Materials
pictures of different areas of your classroom, or a picture of something that
represents each area (a block for the block area, plates for the kitchen
area, and so on)
laminator
hole punch and string, or safety pins
Instructions
1. Take a clothesline rope and make small handles or loops about every 10 to
12 inches. Loops at each end provide places for the teachers. Whenever
children must line up to go somewhere, have them hold onto a loop of the
rope.
2. The rope helps children stay in line and with the group.
Author's Note: The rope has been helpful in situations where we must wait
for children arriving or being picked up. Also, when we walk down the halls
where others are moving in the same hallways, it helps keep the young
children safe and traffic patterns running more smoothly. I have used the
"Line Rope" for years. I was amused when traveling and I observed preschool
teachers in England and Russia using similar "Line Ropes" with preschoolers
on outings.
3. With older children, they can take turns as the "front and back helpers" or the
line "engine" and "caboose," rather than adults holding the lead and end
handles.
4. Sing the following to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" to help young children
remember to hold on to the handles.
I am walking, I am walking,
On the rope, On the rope.
Yes I am walking, yes I am walking,
With my friends, with my friends.
