Materials
photos of each child
laminator (optional)
magnetic tape
magnetic board
Instructions
1. When it's time to clean up, assign each child a different creature or character
and ask him to clean up in the style of that creature. Examples of creatures
include:
* Wiggly worm (move in a slinky, wriggling, squirmy way)
* Rabbit (jump or hop, wrinkling nose)
* Cat (purr, rub ears, pretend to shake tail)
* Robot (move in a jerky, robotic fashion)
* Fish (glide around, open and close mouth silently)
* Lizard (blink slowly, flick tongue in and out)
2. These are all fairly quiet ideas, so cleanup doesn't turn into a zoo! If noise is
not an issue in your classroom, you can assign more vocal creatures.
More to do More Transitions: Use this idea when moving from the classroom to other
areas of the building or outdoors. If the children find it hard to walk without
talking, encourage them to move in the style of a quiet creature.
Art: Select the creatures in advance and ask the children to draw or make
collage pictures of them on pieces of card stock. Collect the cards and at the
beginning of each day or week, hand one to each child randomly. The children
become the assigned creature whenever you ask them to during the day or
week.
Science and Nature: Talk about the ways different animals move, the sounds
they make and why. If it's possible, watching animals in action either on film or
an appropriate field trip is the perfect chance for children to observe and use
their own words to describe animal behavior.
