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Dental Health Lessons For Kids

Posted in Uncategorized | August 27th, 2011

Okay here’s the deal, we’re lesson planning for kids aged 6 weeks to 2 years old….?

The topics we have are “cold weather”, “penguins”, “fruit”, “veggies”, “black history month”, “valentine’s day”, “body parts”, and “dental health”. The areas we have to cover are “group time”, block play”, dramatic play”, language/literacy”, “outside”, “dental health”, “health/safety”, “parent involvement”, “cognitive”, “creative arts”, “self-help”, “mental health”, “fine motor”, “music/movement”, and “environmental changes/additions”…….. yeah, fun stuff. H E L P…
LISTEN guys I didn’t MAKE UP THESE RULES they are the rules of the CENTER so please just either answer the question or don’t.. okay?! Thanks!

So am I right in assuming that you have to create an activity for each domain, for every theme? (So for cold weather, you will need to have a group time, block play, dramatic play, and etc. activity?) Wow, that’s a lot of planning for such little kids! Are these themes daily or weekly? Are you allowed to have overlap–that is, use the same activity more than once, because it would fit more than one theme? That might make your life easier.

Here are some ideas for one theme….let’s try cold weather, because it’s first. At group time, you could show the word “cold” with a cold teether from the refrigerator…touch the teether and say, “Cold!” and shiver, then have the children touch it to feel what cold is like. At block time, you could make a pretend igloo with a white sheet, and build with blocks inside the igloo. For the dramatic play area, have hats and gloves that children can try on. (Of course, avoid scarves for this age.) My two year old loves walking around the house wearing his mittens! For language and literacy, read snow books, or take pictures of the children in their own cold weather gear and make your own book to share. Outside is easy for cold weather–just outdoor play. Parent involvement–have parents share a picture of their family in cold weather, or share their favorite cold weather storeis. Cognitive would be more of the “cold” demonstration. My toddler likes going between bowls of warm water and cold water and saying “hot” and “cold”. (Watch the temp of the cold water, as kids this age will keep playing in the cold water even if their hands are chilled.) Creative arts–snowflake stamps or snowflake cookie cutters with play dough. Self-help–putting on mittens (good luck!) and boots. (They won’t be able to do this on their own, but they’ll have fun trying.) Mental health–???? Fine motor–pick up “snowballs” of crumpled up white paper or wax paper (of course bigger than chokable size) Music/movement–role play putting on winter gear, role play making a snowman, find a fun snow song.

Does this help? If you can come up with some routines, then switching out for a different theme shouldn’t be too hard. For example, a prop in the block area, something new and different in dramatic play, family input for family involvement, and so forth.

Good luck!