Materials
- pictures of waitresses and waiters
- aprons
- small notepads
- pens and pencils
- small table and chairs
- napkins
- poster board
- markers and crayons
- paper
Instructions
- Talk with the children about waiters and waitresses and what they do in restaurants. If possible, show them pictures. Place aprons, mini notepads, and a table set with a vase, napkins, and chairs in the house center. Encourage the children to play "restaurant" as desired.
- Make a menu of all the children's favorite foods. Ask the children to dictate foods to put on the menu for the class restaurant. Write them on a piece of poster board. Ask the children to think of what they might like to name the class restaurant. Take a vote, and write the winning name at the top of the menu. Encourage the children to illustrate the foods, if desired.
- Ask the children to draw a picture of themselves and their families eating at their favorite restaurant.
- Have a "class restaurant day!" Send home invitations asking parents to come to the class restaurant on a specific day. Also, ask them to send in one of their child's favorite foods (from the class menu) on the big day. Copy the menu onto smaller sheets of paper for parents to order from. Encourage the children to "wait" on their parents!
Instructions
1. This activity works well with four or five children at a time.
2. Choose a letter for the day. A fun way to do this is to put letters in a bag
and let a child choose one with her eyes closed.
3. Ask each child to look through an alphabet book for the letter of the day.
When the children have found the letter, each child may talk about the
items on the page. For example, if the letter is "B," the items on the page
might be a bear, bee, baseball, balloon, baby, banana, and so on.
4. Ask the children to draw one of the objects in their book on a piece of
paper and write the word (with your help, if necessary).
5. Combine these drawings into a classroom big book titled "Alphabet
Book." Glue the drawings onto a large sheet of paper and write the
alphabet letter at the top. Attach the pages together as they are finished.
6. The alphabet big book can become part of the class library. Children love
to read books they have created.
More to do Transitions: Hand out a few alphabet cards to the children (starting with
the letter "A") or use the grab bag method and let children choose their
own letters. Ask them to line up in alphabetical order. When they have lined
up correctly, ask them to call out their letter, like the "Alphabet Song."
