EARLY CHILDHOOD
CHILDREN'S ACTIVITY TABLES
21ST CENTURY LITERACY STARTS IN KINDERGARTEN WITH KEYBOARD SKILLS, TOOLS, RESOURCES
A GUIDE FOR EDUCATION COORDINATORS IN HEAD START
Please keep in mind that participants are often shopping with young children; activities should be simple, portable, and not too messy.
Safety first! Please no beads, balloons or candy.
| TABLE ACTIVITIES | NON-TABLE ACTIVITIES |
Bubbles (painting, blowing, catching) |
Bowling |
Face painting (this is very popular among all ages) |
Bean-bag toss |
Hat making |
Mini-obstacle course |
Musical instruments (play or make or both) |
Tumbling on mats |
Marble painting |
Easel drawing |
String painting |
Beach ball games |
Printing (use sponges, rubber stamps, etc.) |
Mini-basketball |
Sensory boxes |
Sequence cards (movement) |
Peek-a-boo cards |
Climbing/crawling activities for infants and toddlers |
Who/what is in there? (guessing games) |
Mazes to walk through |
Jewelry (stringing straws; beads; macaroni) |
Make a bird feeder |
Puppet making |
|
Paper flowers |
|
Food Coloring pictures with eye droppers on paper towels or coffee filters |
|
Textured pictures |
|
Clay or Play dough (have a second choice in case others choose it first) |
According to the apple-or-coin test, used in the Middle Ages, children should start school when they are mature enough for the delayed gratification and abstract reasoning involved in choosing money over fruit. In 15th- and 16th-century Germany, parents were told to send their children to school when the children started to act “rational.” And in contemporary America, children are deemed eligible to enter kindergarten according to an arbitrary date on the calendar known as the birthday cutoff — that is, when the state, or in some instances the school district, determines they are old enough.
