Hobbies And Interests
Bonding
Activate a game that encourages the children to bond during an activity. Preschool games, both indoor and outdoor activities, can bring the children together for a common cause, such as painting a group mural, engaging in a common cleaning activity or creating a neighborhood map. The teacher can turn the activity into a game by encouraging the children to see which children "use the most colors in their area of the mural," know the names of the streets/stores/landmarks in the neighborhood" or "clean their section with the most soapsuds." The games do not need to turn competitive, but should encourage the children to work together for a common cause.
Letter Game
Work with preschool-aged children on the beginnings of letter recognition with a group "Letter Game". Pass out sheets of paper that show the letters hidden within a picture. Ask the students to identify the location of the letters, allowing them to take turns describing where they see the letters. As each child raises a hand and notes where she sees the letter ("I see the 'L' in the girl's hair"' "I see the 'M' next to the dog's tail",) ask the other children to put their finger on the letter on their own page. Write the names of the children who participate on the board, and at the end of the game, review, saying "which letter did Jamie find?" The game gives children a sense of pride at their shared accomplishment.
Class Bulletin Board
Build bulletin boards for each unit, giving the children "ownership" of the bulletin board by encouraging them to contribute the materials and decorations as per your directions. In group time or circle time, introduce the unit and ask the children to submit their ideas of what the unit bulletin board should display. Write down the children's ideas and allow the children to choose the item that they want to contribute to the board. Challenge the children to create pictures, collect items from their home or neighborhood or submit their own ideas. As the bulletin board expands, review its progress each day, asking the children "are we going to finish it? What else can we add?" The game ends when the class has completed the unit bulletin board.
Empathy
Teach children to read facial expressions, appreciate others' feelings and expand from the ego-centric mindset of the pre-school years with games that encourage children to recognize and respond to social cues. Play charades, allowing each child in turn to act out a sequence that projects a feeling. Encourage the other children to describe the emotion that they see, including sad, angry,happy, and tired. You can prompt the children by asking them "who wants to show us what happens when something makes you happy?""Who wants to show us how you may look if you feel tired?"