Materials
Coloring items such as crayons, markers, paints Plain white paper
Hole punch Black marker
Ribbon, any kind
Instructions
This is a great project if your school happens to be near the site of a new construction or a building undergoing a renovation or addition. In making your observations, supervise the children closely and keep them well away from the actual construction.
1. Discuss the different materials that homes are made of with the children.
2. Take children to visit a building site, if possible.
3. Discuss what they see and what they will see as days go by: machines, people at work, the building growing, etc.
4. Back at school, give the children paper and let them color a cover page for a book which they will make over the course of time it takes the workers to build the house.
5. If children can write, let them write the title; if not, let them dictate a title.
6. Take children back to the building site for visits. Have them add pages to illustrate the foundation, walls, ceiling, chimney, and so on. They can think of and dictate captions for each page. Take pictures of the house or building as it is going up to accompany the children's books.
7. As the building nears completion, discuss what the children think they might find inside. With this discussion, you could make pictures of the different rooms, furniture, perhaps even a staircase leading up or down, the fireplace, etc. They could even draw pictures of a family, perhaps pets, or other people who may use the new building.
8. If you know when moving day is, watch some of the things being moved inside. The children may want to add more pages to their books.
9. When the house is finished, the children's books should be near completion. Perhaps a landscaping picture could be the last page.
10. Collect the children's books and check for page sequence.
11. Punch holes to make the binder.
12. Lace the ribbon through the holes and tie with a bow.
13. Add the date and each child's name.More to doBlocks: Use wooden blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, gingerbread or milk cartons to build houses.Dramatic play: Play house to help the children relate to what happens inside each of their homes. Find a large appliance box and let the children decorate it as a house.Games: Play association games, for example, the children can name what goes with a house, such as a lawn, chimney, roof.More science: To enhance listening skills, have a tape of construction sounds and let the children try to name the sounds.
