Community Helpers: Policemen, Firefighters, Paramedics

 

Letter Dd:

• Dd color page, Dd writing sheet
• D words: Dog, Daddy, Dolphin, Drum, Dinosaur (post uppercase and lowercase letter and words with picture on fridge, go over letters daily)

Discussions:  Some of these discussion questions are better suited for older preschoolers and can leave young children feeling scared and anxious.  Use your best judgement when discussing emergency situations with your kids.

• When there is an emergency, who do you call?
• What special job do policemen do? (firefighters? Paramedics?)
• When you hear a siren while in the car, what does the driver need to do?
• If you ever smell smoke or see fire, what should you do?
• If mommy ever gets sick and you can’t wake her up, what should you do?
• The paramedics drive an ambulance.  Where does the ambulance take people who are sick?

Fingerplay/Feltboard:

The firefighter

This firefighter rings the bell
(thumb)

This firefighter hold the hose so well
(index)

This firefighter slides down the pole
(middle)

This firefighter chops a hole
(ring)

This firefighter climbs higher and higher
(pinky)

And all the fire-fighters put out the fire!

 

Police Officers fingerplay

Five police officers standing by a door——-

One became a traffic cop; then there were four.

Four police officers watching over me—-

One took home a lost boy, and then there were three.

Three police officers dressed all in blue—-

One stopped a speeding car, and then there were two.

Two police officers—how fast they run!

One caught a bad man, and then there was one.

One police officer saw smoke faraway.

He called the firehouse, and the fireperson saved the day.

 

Large Motor Activity:

Stop!  Drop!  Cover!  Roll!

Pretty self-explanatory.

Fire Drill

If there is a fire in the house, where do we go?  Push the smoke alarm button, then proceed outside to a safe place.

Get Down Low and Go! Go! Go!

Practice getting down low to the ground and moving towards the door as you would if there were a fire.

Song:

Fire Fighter (chant with pat, pat, clap)

 

Fire Fighter, Fire Fighter, hear the alarm
Save the building, from any harm.
Fire fighter, Firefighter, no time to rest
Wake up, Wake up, do your Best!

I’m a  Firefighter

Sung to: “I’m a little teapot”

I’m a firefighter dressed in red.
With my fire hat on my head.
I can drive the fire truck, fight fire too,
And I help make things safe for you.

 

Math:

 

Have your child sort the pets by placing them onto the large construction paper cut-outs

• Create 5-10 “Sparky the Dogs” out of paper cups.  Label each firehat 1-5(10).  Cut out that many dots for each dog.  Have the child glue the dots onto the dogs according to the number on the hat.  Count the dots and the dogs daily.

• Print the “Hot” and “Not Hot” sort from www.sparky.org in the activities section.  Go over which things are hot and not daily.  Count the number of hot things and not hot things.

 

Sensory/Outdoor Play:

 

• Put the Flames Out

Get red and yellow sidewalk chalk. Draw flames on a sidewalk and let you children put them out with water bottles.

 

 

 

 

 

Field Trip:

• Check with your local police department and fire station to see if there are any tour days.

 

Bath Play:

• For those of you that can’t do sidewalk art at this point, draw flames on the shower walls with bath crayons and let your child spray/squirt them with water.

 

Creative Play/Art:

Policeman Badge and Hat

Materials:

• Paintbrush
• CardBoard
• Paper
• Aluminum Foil
• Hat printable from http://www.first-school.ws/t/policesetbw.htm
• Stapler
• Crayons/Markers

Directions:

• Cut out badge shapes out of the cardboard. Next cover the cardboard with Aluminum foil. Finally the kids can use the non-brush side of a paint brush to etch a badge into the aluminum foil
• Color and cut out hat printable.  Cut strips of paper and staple together to form a band and staple the hat onto the band.

Fireman Hat

Materials:

• Paper Plates
• Paper Bowls
• Paint
• Cardboard
• Aluminum Foil

Directions:

• Cut out the center of a paper plate then attach a paper bowl to the plate. Let your children paint the hat red and then cover a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil to make the emblem

Firetruck

Materials:

• White, Blue, or Black construction paper
• Rectangles, squares, and circles precut for the parts of the firetruck
• Glue

Directions:

Have your child glue the parts of the firetruck together to form a firetruck on the piece of white, blue, or black paper.

• Police Department

Create a jail cell from a cardboard box.  Play Cops and Robbers with your child  and take turns going to jail.  Handcuffs can be made out of loose yarn and cardboard circles.

 

• Cozy Coupe Paramedics

Create a tiny stretcher out of cardboard that will fit over the cupholders in the back of the cozy coupe.  Decorate the cozy coupe like an ambulance by taping two painted paper cups to the top.  Pretend to assess the situation (with a small doll or stuffed animal), stabilize, and rush the patient to the hospital.  If you have a lot of play space, you can even have a hospital set up so that the children can continue their doctor play from last week.

 

Books:

Community Helpers: DOCTORS AND VETERINARIANS

Letter Cc:

• Cc color page, Cc writing sheet
• C words: Cookie, Cat, Car, Carrot, Cake (post uppercase and lowercase letter and words with picture on fridge, go over letters daily)

Discussions:

• Where do people go when they get hurt or sick? (doctor) What does a doctor do?
• Where do animals go when they get hurt or sick?

(Veterinarian) What does a veterinarian do?

• (Show doctor kit tools)  What does this (show instrument) do?  Go over functions of instruments.
• Does mommy… go to a veterinarian or a doctor?
• Does Riley… go to a veterinarian or a doctor?
• How do we keep our bodies/pets healthy? (wash hands, eat good food, sleep, exercise)
• I’m thinking of a pet…  like ‘I-spy” describe a pet and have your child guess, be vague at first then more descriptive

Fingerplay/Feltboard:

• Where does it hurt?

Materials: Felt Band-Aids (colored rectangular pieces of felt with a small white square glued in the middle) and a dog/cat/person profile.

Tell/ask your child where the doggie is hurt and have them place a bandaid on.

• Here I Am!

(Point to the different body parts.)

Here are my ears,

Here is my nose,

Here are my fingers,

Here are my toes.

Here are my eyes,

Both open wide.

Here is my mouth

With white teeth inside.

Here is my tongue

That helps me speak.

Here is my chin,

Here are my cheeks.

Here are my hands

That help me play.

Here are my feet

For walking today!

Large Motor Activity:

Hop Hop Hop like your bunny

Run Run Run like your dog

Walk Walk Walk like your cat

Jump Jump Jump like your frog

Swim Swim Swim like your fish

Fly Fly Fly like your bird

Curl up like a mouse and don’t say a word.

Song:

• Ears whiskers, tail and feet

Ears whiskers, tail and feet, tail and feet

Ears whiskers, tail and feet, tail and feet

Pet my fur and give a little squeak!

Ears whiskers, tail and feet, tail and feet

• Doctor Knickerbocker

Doctor Knickerbocker, Knickerbocker, number nine
He likes to dance and he keeps in time
Now let’s get the rhythm of the feet [stamp stamp]
Now we’ve got the rhythm of the feet [stamp stamp]
Now let’s get the rhythm of the hands [clap clap]
Now we’ve got the rhythm of the hands [clap clap]
Now let’s get the rhythm of the number nine
One, two, three four five six seven eight nine

Doctor Knickerbocker, Knickerbocker, number nine
He likes to dance and he keeps in time
Now let’s get the rhythm of the hips [whistle]
Now we’ve got the rhythm of the hips [whistle]
Now let’s get the rhythm of the feet [stamp stamp]
Now we’ve got the rhythm of the feet [stamp stamp]
Now let’s get the rhythm of the hands [clap clap]
Now we’ve got the rhythm of the hands [clap clap]
Let’s get the rhythm of the number nine
One, two, three four five six seven eight nine

Math:

• Sorting pictures of pets (or pet toob) onto pieces of paper shaped like cat, dog, bird etc…

Materials: pet toob or printed pictures of pets, large construction paper cut-outs of different pets.

Have your child sort the pets by placing them onto the large construction paper cut-outs

• Shape Pet

Materials: pre-cut construction paper shapes in different colors, googly eyes, glue, construction paper

Encourage your child to use the precut shapes to make the shape of a pet on their large piece of construction paper, add googly eyes.

Sensory:

• Materials: Pet Toob or small stuffed animals, pine shavings, small cardboard box, cardboard tube, dog food/biscuits, dishes etc.

Let your child help set up the sensory bucket and explain what each thing is and why pets need them. (ex: pets need a house to sleep in to stay warm and snug and happy)

Field Trip:

• Let’s makes ourselves/our pets happy and healthy and go for a walk.
• Visit a Pet store, Veterinarian office, (PetsMart is a great option because many of then have clinics and groomer inside) or Doctors office.  Take home a pamphlet or two to remember the day and share with daddy – use pamphlet in playroom vet/doctor office.

Bath Play:

• Pet Bathtime

Materials: Bubble bath and pet toob or small washable stuffed animal.

Creative Play/Art:

• Cotton Swab Painting

Use cotton swabs and cotton balls as painting tools, dip into tempera paint

• Body Tracing

Trace your child’s bodies by having them lie down on a large piece of paper.  Decorate with markers, crayons, and collage materials. Label body parts and display in playroom.  OR use sidewalk chalk and make a chalk outline on the driveway.

• Playroom Vet/Doctor’s Office

Set up a doctor’s or veterinarian’s office in your child’s play room: display the words ‘doctor office’ or ‘veterinarian office,’ create a waiting room and an exam room.  Some props: chairs for waiting room, DM or DVM certificate, x-ray paintings (see next bullet point), kennels, cages, dog leashes, bowls, cotton swabs, cotton balls, doctor kit, vet wrap, stuffed animals/baby dolls, skeletal/anatomy diagrams, food guide pyramid, etc…

• X-Ray Paintings

Paint your child’s hand/arm/foot with paint and make an “x-ray” (print) on black construction paper – display in playroom vet/doctor office

• Felt doggie ears

Headband, felt, glue gun (add nose and whiskers using facepaint or eyeliner)

Books:

Animals in the Winter

Letter Bb:

Bb writing sheet and Bb words

Bb color page, Bb writing sheet,

B words: Boat, Bus, Ball, Banana, Bike, Butterfly

BEAR bear magnet match

(Post uppercase and lowercase letter and words with pictures on fridge, go over letters daily)

BEAR bear magnet match

Discussions:  (write out and add pics then post on fridge so child can tell daddy all about it – pics jog memory)

• What do some animals do in winter? (Hibernate)  What does that mean?  Why?  Which animals hibernate?
• Where do some birds go during the winter? (Travel south)  Why?

Fingerplay/Feltboard:

Penguin Family

One royal penguin . .feeling very blue (hold up one finger)
Called for his brother then there were two (hold up two fingers)
Two royal penguins. . .swimming in the sea (swimming motion)
Called for their sister then there were three (hold up three fingers)
Three royal penguins waddle on the shore (waddle)
Call for their mother, then there were four (hold up four fingers)
Four royal penguins learning how to dive (Make diving motion)
Call for their father, then there were five (hold up five fingers)

Here is a Cave – Fingerplay

Here is a cave. (bend fingers to form cave)
Inside is a bear. (put thumb inside fingers)
Now he comes out. (thumb out)
To get some fresh air.
He stays out all summer
In sunshine and heat.
He hunts in the forest
For berries to eat. (move thumb in circle)
When snow starts to fall
He hurries inside.
His warm little cave (thumb in)
And there he will hide.
Snow covers the cave
Like a fluffy white rug. (cover with other hand)
Inside the bear sleeps
All cozy and snug.

 

Songs:

Ten Little Penguins
Tune: Ten Little Indians

One little, two little, three little penguins,
Four little, five little, six little penguins,
Seven little, eight little, nine little penguins,
Ten little penguin chicks.

Hibernation Song
Tune: Are You Sleeping

Bear is sleeping, bear is sleeping
In the cave, in the cave.
I wonder when he’ll come out,
I wonder when he’ll come out
In the spring, In the spring.

Birds are flying, birds are flying
In the sky, in the sky.
I wonder when they’ll come back,
I wonder when they’ll come back,
In the spring, in the spring.

 

 

Math: 

 

• Use Toob animals to count.  Child can place each animal on a colored dot on a paper to practice one-to-one correspondence.
• Draw two large circles on a piece of construction paper.  Place animals from polar animal toob in one circle.  Show child how to move the animals one at a time over to the other circle while counting.
• Place winter animal stickers on index cards (or use computer printouts and glue).  Make sure you have 2 of each animal.  Play matching or memory games with the cards.

Sensory:

• Fake snow, cotton balls, winter/arctic animal toob
• Fresh, clean snow, gloves, shovel, spray bottle with colored water, winter/arctic animal toob
• Shaving cream, colored ice cubes in primary colors (child mixes to make secondary colors)
• Sensory bottle: water, oil, and chunky white glitter/confetti
• Freeze colored water in the bottom of a sensory bucket, add snow, ice cubes, Styrofoam peanuts, etc. to make it look like a snow land for the polar animals from toob to play.

Outside:  winter play, sledding, shoveling, skating, — hot cocoa snack (Unless you live in Arizona.  Then you’re up a creek.)

Bring your stuffed bears and other animals outside (if they can be tossed in the dryer) and build caves and dens for them in the snow.

Gross Motor Skills:

Follow the Footprints

Materials Needed: Animal footprints made from construction paper; tape

Place the footprints around the room. Tape them to the floor or carpet so they are not slippery. Have the children follow the footprints by hopping from one to the next.

VARIATIONS: Have the children choose a winter animal name and then move from footprint to footprint the way THAT named animal would move (scurry like a mouse, hop like a rabbit, etc.)

Winter Dancing

Materials Needed: CD Player, music (preferably calm “waltz” type music).

Let your child take off their shoes and “skate” to the music!  If you have only a carpeted area, try this: Tape wax paper to the bottom of their shoes and they can “skate” on the carpet!

 

Creative Play/Art:

Snow Play-Doh

Play Doh: 1/4c salt 1c flour 1/4c water

White glitter, winter theme cookie cutters

Use the toob animals to create tracks in the snow.  Create snow caves for the animals to hibernate in

HibernationCave

Materials: Large cardboard box, Brown or Grey Paint       (optional), large, white blanket or sheet, blanket

Paint the box, if time allows, and cut an opening in the side that is big enough for the child to crawl through.  Shape the opening like the mouth of a cave.  Cover the cave with the white blanket or sheet (snow).  Place the other blanket on the floor of the cave.

The cave can be the center of all activities this week.  You can sing songs, do fingerplays, etc. in the cave.  Your child can even decorate the inside of the cave with their snow art projects from the last few weeks.  Go through the child’s stuffed animals and decide which hibernate and should go in the cave.  This will be so much fun that it will be hard to recycle the box at the end of the week.

• “Animals in the Snow” Paintings

Materials: Blue construction paper, Spray bottle, white paint, animal cutouts

Cut out the shapes of some woodland animals- you can even print them then cut them out.  Lay them on a large piece of construction paper.  Dilute the while paint slightly so that it will spray out of the bottle.  Lightly spray over the animal cutouts.  Remove the cutouts.  It should look like the animals are walking through a snowstorm.

• Coffee Brown Bears

Materials:  Blue construction paper, snow paint (from last week), twigs, brown/grey paint, glue, dried coffee grounds, googly eyes

After making coffee, tap the grounds out onto a paper towel and let them dry for a day or so.  (Coffee is precious.  Waste not.)  Collect your materials and work together to make a winter scene with bare trees (twigs), snow on the ground (snow paint), and even some animal tracks in the snow if you want.  Use the brown/grey paint to create a cave.  Wait for all the paint to dry.  Go back and paint a bear with the glue and sprinkle the coffee grounds on it.  When everything is dry, glue the googly eyes on the bear.

• Painted Birdhouses

Materials: Unfinished bird house ($1.00 at JoAnn), child-safe paint

After discussing migration, have your child paint a bird house for the birds that are coming to visit (in Arizona) or for when they come back home (in Minnesota).

• Pinecone Birdfeeders

Pine cone, sunflower seeds, peanut butter , string or yarn

Tie a 2-3ft piece of string/fishing line/yarn on your pinecone.  With your child spread peanut butter then roll on a plate on sunflower seeds.  Hang in a tree outside and observe the types of birds/critters that come to eat.

Books:

Let it SNOW!

         

I’m getting a head start blogging for next week (Jan 7-11).  This is what I have planned.  I will post pictures as the week progresses!

Letter Aa:

          Aa color page, Aa writing sheet,

          A words: Apple, Ant, Aedan, Airplane, Alligator

          Acorn ACORN magnet match

(Post uppercase and lowercase letter and words with pictures on fridge, go over letters daily)

Discussions:  (write out and add pics then post on fridge so child can tell daddy all about it – pics jog memory)

• What do you wear outside in the winter? (Hat, coat, boots, snowpants, mittens)
• What do you like to do in the winter? (Snowmen, shovel, skate, sled)

Fingerplay/Feltboard:

Our felt board this week: 5 Little Snowmen Fingerplay and Building a Snowman

5 Little Snowmen

5 little snowmen standing in a row (hold up 5 fingers)
Each with a hat (pat head) and a big red bow (pull at neck like a bow tie)
Along came the sun (arms form big circle over head) and it shone all day (lean to the left)
And one of those snowmen melted away! (put down one finger)

Song:

If all the snowflakes were (child fills in the blank)

(example: chocolate covered cupcakes)

Oh what a snow that would be!

I’d go outside with my mouth opened wide

Ah ah ah ah- ah ah ah-ah ah ah

If all the snowflakes were ___________________

Oh what a snow that would be!

• Expansion:  Coloring with markers / paint / paper tearing (or cutting):  create a winter scene on construction paper with ‘chocolate covered cupcakes’ falling from cloud

Watercolor invitation: I love using cookie sheets/jelly roll pans when we do art projects – speeds up cleanup!

Aedan’s snow: Ice Cream and Sprinkles!

Math: 

• Cut out and number snowflakes 1 – 20.  Hang from ceiling, tape to wall or keep on a table for child to play.  Take time to count everyday.
• Expansion: get number flashcards and match numbers to snowflakes by laying snowflake on top of corresponding card.

Sensory:

• Fake snow, cotton balls, winter/arctic animal toob
• Fresh, clean snow, gloves, shovel, spray bottle with colored water, winter/arctic animal toob
• Shaving cream, colored ice cubes in primary colors (child mixes to make secondary colors)

This was a very fun, highly anticipated sensory play day!  He had so much fun and I loved watching him explore the foam and ice 🙂  AND BONUS:  Our sensory bucket  got inadvertently scrubbed and cleaned out; sweet-smelling and shiny new for our next sensory play day!

Shaving cream, colored ice. and spray bottle with colored water!

He started out slowly…

… then REALLY dug in!

“Look at all the colors mommy!”

Definitely not for the faint of heart. This is messy sensory at it’s finest!

• Sensory bottle: water, oil, and chunky white glitter/confetti

Outside:  winter play, sledding, shoveling, skating, — hot cocoa snack

Bath Play: ICEBERG!

They turned out pretty cool!

A balancing penguin! He was working really hard at getting them to balance on the slippery icebergs!

***prep 24 hours in advance***

food coloring, water balloons, freezer, winter/arctic animal toob

Frozen balloons right out of the freezer. I had them outside in the snow, but it’s been to warm for them to freeze all the way. TIP: put them in a bowl or cookie sheet with sides so if they leak there isn’t a mess in your freezer!!!

• Freeze Water balloons filled with colored water (add a couple drops of food coloring before filling with water). Flatten some in the freezer so they can float with a flat surface for animals to sit on in bath

Penguins and Icebergs!

•  Break open balloons and float in tub – add winter/arctic animal toob

The face says it all – he had so much fun and has been requesting iceberg baths every evening!

Mmm this iceberg is yummy

A National Geographic lesson with penguins and an orca

Creative Play/Art:

Snow Play-Doh

                   Play Doh: 1/4c salt 1c flour 1/4c water

                   White glitter, winter theme cookie cutters

                   (mix and knead with your child – part of the fun!)

Construction paper snowman

Aedan put this snowman together all by himself with zero help or instructions from me… he’s 2 people! Wow, I was impressed! I sat back and watched my amazing little guy busy at work!

          -blue construction paper, snowman shapes/accessories cut  from construction paper, glue, paintbrush

          -Cut out all pieces of a snowman, with your child build the snowman on the paper

          – when done, allow child to build it again on their own, gluing this time

So focused on ‘painting’ the glue and placing the pieces!

• Snow Paintings

Prepping our snow paint!

Let the fun begin!

                   Blue construction paper, brush, snow paint

                   SNOW PAINT: 2T white paint, 1/3c glue, 2c shaving cream

                             Mix glue and paint, fold in shaving cream

• Stained Glass Snowflakes

Finished product! They look great! Daddy took one to work 🙂

                   -Black construction paper, scissors, contact paper, blue  and white tissue paper

                   -Cut out outline of snowflake, place on contact paper and trim contact paper, allow child to tear and crumple tissue paper  and stick to contact paper, use another piece of contact paper to sandwich snowflake, trim, and place in window

Fold the paper in half to make a symmetrical snowflake

Ripping tissue paper and placing on the sticky contact paper

• Epsom Salt Craft Stick Snowflakes

–        craft sticks, glue, paint brush Epsom salt, food coloring(optional),

–        prep: dye Epsom salt (blue?) ahead of time and allow to dry

–        morning: arrange and glue craft sticks to make the shape of a snowflake, allow to dry

–        afternoon: paint snowflake with glue and sprinkle with Epsom salt, allow to dry, secure using fishing line/yarn display in window using suction cup

 Books: