Writing Activities and Lessons for Childcare

Learning to write activities is very resourceful for your program. This will assist you in providing good learning activities for all children each day. Children should be active, happy, and learning new things all day, during routines and play times. Having written activities will help you carry out the plans you have made for the day. It will also help you when you need extra things to do throughout the day. If anyone else has to take over for you, things will go more smoothly for him/her if they have a written plan to follow.

Written activities should list some or all of the following:

• Title of the activity
• Objective/purpose for the activity
• Materials needed for the activity
• Instructions on how the activity is to be carried out
• Comments about the activity/Variations to the activity

It is a good idea to file your activities by theme (i.e. apples or fruits). Pull out the activities you plan to use a day or a week in advance. Place them in a central location so that you can use the written activities as planned. When carrying out your lessons, prepare for the activities by getting the materials together, going over the instructions, and thinking of questions to ask the children and things to talk about for different activities.

Activities can be written in many different forms. The following written activities are samples of different ways to write activities. It is up to you to come up with the written planning form that suits you best.

Hint: The various activities all use the theme: “Apples”. If you choose to file all of these activities by theme, you will have a thematic unit about “Apples”.

What’s Inside An Apple

Objective: The children will learn language skills by talking about the difference between the inside and the outside of an apple.

Materials:

“A Special Surprise” Story* (See end of activity for story)
Chalk and Chalkboard or Marker and Flip Chart
Paper Bag Full of Apples
Knife (for teacher only)

Instructions:

• Bring an apple to morning circle time. Invite the children to tell you everything about the outside of the apple that they can think of. It is red. It is round. It is shiny. It has a stem.
• Ask the children what the apple looks like on the inside. Let them provide descriptions.
• Let the children know that you have a special story for them about a surprise inside the apple. Tell the prop story, “A Special Surprise”.
• Explain that inside and outside are location words. They tell us where something is located.

Closure: Tell the children to think about these words as they play and learn throughout the day. Whenever someone uses the words correctly, give them an apple sticker to take home.

A Special Surprise

Once there was a little old lady named Annie, who lived in the mountains in a little house right here. (Draw the stem of an apple.) One day Annie decided to go down the mountain to town, so she left her house and started down the road like this. (Draw the remaining half of the left side of an apple)

On the way she met Abraham, and he asked, “Where are you going on such a fine day?” “I’m going down to town,” replied Annie.

“What are you going to get?” asked Abraham.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” said Annie.

On she walked (draw more of the left side of the apple) until she met Ashley and the other boys and girls. They all asked her, “Where are you going on such a fine day?”

“I’m going down to town,” she replied.

“What are you going to get?” they asked.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Annie told them.

Annie finally reached town (continue drawing the left side of the apple; stop at the center of the bottom of the apple). She went in the store and came out with a big bag. (Hold up the paper bag.)

She started back up the mountain like this. (Begin drawing the right side of apple from the bottom to the midpoint.) All the boys and girls came running up to her. “What did you get? What’s in your bag?” they all begged.

“I’ve got some stars,” Annie answered. “Walk home with me, and I’ll give you each one.”

So the little old lady and all the boys and girls continued up the mountain like this. (Complete the drawing of the apple.) They finally reached Annie’s house.

Annie sat down and opened her bag. She pulled out an apple. (Take an apple from the bag.)

“But where are the stars?” asked the children.

Then Annie smiled and took out her knife. She cut the apple in half, and showed the children a beautiful star inside the apple. (Cut apple in half horizontally and show the children the star.) Then she cut all the apples in half and gave all the children a star of their very own.

Apple Seed Shakers

Fine Motor Development, Music and Movement, Art
Indoor Activity
Teacher Directed
5-15 Minutes

Provide apple seeds and small containers such as orange juice cans or lemonade cans. Invite the children to use tweezers (use fingers if tweezers are too hard) to pick up apple seeds and place them in the containers. Secure the tops of the cans with a lid and tape. Provide paints, glue, and paper. Encourage the children to decorate their seed shakers.

“Apples and Bananas”
A Music and Movement Activity

Materials: An apple and a Banana
Knife (for teacher only)

What to do:

1. Sing “Apples and Bananas” (see end of lesson) with the children.
2. Discuss the two fruits. Find out how many other fruits children can name. Explain to the children that they need to eat fruits everyday to stay healthy.
3. Invite children to sample apple and banana slices. Discuss the difference between the two.

Apples and Bananas

I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas.
I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas.
I like to ate ate ate aypuls and baynaynays.
I like to ate ate ate aypuls and baynaynays.
I like to eet eet eet eeples and beeneenees.
I like to eet eet eet eeples and beeneenees.
I like to ite ite ite ipples and byenyenyes.
I like to ite ite ite ipples and byenyenyes.
I like to ote ote ote opples and bononos.
I like to ote ote ote opples and bononos.
I like to ute ute ute uuples and bununus.
I like to ute ute ute uuples and bununus.

Applesauce

Equipment:	Large kettle with cover Food mill or coarse strainer Small kitchen knife
Ingredients:	8 large apples (about 3lbs.) Water Sugar and cinnamon to taste
Directions:	Wash, quarter slice, and remove the seeds of the 8 large apples. It is not necessary to peel apples. Supervise the use of the knife. Immediately put the apples into a large kettle, add a½ cup of water, cover, and simmer until apples are tender and mushy. Stir occasionally and add water in small amounts if needed. Press apples through a food mill or coarse strainer. Add small amounts of sugar and cinnamon to taste. Yields: 16 servings
Comments:	Children can also pick the apples, if you are able to visit an apple orchard. Try planting the seeds, and have a lot of patience waiting for them to sprout.

Going On A Picnic
Dramatic Possibility

Materials

Picnic Basket
Apples
Apple Juice
Jar of Applesauce
Plates, Cups, Napkins, etc…

Teacher Talk

Talk about opening and closing the basket. “Lane, can you open the basket? What do you see?”

Offer children objects to hold, feel and taste. Help children place items in the basket, close and open the top, and dump the items onto the floor.

Apple Trees

Have children paint apple trees using green, red, and yellow tempera paint and pieces of sponge. Have each child tell something about his/her painting. Write out what the children say in their own words. Older children can find and circle the letter A’s that appear in their recitations.

Materials: paint, sponges, paper, and crayon/marker

Ten Red Apples
Teaching a Finger Play

Tell the children to do and say as you do. Start and finish each day with this finger play. The children will learn it with repetition.

Ten red apples grow on a tree. (Put both hands high in the air)
Five for you and five for me. (Dangle one hand and then the other)
Let us shake the tree just so. (Shake your entire body)
And then ten red apples will fall below. (Let your hands fall)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 (Count using each finger)

Sources

Albrecht, Kay; Miller, Linda G., The Comprehensive Infant Curriculum. Gryphon House, Inc., 2000.

Coudron, Jill M., Alphabet Acitivities. Fearon Teacher Aids, 1983.

Cryer, Debbie; Harms, Thelma; Ray, Adele Richardson, The Active Learning Series. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.

Dodge, Diane T.; Cloker, Laura J., The Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood. Teaching Strategies, Inc., 2001.

Schiller, Pam; Phipps, Pat; The Complete Daily Curriculum For Early Childhood. Gryphon House, Inc., 2002.

Stassevitch, Verna; Stemmler, Patricia; Shotwell, Rita; Ready To Use Activities for Before and After School Programs. The Center for Applied Research in Education, Inc., 1989.

Technical Assistance for the Coordinator

Objective: Learning to Write Activities within Family Child Care.

• Read and review information on Written Activities with your provider.
• Using one of the written activities in this lesson, assist the provider in writing out an activity that they do often or one that is a favorite of theirs to do. Remind the provider to file it away in a place where it can be easily located later.
• If needed, answer questions on writing activities.

Closure: Ask the provider the following questions to assess their knowledge of writing activities:
Do you write out your daily activities?
Why is it important to write activities out?
What are some things you should include in a written activity?