a center and classroom community. I am beginning to make friends with other children in my classroom. My friends and I do things together in my classroom. The people in my center have names.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Add pictures about Add felt houses and felt Add family homes Add Textured Houses Add dress-up clothes. Add signs for wheel toys family and community, board, pegboards with blocks, small people book unbreakable full-length add books pegs figures and vehicles and hand mirrors toy telephone
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times and Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday Select from Book FP or Song: Do You List – p. 1 Know This Friend of Printing Circles with Ring Around the Mine? – p. 4 Friends – p. 6 Roses – p. 8 Where Is Susie? – I Need a Hug – p. 5 p. 11 Storytelling Figures: Movement and Music Jack and Jill – p.3 – p. 11 Tuesday Made Book: We FP or Song: Two Little Are Friends – p. 2 Blackbirds – p. 5 Printing Circles with Hokey Pokey – p. 9 The Children on the Sharing Tub – p. 6 Friends – p. 6 Bus – p. 12 Experience: Reading Movement and Music with a Friend – p. 5 – p. 11 Wednesday Select from Book FP or Song: The Children List – p. 1 On the Bus – p. 4 Printing Circles with Roll the Ball – p. 10 I Need a Hug – p. 5 Friends – p. 6 Two Little Friends – Storytelling Figures: Movement and Music p.12 Jack and Jill – p. 3 – p. 11 Thursday Made Book: FP or Song : Two Little Friend, Friend Who Blackbirds – p. 5 Printing Circles with Let’s Go Back and Where Is Susie? – Do You See? – p. 3 Sharing Tub – p. 6 Friends – p. 6 Forth – p. 10 p. 11 Experience: Reading with a Friend – p. 5 Movement and Music – p. 11 Friday Select from Book FP or Song: Do You List – p. 1 Know This Friend of Printing Circles with Hokey Pokey – p. 9 The Children on the Mine? – p. 4 I Need a Hug – p. 5 Friends – p. 6 Bus – p.12 Movement and Music Storytelling Figures: – p. 11 Jack and Jill – p. 3
Older Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic _ #2.3 - My Classroom Community Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas I am a part of a center and classroom community. I am beginning to make friends with other children in my classroom. My friends and I do things together in my classroom. The people in my center have names.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Add pictures about Add felt houses and felt Add family homes Add Textured Houses Add dress-up clothes. Add signs for wheel toys family and community, board, pegboards with blocks, small people book unbreakable full-length add books pegs figures and vehicles and hand mirrors toy telephone
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times and Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday Select from Book FP or Song: Do You List – p. 1 Know This Friend of Ring Around the Mine? – p. 4 Printing Circles with Roses – p. 8 Where Is Susie? – I Need a Hug – p. 5 Friends – p. 6 p. 11 Storytelling Figures: Movement and Music Jack and Jill – p. 3 – p. 11 Tuesday Made Book: We Are FP or Song: Where Is Friends – p. 2 Johnny? – p. 4 Hokey Pokey – p. 9 The Children on the Sharing Tub – p. 6 Friendship Quilt – Bus – p. 12 Experience: Reading p. 7 Movement and Music with a Friend – p. 5 – p. 11 Wednesday Select from Book FP or Song: The List – p. 1 Children On the Bus – Pass the Beanbag – p. 4 I Need a Hug – p. 5 Friends on the Train – p. 10 Two Little Friends – p. 8 p. 12 Storytelling Figures: Movement and Music Jack and Jill – p. 3 – p. 11 Thursday Made Book: Friend, FP or Song : Two Little Friend Who Do You Blackbirds – p. 5 Let’s Go Back and Where Is Susie? – See? – p. 3 Sharing Tub – p. 6 Printing Circles with Forth – p. 10 p. 11 Experience: Reading Friends – p. 6 with a Friend – p. 5 Movement and Music – p. 11 Friday Select from Book FP or Song: Do You List – p. 1 Know This Friend of Hokey Pokey – p. 9 The Children on the Mine – p. 4 I Need a Hug – p. 5 Friends on the Train – Bus – p. 12 p. 8 Movement and Music Storytelling Figures: – p. 11 Jack and Jill – p. 3
Friend, Friend, Who Do You See?
Friend, friend, who do you see?
I see ______looking at me. ______, ______, who do you see? I see ______looking at me.
______, ______, who do you see?
I see lots of friends looking at me.
THE FAMILY CONNECTION Toddlers (18 to 36 Months) Activity #30 “Having Fun with a Friend”
You will need: Dress-up clothes such as hats, purses and costume jewelry Camera Full length mirror
Before you begin:
• Allow your child to invite a friend over to play. The friend may be another toddler, an older child or an adult.
• Talk about the invited person as a “friend.”
Try this!
• Let your child and the invited friend play with the dress-up clothes.
• Take pictures of the two playing together.
• Look at the pictures with your child and talk about what friends do. For example,
o Friends play together o Friends laugh together o Friends like to be together o Friends sometimes act silly ______
Make a “Friends” Photo Album
• Let your child help you put the photos in an album.
• Look at the pictures again and talk about what friends do.
• Invite the friend over to look at the pictures with your child.
FAMILY RESPONSE
We’d like to hear from you about this Infant and Toddler Family Connection Activity. Please return this Family Response sheet by ______
Name of Activity: ______
Child’s Name: ______
Tell us who in your family participated in this activity with your child:
______
Help us evaluate the effectiveness of the Family Connection information and activity by rating the items listed below. Check the boxes that best express your opinion.
Interested Excited Bored Frustrated
Family Response
My reaction to the information contained in the Family Connection activity My child’s reaction as he/she participated in the Family Connection activity
The reaction of myself and/or other family members who participated in the Family Connection activity with my child
My overall rating for this Family Connection activity
Give us any additional comments and suggestions. ______
______
______
Your Name: ______Date: ______
#2.4 – People in My Community
Here are some big ideas about toddlers that you can help them explore:
In my community there are people who help keep me safe.
In my community there are people who help keep me healthy.
Big Ideas
Featured Books
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
Key: (BB) – Available in Board Book only (+BB) – Also available in Board Book
Materials to Note: Select additional books from your classroom library Collect and Storytelling Figures Make • Storytelling figures (felt or magnetic) for the book, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (See Attachment: Five Little Monkeys)
Books to Make Keeping Me Safe (See Attachment: Keeping Me Safe) Keeping Me Healthy (See Attachment: Keeping Me Healthy)
Materials: • Plastic Lazy Susan • Pictures related to health • Pictures related to safety • File Folder & page protector • Medical items such as: gauze, band-aid, cotton balls • Zipper closure bags • Health items such as: wash cloth, soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste
* Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow Book List
*Featured
Books
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 1 #2.4 – People in My Community
Note: Review the section in Curriculum Tips and Techniques on Reading Books with Children, for suggestions on how to use books with children.
Benchmarks: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Book: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow (YT & OT)
Reading First Reading of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed • Go to the book area and begin to say the following: Books with Toddlers Five Little Monkeys (Say first verse only)
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed (hold up five fingers) One fell off and bumped his head. (rub head) Mamma called the doctor and the doctor said (pretend to make telephone call) “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” (shake finger as if scolding)
• Show book cover to children who join you and say, “We’re going to read a book about five little monkeys jumping on the bed.” • Ask children if they have ever jumped on the bed and what did Mamma say about it. • Read story with children, allowing time for them to see pictures and make comments about what monkeys are doing on each page. • Follow up by inviting children to tell what monkeys in the story were doing. ______
Second Reading of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed • Go the book area and begin to say the first verse of Five Little Monkeys. • Show the cover of the book and say the title. • Read the story with children, pausing to count with children the monkeys on the bed after one has fallen off. • Follow up by showing page 30, where monkeys are in bed with bandages on their heads. Invite children to discuss what monkeys have on their heads and why. • Invite children to discuss times they have had bandages or band aids.
Note: The counting and discussion experiences will probably be more appropriate for older toddlers. Know your children and adapt the reading steps according to their interests and attention spans.
Note: Read the book with individual children who seem particularly interested in the story. Invite lots of discussion about what is happening in the story and relate it to children’s personal experiences. ______
Benchmark: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Keeping Me Safe (YT & OT)
Materials: Keeping Me Safe Book (See Attachment: Keeping Me Safe)
How to begin: • Go to the book area and begin to sing the following:
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 2 #2.4 – People in My Community
Keeping Us Safe (Sing to tune of Wheels on the Bus)
Fire fighters help to keep us safe. Keep us safe, keep us safe. Fire fighters help to keep us safe, All over town.
Police officers help to keep us safe, Keep us safe, keep us safe. Police officers help to keep us safe All over town.
• Use the attached cover and related pages to create a book titled Keeping Me Safe. • Laminate the pages or put into clear page protectors. • Bind with metal rings or place in three-ring binder. • Show cover of book to children who join you and say, “This book is about people who keep us safe. • Invite children to look at the pictures on the cover and identify them. For younger toddlers you might say, “Can you show me the fire truck?” For older toddlers, you might ask, “Can you tell me who this is? Yes, that’s a fire fighter. He helps keep us safe by putting out fires.” Help children identify the people and the vehicles on the cover. • Show each page of the book and involve children at their level of interest and understanding. For some children this may be pointing to the picture when you name it and for others it may be naming the picture and telling something about it. For example, an older toddler may tell about seeing a fire truck and the noise it made.
Note: If you are able to get photos of firefighters and /or police officers, perhaps photos of relatives of your children, then use the photos instead of he attached graphics for the book. ______
Benchmark: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Keeping Me Healthy (YT & OT)
Materials: Keeping Me Healthy Book (See Attachment: Keeping Me Healthy)
How to begin: • Use the attached cover and related pages to create a book titled Keeping Me Healthy • Laminate the pages or put into clear page protectors. • Bind with metal rings or place in three-ring binder. • Take the book to the book area and say to children, “I’m looking at a book about doctors and nurses and ambulances.” • Invite children who join you to look at the pictures on the cover and identify them. For younger toddlers you might say, “Can you show me the picture of the ambulance?” For older toddlers, you might ask, “Can you tell me who this is? Yes, that’s a dentist. He’s looking at the boy’s teeth.” Help children identify the people and the items on the cover. • Show each page of the book and involve children at their level of interest and understanding. • For some children this may be pointing to the picture when you name it and for others it may be naming the picture and telling something about it. For example, older toddlers may tell you about brushing their teeth before they go to bed.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 3 #2.4 – People in My Community
Benchmark: 4.5.C Shows enjoyment of books and stories
Planned Experience: Storytelling: (YT & OT) Five Little Mondays Jumping on the Bed
How to begin: • Make either felt or magnetic storytelling figures for the story. Language • Read the book with children several times so that they are familiar with the characters and and the order of events. • Cognitive Use the storytelling figures to tell the story. • Involve children in placing figures on the storyboard when you feel they can do this. Materials ______and Experiences Benchmark: 4.4.C Communicates through language
Five Little Monkeys
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed (hold up five fingers) One fell off and bumped his head. (rub head) Mamma called the doctor and the doctor said (pretend to make telephone call) “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” (shake finger as if scolding)
Four little monkeys jumping on the bed (hold up four fingers) One fell off and bumped his head. (rub head) Mamma called the doctor and the doctor said, (pretend to make telephone call) “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” (shake finger as if scolding)
Three little monkeys jumping on the bed (hold up three fingers) One fell off and bumped his head, (rub head) Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, (pretend to make telephone call) “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” (shake finger as if scolding)
Two little monkeys jumping on the bed (hold up two fingers) One fell off and bumped his head. (rub head) Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, (pretend to make telephone call) “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” (shake fingers as if scolding)
One little monkey jumping on the bed (hold up one finger) He fell off and bumped his head. (rub head) Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, (pretend to make telephone call) “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” ______
Police Officer
Police officer stands so tall and straight. He holds up his hand for cars to wait. He blows his whistle, “Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!” Until we safely cross the street.
Note: Substitute “she” for “he” in the finger play so that children understand that a police officer can be either male or female.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 4 #2.4 – People in My Community
Keeping Us Safe (Sing to tune of Wheels on the Bus)
Fire fighters help to keep us safe. Keep us safe, keep us safe. Fire fighters help to keep us safe, All over town.
Police officers help to keep us safe, Keep us safe, keep us safe. Police officers help to keep us safe All over town. ______
Tiny Tim
Miss Lucy had a baby, She named him Tiny Tim. She put him in the bathtub To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water, He ate up all the soap. He tried to eat the bathtub But it wouldn’t go down his throat.
Miss Lucy called the doctor, Miss Lucy called the nurse. Miss Lucy called the lady With the alligator purse.
In walked the doctor, In walked the nurse. In walked the lady With the alligator purse.
“Measles,” said the doctor. “Mumps,” said the nurse. “Nothing,” said the lady With the alligator purse. Out went the doctor, Out went the nurse. Out went the lady With the alligator purse.
Note: An adaptation of the poem, Tiny Tim, is the book, The Lady with the Alligator Purse by Nadine Bernard Westcott.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 5 #2.4 – People in My Community
Benchmark: 4.4.C Communicates through language
Planned Experience: Name it - Lazy Susan (YT & OT)
Materials: Plastic lazy Susan spice rack, paper, clear self- adhesive paper, five or six pictures related to health and five or six pictures related to safety
How to begin: • Cut out a circle of paper that will fit inside the lazy Susan. • Use tape on the back of the ”safety” pictures to secure them to outer edges of the circle. Space the pictures so there is equal distance between them. • Cut out a circle of self- adhesive paper and place over the pictures for durability. • Use tape on back of the circle to secure it to the lazy Susan. • Place the lazy Susan in front of a young toddler and allow him to experiment with it. • Show him how to turn it around if he does not discover this on his own. • When the lazy Susan stops turning, point to the picture appearing upright and say to the younger toddler, “Can you show me the fire engine?” For the older toddler, ask, “Can you tell me what is in that picture?” and invite child to tell you something about each of the objects. • Repeat this activity so that toddler can identify all of the pictures.
Extensions: • Use the same procedure to create a circle of “health” pictures and involve young toddlers in identifying the pictures in the circle. • Vary the activity by asking children to name the objects in the circle. • Involve older toddlers in telling you something about each of the objects.
Note: Create other circles of pictures with a theme and involve children in identifying, naming and talking about the pictures. ______
Benchmarks: 4.4.C Communicates through language 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: Surprise Picture (OT)
Materials: letter-size file folder, clear plastic page protector, pictures that relate to health and safety (fire fighter, doctor, nurse, fire engine, for example), tape
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 6 #2.4 – People in My Community
This side of Letter Size This side of Folder has Letter Size page protector Folder has taped to folder sections cut and picture inserted
How to begin: • Tape the back of a clear plastic page protector to the inside of the folder. • Cut the cover of the folder into strips that are 2” to 3” wide. Cut from the edge of the cover to the center fold. • Insert an 8 ½ x 11 inch picture into the page protector and close the folder. • Invite one or two children to join you in looking at the “surprise” picture. • Fold back one strip at a time to reveal a part of the picture and invite children to predict what it is. • Continue folding back one strip at a time until the entire picture is revealed. If children have not figured out what the picture is, say “Surprise!” as you fold back the last strip.
Extensions: • Allow all children who are interested a turn with this experience. • Change out the pictures in the plastic page protector to keep children interested.
Note: When you invite a child to join you in an activity, make sure the child is not actively engaged in something of interest.
Benchmark: 1.2.C Becomes aware of self as a unique individual
Planned Experience: How Tall Am I? (YT & OT)
Materials: strips of adding machine tape, one strip per child, a measuring tape, pencil or pen
How to begin: Self, Social • Ask families to tell you how tall their child was at birth. and • Prepare strips of adding machine tape approximately 6” longer than the child is tall. (one strip per child) Emotional • Use the measuring tape to measure how tall the child was at birth and mark this on the Experiences child’s individual strip of adding machine tape. Include the child’s name and date of birth. • Use the measuring tape and measure and mark on the adding machine tape how tall the child is now. Record the child’s height next to the mark. • Repeat this procedure for each child in the group. • Show the children how much they have grown and talk about how tall they are now. • Display the tapes in the classroom for a few days. Share them with parents, then store them in the child’s portfolio or individual folder.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 7 #2.4 – People in My Community
Extensions: • Consider adding a current photo to each child’s tape so that the child will know which tape is his.. • Measure the child every two months and add the new mark to show how much the child has grown. • Ask families to tell you how much their child weighed at birth, weigh the child and share with families their child’s current weight. Record this information in the child’s portfolio or individual folder. Weigh the children every two or three months and add this information to the child’s record.
Benchmarks: 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: What’s in the Medical Bag? (OT)
Materials: collection of items such as gauze, band-aid, thermometer, tongue depressor, cotton balls and cloth, mesh or paper bag or shoebox Sensory and Art How to begin: • Show the collection of items to two or three toddlers and invite them to name them. Materials Help them with items they may not know the names of. Invite them to tell you their and experiences with the items. Experiences • Invite them to explore the items and talk with them about how the items feel. • Place the items inside a cloth or paper bag or a shoebox with a hole cut in the top that is large enough to allow a toddler to reach inside the box. • Invite one toddler at a time to reach inside the bag and touch one item, say what it is and bring it out to see if he was correct. • Continue this activity with other toddlers having a turn.
Note: Items such as a tongue depressor and thermometer are to be used for this activity only and are not intended for children’s play. ______Benchmarks: 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: Keeping Myself Clean Bag (OT)
Materials: collection of items such as wash cloth, bar of soap, bottle of shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste and cloth, mesh or paper bag or shoebox
How to begin: • Show the collection of items to two or three toddlers and invite them to name them. Help them with items they may not know the name of. Invite them to tell you their experiences with the items. • Invite them to explore the items and talk with them about the how the items feel. • Place the items inside a cloth or paper bag or a shoebox with a hole cut in the top that is large enough to allow a toddler to reach inside the box. • Invite one toddler at a time to reach inside the bag and touch one item, say what it is and bring it out to see if she was correct. • Continue this activity with other toddlers having a turn.
Note: The items are to be used for this activity only and are not intended for children’s play. ______Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 8 #2.4 – People in My Community
Benchmarks: 6.1.C Gains an understanding of basic concepts and relationships 6.2.C Applies knowledge to new situations 6.3.C Develops strategies for solving problems
Planned Experience: Bag Painting (YT & OT)
Materials: thick washable tempera paint in dark colors, gallon size heavy-duty zipper closure bags, 8 ½” x 11” white paper, measuring spoon, masking tape, blunt drawing tools such as fingers, craft sticks, plastic spoons
How to begin: • Put 3 tablespoons of tempera paint into a heavy-duty zipper closure bag. Ease out as much of the air as possible. Zip the bag closed. • Place white paper (slightly smaller than the bag) on a low table. Put the paint-filled bag on top of the paper. • Tape the edges of the bag securely to the table. • Place the craft sticks and plastic spoons on the table. • Observe the children. Do they use their fingers? Do they experiment with the different tools? Do they make designs? Do they wipe away the designs and start again?
Extensions: • Fill the bag with other ingredients such as blue hair gel or liquid starch tinted with food coloring. • Slip a sheet of aluminum foil into the bag, place the paint on top of the foil and close the bag as before. As children draw on the surface of the bag, the foil will show through.
Note: Closely supervise this activity. Consider doubling the bag if you are concerned about leakage. Make sure children have no sharp objects such as scissors that might puncture the bag.
Note: This activity adapted from the book, First Art – Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos, by Mary Ann F. Kohl with Renee Ramsey and Dana Bowman, published by Gryphon House (2002).
Benchmark: 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Balancing Act (OT)
Materials: 5 feet of masking tape that is 2 to 3 inches wide
How to begin: • Apply masking tape to the floor in a straight line. Movement, • Introduce the activity if children do not begin to walk on the tape. For example, ask Music and child to stand at one end of the tape and say, “Jennie, can you walk all the way to the end of the tape?” Gross • Suggest that child holds arms out to the side to assist in balancing. Motor Experiences Extensions: • Add a balance beam or board that is only slightly above floor level if you feel that children are ready for this. • Hold the hand of a child who may need this support • Draw a chalk line on the sidewalk outdoors and suggest that children walk on it.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 9 #2.4 – People in My Community
Note: Allow only one child at a time to walk on the masking tape line or balance beam. Closely supervise children, especially as they walk on the low beam.
Note: Be aware that children will vary in their development of this skill. ______
Benchmarks: 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Follow the Leader (YT & OT)
Materials: none
How to begin: • Say to children, “We’re going to play a game called Follow the Leader. Listen and watch and do what I say and do. Are you ready?” • Begin with something easy such as clapping your hands three times. • Add other activities such as jumping up and down in place, marching around the room, walking on tiptoes, flapping arms, stomping feet, crawling under a table. • Give verbal instructions for the activities.
Extensions: • Play Follow the Leader and alternate between doing the behavior and giving verbal instructions. ______
Benchmarks: 4.2.C Identifies with a home language 4.3.C Responds to verbal and non-verbal communication 4.4.C Communicates through language 5.1.C Develops gross motor skills
Planned Experience: Movement and Music (YT & OT)
Materials: CD or cassette player and CDs or cassette tapes
How to begin: • Include in your daily schedule a specific time to involve children in moving to music. • Collect CDs or cassette tapes that include a variety of musical experiences for the children. See Resources located in Focus Area #2, Introduction and Preparation for a suggested list.. • Review the CDs in advance and select the songs that you think your children will enjoy. • Vary the songs you use each day. Include some of children’s favorites and add a new one. • Conclude the movement and music time with a song that will help children calm down from being so active.
Note: Include songs with words from a child’s home language that is not English.
Note: Include movement and music throughout the day, not just at the schedule time.
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 10 #2.4 – People in My Community
Where is Susie? (Sing to tune of “Are You Sleeping? / “Where is Thumbkin?”)
Where is Susie? Where is Susie? There she is. There she is. Go and wash your hands. Transition Go and wash your hands. Times Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
The Children on the Bus (Sing to the tune of “Wheels on the Bus”)
The children on the bus walk to the playground. Walk to the playground. Walk to the playground. The children on the bus walk to the playground. Its time to go outside.
Two Little Friends Two little friends Sitting so still. One named Ivory And one named Megan. Walk to the table, Ivory. Walk to the table, Megan. Sit right down. Sit right down.
Note: These transitions are adapted from finger plays listed earlier. Adapt other finger plays previously listed in other curriculum plans as transitions to move children from one activity or place to another.
• Suggest that families prepare a tote bag to take for their toddler when they visit the medical office or clinic. Include in the bag a stuffed animal or doll that the child is attached to and a couple of their toddler’s favorite books.
• Copy and send home to each family, “Keeping Your Child Safe – A Message to Parents”. (See Attachment: Keeping Your Child Safe) Family Experiences
Adventures for Toddlers – Focus Area #2 – My Family and My Community 11 #2.4 – People in My Community
Younger Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic _ #2.4 – People in My Community Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas In my community there are people who help keep my safe. In my community there are people who help keep me healthy.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Add pictures about Add felt houses and felt Add family homes Add Textured Houses Add Medical Prop Box, Add signs for wheel toys families and people in board, pegboards with blocks, small people book dress-up clothes, the community, add pegs figures, small vehicles, unbreakable full-length books signs for small vehicles, and hand mirrors, toy emergency vehicles telephone
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times and Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday First Reading of: FP or Song: Police Follow the Leader – Five Little Monkeys Officer – p. 4 p. 10 Jumping on the Bed Bag Painting – p. 9 Where Is Susie? – - p. 2 Experience: Name It – How Tall Am I? – Movement and Music p. 11 Lazy Susan – p. 6 p. 7 – p. 10
Tuesday Made Book: Keeping FP or Song: Keeping Me Safe – p. 2 Us Safe – p. 5 Follow the Leader – The Children on the How Tall Am I? – Bag Painting – p. 9 p. 10 Bus – p.11 Storytelling Figures: p. 7 Five Little Monkeys Movement and Music Jumping on the Bed – – p. 10 p. 4 Wednesday Second Reading of: FP or Song: Five Little Five Little Monkeys Monkeys – p. 4 Follow the Leader – Jumping on the Bed – How Tall Am I? – Bag Painting – p. 9 p. 10 Two Little Friends – p. 2 Experience: Name It – p. 7 p. 11 Lazy Susan – p. 6 Movement and Music – p. 10 Thursday Made Book: Keeping FP or Song : Tiny Tim – Me Healthy – p. 3 p. 5 Follow the Leader – Where Is Susie? – How Tall Am I? – Bag Painting – p. 9 p. 10 p. 11 Experience: Name It – p. 7 Lazy Susan – p. 6 Movement and Music – p. 10 Friday Made Book: FP or Song: Keeping Keeping Me Safe – Us Safe – p. 5 Follow the Leader – The Children on the p. 2 How Tall Am I? – Bag Painting – p. 9 p. 10 Bus – p. 11 Storytelling Figures: p. 7 Five Little Monkeys Movement and Music Jumping on the Bed – – p. 10 p. 4
Older Toddler Weekly Plan Sheet
Week of ______Topic _ #2.4 - People in My Community Caregiver(s)______
Big Ideas In my community there are people who help keep my safe. In my community there are people who help keep me healthy.
Changes to the Environment Language Materials / Manipulative Gross Motor Materials Sensory Exploration Pretend Play Outdoor Exploration Books Exploration & Equipment / Blocks Add pictures about Add felt houses and felt Add family homes Add Textured Houses Add Medical Prop Box, Add signs for wheel toys families and people in board, pegboards with blocks, small people book dress-up clothes, the community, add pegs figures, small vehicles, unbreakable full-length books signs for small vehicles, and hand mirrors, toy emergency vehicles telephone
Experiences for the Week Finger Plays, Language Self, Social and Movement, Music, and Day Books Sensory, Art, Nutrition Transition Times and Cognitive Emotional Gross Motor Monday First Reading of: FP or Song: Police Five Little Monkeys Officer – p. 4 What’s in the Medical Balancing Act – p. 9 Jumping on the Bed How Tall Am I? – Bag? – p. 8 Where Is Susie? – - p. 2 Experience: Name It – p. 7 Movement and Music p. 11 Lazy Susan – p. 6 – p.10
Tuesday Made Book: FP or Song: Keeping Us Keeping Me Safe – Safe – p. 5 Keeping Myself Clean Follow the Leader – The Children on the p. 2 Storytelling Figures: How Tall Am I? – Bag – p. 8 p. 10 Bus – p.11 Five Little Monkeys p. 7 Jumping on the Bed – Movement and Music p. 4 – p. 10 Wednesday Second Reading FP or Song: Five Little of: Five Little Monkeys – p. 4 Bag Painting – p. 9 Balancing Act – p. 9 Monkeys Jumping How Tall Am I? – Two Little Friends – on the Bed – p. 2 Experience: Surprise p. 7 Movement and Music p. 11 Picture – p. 6 – p. 10
Thursday Made Book: FP or Song : Tiny Tim – Keeping Me p. 5 What’s in the Medical Follow the Leader – Where Is Susie? – Healthy – p. 3 How Tall Am I? – Bag? – p. 8 p. 10 p. 11 Experience: Name It – p. 7 Lazy Susan– p. 6 Movement and Music – p. 10 Friday Made Book: FP or Song: Keeping Us Keeping Me Safe – Safe– p. 5 Keeping Myself Clean Balancing Act – p. 9 The Children on the p. 2 How Tall Am I? – Bag – p. 8 Bus – p. 11 Experience: Surprise p. 7 Movement and Music Picture – p. 6 – p. 10
Keeping Me Safe
Firefighter
Firefighter’s Hat
Fire Truck
Police Officer
Police Car
Keeping Me Healthy
Doctor
Nurse
Stethoscope
Ambulance
Dentist
Toothbrush Toothpaste Keepping YYour Chhilld Saafe A MMessaage to Paarentts Use Caution with Cough and Cold Medicines for Children The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a public health advisory about using cough and cold medicines with young children. Giving children too much cough and cold medicine can be dangerous. The FDA has given these recommendations for parents in using the over-the-counter medicines. Advice for Parents
• Read all of the information in the “Drug Facts” box on the package label and follow directions carefully. If you don’t understand the information, call your health care provider and ask for help. • Do not use cough and cold products in children under 2 years old unless you receive specific directions to do so by a health care provider. • Do not give medicine to a child more often or in greater amounts than is stated on the package.Too much medicine may lead to serious and life-threatening side effects. • Ask a health care provider if you are unsure about the right product for your child. • Tell your health care provider about any other medicines (over-the-counter or prescription) that are being given. Your health care provider should review and approve their combined use. • Do not give children medicine that is packaged and made for adults. Use only products marked for use with babies, infants or children. • Use the measuring device (dropper, dosing cup or dosing spoon) that is packaged with the medicine. A kitchen teaspoon is not an appropriate measuring device for giving medicines to children.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration/August 16, 2007
Prepared by: Southern Early Childhood Association PO Box 55930 Little Rock, AR 72204 800-305-SECA • www.SouthernEarlyChildhood.org