Materials
- Two toilet paper tubes
- One small margarine container
- Duct tape
- Stuffed and plastic cats and dogs with long and short hair
- Milk crates
- Plastic tub
- Towels
- Mild shampoo (tear-free)
- Brushes
- Barrettes and ribbons
- Curlers
- Collars
- Plastic scissors
- Milk crates
- Play money and cash register
Instructions
- To prepare, create a "blow dryer" by duct taping two toilet paper tubes to the sides of a margarine tub at 6:00 and 9:00 positions. Cover with tape to create a blow dryer (see illustration).
- Prepare the area by filling a large tub 1/3 full of water (to bathe animals), and put grooming accessories on a table nearby. Place stuffed animals in milk crate "cages."
- Encourage the children to put on smocks and "groom" the animals. They can brush and comb stuffed animals, put accessories and curlers in their fur, and pretend to cut hair and nails.
- The children can bathe plastic animals in the tub with the shampoo. After bathing the animals, they can towel them dry and "blow dry." (Make sure the children only put plastic animals in the water; stuffed animals get too soggy.)
- When finished, the animals can wait in the cages for their owners to pick them up and "pay" the groomers.
Instructions
1. Gather the children in a circle and explain that they are going to play a spy
game. Talk about the word "spy."
2. Explain that they are going to find something that rhymes with a particular
item. For example, if the chosen item is "rug," say, "I spy something that
rhymes with "rug." Without telling the children, pick something that rhymes
with "rug" (such as "mug").
3. The children take turns trying to find the targeted item that rhyme with rug.
Examples might be "rug/bug," "rug/Doug," "rug/shrug," and "rug/hug."
4. After each guess, encourage the children to repeat the two rhyming words
for clarity.
5. Once the targeted item is guessed, choose a child to find an item to rhyme.
Again the rest of the children attempt to guess the targeted item.
Note: It is fine for the children to create nonsense words while rhyming, as this
is part of the learning process.
