Fun Activities

Text Box: This page is dedicated to those tried and accepted, “Mrs. Whaley can we do that again,” HITS of kindergarten.

Text Box: Colors Musical Bucket Supplies: paint bucket, paint brushes with ends painted different colors. Place brushes in bucket with bristles down. Seat students in circle. Students pass the paint bucket around as music is playing. The student who is holding the bucket when the music stops, removes a paintbrush, says the color, and places the brush back in the bucket. Play continues until all have had a turn.

Text Box: Body Parts Dice Supplies: wooden block, pictures of body parts, Velcro (I used Velcro so I could switch the pictures out.) Students stand in a circle. One student rolls the dice in the middle of the circle. Sing this song to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” when dice stops When student’s name rolls the dice we touch our name body part that was rolled. When student’s name rolls the dice we touch our name body part that was rolled. When student’s name rolls the dice we touch our name body part that was rolled, we jump up high. When student’s name rolls the dice we touch our name body part that was rolled.

Text Box: Nuts and Bolts Supplies: medium or large sized nuts and bolts. Use nuts and bolts to sort objects by kind. Give each pair of students a bag of nuts and bolts. (Make sure you have them screwed together) The students will unscrew the nuts and bolts and sort. After sorting, the students will screw them back together and place in bag. This is great for fine motor skills!

Text Box: Tooty-Ta Always a favorite! Supplies: Dr. Jean CD and CD player—and plenty of room! Found on Dr. Jean and Friends CD #11 When your class begins learning letters and sounds you can reinforce phonemic awareness by using the open version found on Sing to Learn With Dr. Jean CD #7 and substitute the sound you are learning for the /t/ sound in Tooty-Ta. Examples: Looly-La, Googy-Ga, Hoohy-Ha!

Text Box: How Many Drops of Water Will Fit on a Penny? When we are learning about the properties of water, we always do this activity. It teachers the students that water has a ‘skin.’ Supplies: droppers, bowl of water, pennies, paper towels for clean up The students will count as they slowly use the dropper to drop water onto the head of a penny. The students get really good at this and can count into the 30’s!

Text Box: Counting Candles with Jack Be Nimble We do this activity when we have been studying teen numbers and when we do the poem, Jack Be Nimble. Supplies: 19 birthday candles for each child First have the students make a group of ten. The teacher will demonstrate, “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over 15 candlesticks.” The students will add candles and count, “10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.” Ask, “15 is 10 and how many more?” Continue substituting other teen numbers.

Text Box: Funny Money Each student has a film canister and a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. Sing this song to the tune of “Hokey Pokey.” You put a penny in (place the penny inside canister) You take a penny out (roll penny onto floor) You put a penny in (place penny in canister) And you shake it all about (place hand over open end of canister and shake) You do the funny money and (shake)
you turn it upside down (turn canister upside down on floor so penny rolls out) One cent is what comes out! Repeat with other coins.

Text Box: Bazooka Bubblegum (I use clipart of coins and rhyming pictures to hold up during chant) My momma, she gave me a penny. She said to buy a guinea- But I did not buy a guinea, I bought Bubblegum! (Clap hands above head and hold) Bazooka, -zooka Bubblegum! (Do an Egyptian head dance!) (replace coin name and rhymes:) nickel—pickle dime—lime quarter—mortar When all students learn coins’ names and values have a Bazooka bubble gum party and then teach the last two lines: Dollar—collar My momma, she gave me a five. She said to stay alive- But I did not stay alive, I choked on bubblegum! (gently put hands on neck and stick out tongue)

Text Box: Fingers and Toes Teen Number Game Students take off their socks and shoes for this one! The teacher will call out a teen number and the students will show that number using their toes as the tens and their fingers as the ones. Example: Teacher says, “15” The students will show their ten toes and 5 fingers. The students will respond, “10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Ten and five more is fifteen.”

Text Box: Jingle Bell Sort When we have our Polar Express unit, we play a jingle bell sorting game. I have two bags of the same size jingle bells. One bag has silver and red bells and the other bag has silver and blue bells. One student from each team will race to see who can sort their jingle bells by color the quickest. It is very neat to see their little minds working to determine the fastest way to sort the bells.