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May Program Themes
Lions, Spiders, and Clouds! Oh My!
Children under age 3 will learn this month about animals and insects, which are active in warm weather. Meanwhile, the spring season and the wonders of the sky top our curriculum for older children. Learn about our May programs.
Infants
Sample activities include:
- Library & Language: Reading the featured Books: Animal Babies Around the House and Animal Babies in Towns and Cities by Kingfisher Publications; Exploring animal-related photo cards
- Motor: Practicing grasping by holding spoons and "drumming" on boxes; moving to music
- Cognitive: Placing soft baby animals in and out of a box; being introduced to the concepts of "big" and "small" by exploring objects of varying sizes
Toddlers
For Toddlers, the theme is "Animals." Sample activities include:
- Library & Language: Discussing photos and books about animals; Handling animal magnets and animal stamps
- Creative Arts: Painting with items found in nature such as feathers and sticks
- Sensory: Exploring animal-home related materials such as twigs, feathers, and rocks
- Dramatic Play: Pretending to take care of animals in a veterinary clinic
Discovery Preschool
For Discovery Preschool, the theme is "Insects and Spiders." Sample activities include:
- Library & Language Arts : Exploring insect-and spider-related books and photo cards; Using inset and spider stamps; Featured Book: The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani
- Creative Arts: Creating yarn collages; Weaving with yarn and ribbon
- Science & Sensory: Exploring plastic insects and spiders in paper "grass"; Observing live insects in a terrarium
- Dramatic Play: Pretending to garden with child-size garden tools
- Math & Manipulatives: Using pegboards to count
Preschool
For Preschool, the theme is "In the Spring." Sample activities include:
- Library and Language Arts: Writing with chalk; Discussing books and photo cards related to spring and the seasons; Listening to books on tape; Featured Book: Mud by Mary Lyn Ray
- Creative Arts: Painting with brown, green, and white paint at the easel
- Science & Sensory: Making mud by mixing water and soil with hands and gardening tools
- Dramatic Play: Using dress-up clothes and props to pretend in a "home"
- Math & Manipulatives: Weighing classroom manipulatives with balance scales
Prekindergarten
For Prekindergarten, the theme is "The Sky." Sample activities include:
- Library & Literacy: Making rainbow books by creating color collages and drawing on colored construction paper; Featured Book: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
- Creative Arts: Creating symmetry paintings with paint on folded paper
- Science & Sensory: Exploring substances that exhibit the properties of both solids and liquids
- Dramatic Play: Role-playing weather forecasters and weather reporters with dress-up clothes and weather-related props, flannel pieces, and toys
- Math & Manipulatives: Making patterns and sets with buttons; Comparing yarn pieces of varying lengths and estimating how many buttons will equal the length of a piece of yarn
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