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EARLY CHILDHOOD CHILDREN'S ACTIVITY TABLES

#early childhood activity tables, #activity tables, #play #head start, kindergarten skills

21ST CENTURY LITERACY STARTS IN KINDERGARTEN WITH KEYBOARD SKILLS, TOOLS, RESOURCES

A GUIDE FOR EDUCATION COORDINATORS IN HEAD START

Please keep in mind that participants are often shopping with young children; activities should be simple, portable, and not too messy.

Safety first! Please no beads, balloons or candy.

Table Top Activities

Bubbles (painting, blowing, catching)

Face painting (this is very popular among all ages)

Hat making

Musical instruments (play or make or both)

Marble painting

String painting

Printing (use sponges, rubber stamps, etc.)

Sensory boxes

Peek-a-boo cards

Who/what is in there? (guessing games)

Jewelry (stringing straws; beads; macaroni)

Puppet making

Paper flowers

Food Coloring pictures with eye droppers on paper towels or coffee filters

Textured pictures

Clay or Play dough (have a second choice in case others choose it first)

Non-Table Top Activities

Bubbles (painting, blowing, catching)

Bowling

Bean-bag toss

Mini-obstacle course

Tumbling on mats

Easel drawing

Beach ball games

Mini-basketball

Sequence cards (movement)

Climbing/crawling activities for infants and toddlers

Mazes to walk through

Make a bird feeder

WHEN IS A CHILD READY TO START KINDERGARTEN ?

According to the apple-or-coin test, used in the Middle Ages, children should start school when they are mature enough for the delayed gratification and abstract reasoning involved in choosing money over fruit. In 15th- and 16th-century Germany, parents were told to send their children to school when the children started to act “rational.” And in contemporary America, children are deemed eligible to enter kindergarten according to an arbitrary date on the calendar known as the birthday cutoff — that is, when the state, or in some instances the school district, determines they are old enough. ~Elizabeth Weil