Gayle's Preschool Rainbow - Activity Central

Gayle's
Preschool Rainbow - Activity Central
"Where Early Childhood Teachers Find Ideas"

Preschool education activities and early childhood education lesson plans that give preschool children choices. Ideas for pre-k and kindergarten teachers that enrich classroom curriculum are arranged by theme. Plus easy at home fun learning games. There's even a search function and an opportunity to submit your own ideas. To receive announcements about updates in an occasional newsletter, enter your email address below and click the 'Join' button.
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Activity Central
"A rainbow of preschool education activity plans"

The Winter Preschool Activity Theme has 2 web pages filled with pre-school and kindergarten learning suggestions for science melting experiments, art & craft activities and snow activities which don't require snow. Build a few indoor snowmen or cook up popcorn snowmen with your young children. All of these chilly early childhood ideas are in the Winter Preschool Activity Theme plus songs and fingerplays.

In the Black History Theme there are curriculum activities that help preschool children celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Youngsters learn about the history of African-Americans with early childhood lesson plans, games and songs.

Inside the Rainbow Resource Room:

Health and Dental Health Theme In the Health Activity Theme you'll find healthy hand washing preschool activities that help prevent the spread of germs and Dental health activities that promote good oral hygiene. Treat young children to tooth brushing and hand washing songs and poems, plus a visit from the Tooth Fairy, with these preschool lessons.

There are 4 black & white printable coloring pages associated with the Health Activity Theme.

Happy Tooth & Toothbrush
Tooth Puppet
Doctor
Hand washing

Preschool Hibernation Theme The Hibernation Theme has preschool and kindergarten winter activities that help youngsters understand the scientific concept of hibernating / winter sleeping animals. You'll find flannel board activities, ideas for bulletin boards, poems, songs dramatic play suggestions and literacy activities in this winter theme. Activities for Groundhog Day are in this Hibernation Theme too!

There are 3 black & white printable coloring pages associated with the Hibernation Theme.

Groundhog & Poem
Groundhog Puppet
Bear Standing

Preschool Valentine Activities Valentine Activities include poems, songs, art and craft activities, games and ideas for puppets that are sure to create fun holiday learning experiences for preschool youngsters.

Preschool Penguin Activities There are delightful winter learning Penguin Activities that will enrich your preschool and kindergarten curriculum with ideas for counting, early math, movement and crafts.

There are 3 black & white printable coloring pages of Penguins associated with this Preschool Penguin Activity Theme.

Penguin
Penguin On Skis
Penguin - Follow the Dots

Mittens, Mittens and Math In the Mittens, Mittens and Math winter theme young children explore the early math skills needed for recognizing numbers, counting, matching pairs, sequencing, patterning and graphing. There are literacy ideas for The Mitten by Jan Brett and you'll find a dramatic play activity that can be expanded into a presentation for special occasions. There is also a black & white printable coloring page of a Mitten associated with this theme.

Mitten Pattern

In the Friendship Activity Theme there are lessons about sharing and kindness that help preschool and kindergarten children develop social skills. Teachers and parents use positive praise as young children wear their Super Friend Glasses and encourage creativity and critical thinking with the Friendship Garden. Remind children that words can hurt their friends and often can not be taken back with the Hurtful Words Activity. Then use the String of Friends to promote verbal skills.

Run, run as fast as you can. You can catch the Gingerbread Man Story with early childhood education activity plans, recipes, family projects, literacy activities, action rhymes plus more in the Gingerbread Man Theme.

There are 3 black and white printable coloring pattern pages associated with the Gingerbread Man Preschool Activity Theme.

Gingerbread House
Gingerbread Man
Gingerbread Lady

Happy Birthday Theme There is a fun filled Birthday Theme of early math counting activities with ideas for games, crafts, charts and name recognition that's sure to delight preschoolers as they learn about birthdays. Don't forget to take a look at the black and white printable Birthday Cake.

Puppets Can Teach Theme The Puppets Can Teach Theme has 2 web pages filled with craft ideas and activities that use puppets to enhance and stimulate the creative and cognitive abilities of young children. Invite preschool and kindergarten youngsters to learn key concepts in the areas of language, early mathematics, social studies, science, music, movement and dramatic play with the help of the puppets ideas that you'll find in the Puppets Can Teach Activity Theme. There are also Easy Santa Puppets and a Father Christmas Puppet in this early childhood activity theme.

Try one of the 4 black and white printable Puppet Pattern Pages associated with the Puppets Can Teach Activity Theme.

Paper Bag Hand Puppet Dog / Cat
Sock Puppets - Teacher Made
Tooth Puppet
Hand Puppet - Emotions

Planting an indoor classroom garden all year-round provides preschool children with lots of science experiences. You'll find activities and ideas for fall, winter, spring and summer in the Plant Growth Theme.Try Sprouting Seedlings in a ziploc bag or planting an Egg Shell Garden. Sing a few of the songs or create your own classroom Greenhouse Garden and develop a plant growth bulletin board while preschool youngsters become familiar with natural science. There are 4 Printable Coloring / Pattern Pages that help with this Plant Growth Theme.

Seed Growth and Flower

Bean Plant

Plant Growth

Flower Cross-section

You'll find all these Preschool Activity Themes and 60 more in the Rainbow Resource Room.

How to Choose a Picture Book In this article written exclusively for the Preschool Rainbow, award winning author Ellen Jackson offers advice that early childhood teachers can give to parents about choosing good picture books for preschool children.

Preschool Books Listed by Themes
A pre-k curriculum resource of suggested picture books for early childhood teachers and parents of young children. With more than 20 lists of kindergarten and pre-k books for story time and the library areas of early childhood classrooms.

The Preschool Rhyme Theme Collection is a curriculum resource with tons of finger plays, action poems, songs and nursery rhymes grouped according to early childhood education themes. Rhymes that enhance early learning about insects and bugs, animals, family, transportation, counting, community helpers and so much more!

Animal Activities promotes pre-k and kindergarten learning with literacy, science and dramatic play ideas. Activities for Zoo Themes are here.

Activities for Toddlers has 4 seasons of learning ideas and activity plans for very young preschoolers.

Preschool Activities for a Dinosaur Theme
Lots of early childhood classroom activities for teaching preschool children about these fascinating creatures.

Alphabet Theme
Preschool children have fun learning the letters of the alphabet when early childhood teachers use these activity plans and games in their classrooms.

Counting and Number Theme
Active learning ideas that engage both small and large groups of young children in the development of counting skills.

The Preschool Links page has informative resource sites for preschool and kindergarten teachers, plus places of interest for both parents and young children.

Search the Preschool Rainbow

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