Materials
- soft modeling clay in various colors
- fresh flower petals
- rolling pins
Preparation
- Set the materials on the children's work tables.
- Pick flower petals beforehand.
- Ask the children's families to bring in rolling pins for this activity.
What To Do
1. Read the children a book about springtime (see the list to the left for suggestions).
2. Talk with the children about how plants begin to bud in the springtime. Show the children the picked flower petals. Ask the children to talk about some of the flowers they have seen recently. Talk with the children about how spring weather is conducive to plants flowering.
3. At the work tables, give each child a small amount of modeling clay, letting each child choose the color.
4. Show the children how to press a flower petal into the clay, and then carefully pull the flower petal from the clay, leaving an impression. Help the children press various flower petals, making designs in the clay in the shapes of flower blossoms.
Assessment
To assess the children's learning, consider the following:
- Can the children tell you about their flowers?
- Do the children know why most flowers bloom in spring?
- Can the children tell you some of the different colors of flowers?
-Shirley Anne Ramaley, Sun City, AZ
Instructions
l Cut out construction paper leaves. Make at least one per child.
What To Do
1. Gather the children together and talk with them about how leaves fall in autumn.
2. Give each child a paper leaf. Ask the children what kind of sounds the wind makes.
Talk with the children about how the wind helps the leaves to fall.
3. Ask the children to gather in a circle and hold up their leaves.
4. Recite the following poem with the children:
All the Little Colored Leaves by Anne Houghton
Many little colored leaves hanging on a tree,
Red leaves, yellow leaves want to fall free.
The wind comes whooshing through the town (children say "whoosh")
And suddenly the ________ leaves flutter down; (say a color of leaf; children holding
a leaf of that color drop their leaves)
Now all the little ________ leaves are on the ground.
(Repeat until all the leaves are on the ground.)
5. In addition to dropping the leaves, invite the children to perform the action of leaves
falling when their colors are called.
Teacher - to - Teacher Tip
l Consider having children with well-developed small motor skills cut out the leaf
shapes at the start of the activity, using child-safe scissors.
Assessment
To assess the children's learning, consider the following:
l Can the children recognize colors by name?
l Can the children drop their leaves at the appropriate times?
