Month: August 2020

{Free} Preschool Germ Activities

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As schools start back, there are two activities children are being asked to do. First, wear a mask. And second, wash your hands to keep everyone healthy. The more children use skills, the stronger the connections become in the brain. Muscle memory kicks in and these skills become second nature. Healthy habits are something a child will use for the rest of their lives. It is important to introduce these habits at a young age. Michigan’s Early. Childhood Standards of Quality Care found here https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_OK_Approved_422339_7.pdf outlines social, emotional, and physical health standards. A unit on hand washing and germs helps a child to “begin to have knowledge about and make age-appropriate healthy choices in daily life.” Children demonstrate they are mastering this goal by showing independence in keeping themselves clean, talking about ways germs spread, and beginning to recognize activities that lead to the spread of germs.

There are a number of ways to introduce these concepts to children. The first is through literature. A number of books have been written about germs and hand washing. There are many regarding Covid-19 specifically being published also. A few suggestions include (affiliate links):

If you are interacting with children virtually, there are many books available electronically.

I have created a number of activities that are available to download for FREE. Each of these activities correspond with a Michigan Early Childhood Standards of Quality while helping children see the value of hand washing and self-care.

The first activity is a hand writing printable. The child will use a writing utensil or finger to trace the dotted line from the hands to the germs. In order for children to become proficient in the standard relating writing skills, they need many experiences to write. Children show they are mastering “beginning to develop writing skills to communicate and express themselves effectively for a variety of purposes” when they use a variety of forms of writing, begin to understand their ideas can be written, and begin to write familiar words. Tracing allows children to practice forming the basic shapes of letters.

Free downloads: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Germ-Trace-5959369 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Germ-Trace-5959353

The next activity focuses on patterning. Patterning is a math skill. Children will use classification, comparison of objects, and classify objects when patterning. This FREE printable activity provides 6 unique patterns for children to extend. As children develop the skill of patterning they can recognize, extend, and create patterns.

FREE Download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Germ-Patterning-5959428

Seriation is putting things in order. Size, location, and position are examples of ways children can use seriation with items. The FREE printable cards below provide children an opportunity to put the steps of washing hands in order. Children will start with the first step and end with the fifth. The more a child practices and has experiences with a skill, the stronger the brain connections will become. These seriation cards offer children a different kind of experience with hand washing.

FREE Download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Handwashing-Seriation-Cards-5959412

An easy science activity can be done with the FREE printable. Print the .pdf and place it in a ziplock bag. Trace the child’s hands on the outside of the bag. Place the bag, while held upright, into a bowl of water. The germs will magically disappear, but the hands will remain. This happens because of light refraction, but also demonstrates how washing hands will make germs disappear. The following link demonstrates this activity: https://www.ronyestech.com/2020/05/zip-lock-bag-water-refraction-halloween.html

Disappearing Germ Instructions

FREE download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Disappearing-Germ-5959382

I have also created a poster with the steps to hand washing. Place this by the sink for children to have a simple to read reminder!

FREE download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Handwashing-Steps-Poster-5959399

The final activity I have created is available for a very low cost. This activity is a PowerPoint slide show that works great during a virtual class. Children will count the germs on various objects as you click your mouse. Children may count together, guess on their own, or print the activity to be used independently. This activity focuses on the numbers 1 to 5. Children will work on counting and cardinality as they work through these germy objects!

Download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Germ-Count-5959445

All the activities are available to download for a minimal price at the following link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hand-Washing-and-Germs-5959482

Hand washing and germ awareness has always been important in Early Childhood Classrooms. Society is catching up and focusing the the importance of these topics. Practice helps children become more proficient in these necessary skills.

I Wear My Helper Mask

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Childcare centers are now required to have children ages 4 and up wear masks in community spaces in Michigan. Children ages 2 and up are strongly encouraged to wear a mask in confined classrooms. This seems like a daunting task. I attended a training with a pediatric ER doctor, a behavioral pediatrician, a child psychologist, and the director of licensing. These individuals provided support, ideas, and scientific evidence to support children wearing masks.

Children are resilient. We see this all the time in the classroom. Things that would cause adults to fret for days, pass by children as a fleeting moment. Children also are capable. Children are able to comply with safety rules from infancy. Between the ages of 2 and 7 children are in the preoperational stage. At this point, children are egocentric. Children are able to think symbolically. When taking these two facts into consideration, the best way to approach mask wearing with children is to focus on how the child’s actions are helping others. The child focuses on the actions they can do while also making the connection of the mask and safety. Children in this stage are also beginning to attach meaning to objects with language. Use simple, child-friendly explanations for mask wearing.

Children need grace. Wearing a mask all day is not going to be an easy task for children. Children lack impulse control. Their pre-frontal cortex is just beginning to fire. This area of the brain regulates self-control. You may find children frequently touching their face or removing their mask. Help children understand cognitively the importance of the mask, redirect and guide when needed, and celebrate the behavioral success when the mask is worn. Children thrive on mastery. Becoming an accomplished mask wearer is an opportunity for a child to experience growth and success. Do not expect perfection.

As children are introduced to wearing masks, provide support. Here are some suggestions to implement in the classroom:

  • Provide doll sized masks for children to play with.
  • Have the children decorate and personalize a mask.
  • Allow children opportunities to play games involving masks.
  • Adults should be wearing masks with pride.
  • Allow mask breaks (this may be while eating or outside).

The following are suggestions a caregiver can offer for a parent:

  • Provide multiple masks each day.
  • Masks need to clean each day.
  • Have your child choose a mask. Make the mask fun and something that appeals to the child.
  • The following link contains information and videos for children sesamestreet.org/caring
  • Reusable masks are more cost efficient and produce less waste.
  • Parents can encourage children to wear a mask through out the day at home.

Children are hard wired for social skills. Even though a mask with cover the bottom portion of the face, children will be able to decipher emotions through other means. Children use tone of voice, eye movements, eyebrow shapes, and sounds being made to determine what a person may be feeling. Offering children practice with this may be helpful. I have created a PowerPoint activity that may be used virtually or printed. Children are tasked with determining how the masked children are feeling. This activity may be downloaded for a very low fee at the following link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Masked-But-Still-Feeling-5930676

I have also created an emotion match game, empowering posters, and a mask that may be decorated. These are available for FREE at the following links:

If you download these items, please leave feedback! I greatly appreciate it!

Literature is often a great starting point for discussions with children. Here are children’s books available from Amazon affiliate links.

Another idea is to use non-washable markers to color a mask for the children to wear for the day. This would be an expense, but may help children take ownership of the mask. These are single use masks, and should not be worn for multiple days. This may be something you can suggest to parents to do at home to have a new mask for each day.

I hope these tips and activities help mask wearing with children seem a little less daunting. The best quality early childhood educators have is to be adaptive. We think fast on our feet in all situations. Mask wearing is a new situation, but we will all succeed!

How Do You Know If Something Is Living or Not?

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The Early Childhood Standards of Quality for the state of Michigan includes early learning expectations for science. One learning expectations for preschool age children is to “show a beginning awareness of scientific knowledge related to living and non-living things.” The full document of the Early Childhood Standards of Quality can be found at the following link: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_OK_Approved_422339_7.pdf. As children develop this scientific skill, they will begin to demonstrate an ability to talk about living and non-living things. Children will also will begin to categorize items based on characteristics that are observable, begin to develop an awareness of lifecycles, and begin to describe the relationship between animals and plants.

Children are natural scientists. Play provides children the opportunity to develop knowledge through exploration. A study conducted by Claire Cook at MiT concluded that children who are given ambiguous information were more likely to seek additional information through experimentations. These children defined variables and tested out theories. Children who were given the opposite information, did not define variables. These children lacked the trial and error process their peers took part in. The full findings may be read at the following link: https://web.stanford.edu/~ngoodman/papers/CookGoodmanSchulz2011.pdf

As a facilitator of children’s development, it is important to remember these key findings. A child’s natural desire to experiment can be easily stifled by an adults intervention. Adults need to provide children with rich experiences that will lead to exploration. Adults need to step back and allow children to lead the process as this process is the scientific method. When adults use the scientific method, they are seeking to answer a question by forming a hypothesis. Children take part in the same process when they interact with a rich environment.

The skill of differentiating living from non-living things begins with questions. The world is already technologically dependent and the pandemic has moved the necessity for digital skills to younger children. Preschoolers need hands-on experiences to supplement virtual education. One way to provide children an easy hands-on experience to look at living and non-living things is with Nature Bingo. In this activity, children use their surroundings to look at objects that are either living or non-living. As they find the objects in nature, they mark them off on their bingo board. Children can attempt to get four in a row, cover all the items, or seek to make a different pattern. In addition to the exploration, children can be prompted with questions to encourage children to look at the items in a living or non-living classification system. The following are questions an adult may use to prompt children to think deeper during the activity:

  • Does the item move on its own?
  • Does the item need water?
  • Can it eat food?
  • Does it make food?
  • Does it breathe?
  • Does it need air?
Sample Bingo Card

The download includes 5 unique bingo cards that can be printed as many times are you need. The cards can be found for download at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Nature-Bingo-5917955 for a very low fee.

In addition to the Nature Bingo, you can provide children with literature that supports the development of this science learning expectation. The following are affiliate links with resources that will help children develop this learning expectation.

An additional activity to help children develop this knowledge is to sort images of living vs. non-living things. I am including the link to download my sorting cards for FREE! Images for these cards came from www.unspash.com.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Living-vs-Non-Living-Sorting-Cards-5918504

Feed the Monster Math

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One of the Early Childhood Standards for Quality created for the state of Michigan includes the following learning expectation: Counting and Cardinality. Children extend their understanding of numbers and their relationship to one another and things in their environment. The full copy of the Standards can be found at the following link: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_OK_Approved_422339_7.pdf

Children may demonstrate they are working on this expectation by showing an awareness of numbers to determine the quantity of items, label amounts, and moving beyond rote counting. I have created an activity to use with preschool age children to practice this math learning expectation.

Cardinality is the ability to tell how many are in a set. The last word in the counting sequence names the quantity for the set. Prior to moving to cardinality, children focus on one-to-one correspondence. Children demonstrate one-to-one correspondence by giving a number name to each object in a sequence.

Begin with presenting the book “Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli” by Barbara Jean Hicks. You may purchase the book at the following affiliate link Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli. A read-a-loud version can be found on YouTube. The read-a-loud version would be useful for a virtual circle time.

“Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli” by Barbara Jean Hicks

Once you have read the book, present the counting activity. Children will count the monsters and then determine how many of each item they need to feed the monsters. This activity presents concrete items for children to count and then recounts the items a second time. Additionally, the activity provides the written number for children to begin to connect the verbal words with the written symbol. This activity teaches children cardinality by having them count the monsters using one-to-one correspondence. The next step asks them to name the number of monsters that must be fed. This number is the final number of the counting sequence and therefore the name of the set.

The following video demonstrates the full activity.

Monster Feed

You can find the Feed the Monster Activity for download at the following link for a nominal fee. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Feed-the-Monster-Math-5903295. The activity uses PowerPoint and is fully functional upon download. This activity can be used in a virtual circle time or as an independent activity.

Please print the following activity to use with individual children to practice cardinality. Children will count the number of monsters in each box. Have the children point to each one as they count. Focus on the last number said to label the set.

Monster-SetsDownload
Download and print to use with children

Visual Closure Preschool Activity

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Visual closure is the ability to correctly perceive an object or word, even when it is partly hidden. The ability to quickly decode helps children to read and comprehend quickly. Practicing visual closure with various activities trains the eyes to decode symbols to be letters rapidly. This skill is completely visual and should be practiced as such. The ability to not actively assess each line of print helps with reading and writing fluency.

Some signs a child may need additional support in visual closure include:

  • Trouble completing mazes and puzzles
  • Difficulty identifying objects that are partially obscured
  • Difficulty with math tasks
  • Needing extra time to identify familiar letters

One way to practice visual closure is to place a number of different objects in a box. Have the objects overlap. Ask the child to find various objects that are partially hidden.

selective focus photography of animal toys
Find the Dog

Another way to practice visual closure is with a PowerPoint presentation. Create a slide with a large single letter. Insert a shape and choose the square. Place the square on the letter to obstruct different lines of the letter. Change the fill and outline of the square to white. Insert a blank slide. Put the full letter on this slide. This activity can be done during a virtual circle time. Prepare the PowerPoint presentation ahead of time. Share your screen with the children and have them shout out the letters.

PowerPoint Presentation
Sample of Presentation

This activity can also be done with simple images for children who are not familiar with letters.

You can download this PowerPoint presentation for free at the following link!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Visual-Closure-5862943#show-price-update

Some additional activities can be found on the following links:

The following are affiliate links. These manipulatives would be helpful in developing visual closure for children.