Materials
Paint
Liquid soap
Pie tins
Feather duster
Paper
Instructions
1. With the children, divide a piece of cardboard in half using masking tape.
2. Paint one side gray (this will be the city) and the other green (this will be the
country).
13. To make houses (for the country) and skyscrapers, apartments, and stores (for
the city), encourage children to paint small and medium boxes in a variety
of colors.
14. Help the children cut construction paper scraps into window and door
shapes and glue them to the houses and buildings.
15. Encourage a child to paint a small shoebox red to make a barn.
16. Tape a domed piece of construction paper to the barn to make a roof. Again,
the child can use paper scraps to make doors and windows. Or, if desired,
help him cut doors into the box so that they open.
17. Sand wood scraps and encourage children to paint them to look like cars or
train cars.
18. Help them use thumbtacks or scrap paper to make wheels. (Supervise the
use of thumbtacks.)
19. With the children, assemble a city by placing the buildings, cars, trains, and
stores crowded together on the gray area of the board. Explain to children
how cities are built.
10. Encourage the children to place the barn, smaller houses, and paper trees on
the green area of the board to make a country area.
11. If desired, glue some of the buildings to the cardboard.
12. The two sides should look very different. As you work with the children,
explain the differences between the two areas. Talk about the importance of
keeping some green areas, trees, and space. Many books are available that
do a splendid job of illustrating city life and country life.
More to do
You can incorporate or add various areas to the basic City/Country board. For
example, make airplanes out of small travel-size toothpaste boxes and add construction
paper "wings." Set up an airport near the city. Another example is to
paint a corner of the board blue and set up a "water" area. Make boats out of
walnut shell halves. Add people and animals to the board.
