Preschool: Color Red

I had preschool again this week. We started out by reading two stories: Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon and The Little Red Hen. The kids really seemed to get into the Little Red Hen story as one child left to the bathroom and they all had to wait to find out what happened next! After reading the stories we played the game where you have several items on a cookie sheet, everyone gets to look at them, the items are hidden and then they have to remember what items there was. The kids enjoyed the game, I had my little guys help me find numerous red items and we displayed them. They all had a hard time not stopping and playing with the items but I only have about 1 hour so we move a little fast. Next we went into the kitchen and got aprons on. I had each child dip their hands in red poster paint and then make hand prints all over their papers. They giggled and played all over their papers until it was time to wash up which they enjoyed just as much. I've been using the regular bar soap for hand washing rather than liquid and they really seem to enjoy playing with the soap while they wash. I know a silly thing but kids enjoy the simple things, I think I need to work on that a little more. Next we played twister which has red circles on it. First, we went through our right and left because that can be a challenge for them. They all seemed to enjoy falling on each other and stretching their little bodies all over the mat. Surprisingly a couple of them were tall enough to reach all they way across without falling. Next I drew a large picture of Clifford the Big Red dog which we colored and ripped up red construction paper and pasted it all over Clifford. They really liked decorating the dog and worked together on the project rather than an individual project. I had other ideas but parents arrived so I wasn't able to do anything more. It would have been fun for them to play with red play dough and shape it with Valentine cookie cutters. I would have liked to have red balloons too but I always seem to plan out more than we have time for.