Materials
- Pictures of farm animals
- Paper plates
- Craft supplies, such as construction paper, yarn, string, glitter, felt, cloth scraps,
- feathers, and pompoms
- Scissors
- Glue
- Large tongue depressors
What to do
1. Sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" with the children.
2. Show the children pictures of the various animals in the song.
3. Explain to the children that they will be presenting a play about the song.
4. Ask each child to choose which animal he wants to be. Make sure that each animal is represented at least once.
5. Give each child a paper plate. Encourage the children to use the craft supplies to create their animal masks.
6. When the children are finished, help them glue tongue depressors to the masks to make a handle.
7. Practice singing the song with the children. As each animal is mentioned, the child with that animal mask will stand up.
8. Present the play to other classes.
More to do
- Encourage the children to come up with other exciting places that Old MacDonald would like, such as Old MacDonald had a zoo, lake, train, playground, or pool. Help the children write their own lyrics and make a book.
-Vicki Whitehead, Fort Worth, TX
Instructions
1. Set up a post office in the Dramatic Play Center. Place an empty liquor carton
with dividers on its side, stamps, play money, a cash register, and a stamp pad
and stamp on a low table.
2. Label the cubbies inside the box with the children's names.
3. Make a mailbox by cutting a slot into the center of the lid on a tall, thin box.
4. Encourage the children to draw pictures or dictate letters to their friends. The
children can put their letters into envelopes (these can be recycled from junk
mail), seal them closed, and print their friend's names on them.
5. The children can take their letters to the "post office" to buy stamps and put
their letters into the "mailbox."
6. The child who is the mail carrier can empty the mailbox and put the letters
into a canvas bag.
7. Postal workers can cancel the stamps on the letters using a stamp, and then
sort them into the cubbies.
8. The mail carrier can deliver the mail to the recipients.
9. Make sure the all the children get a turn playing different roles.
More to do
Art: Encourage the children to design their own stamps using sheets of paper
divided into a grid.
Field Trip: Visit a post office. Mail real Valentines or Mother's or Father's Day
cards.
Social Studies: Invite a postal worker (perhaps a parent) to visit the classroom.
