Over the next two weeks my preschool will be studying colors. We will have some great color activities for choice time, for our centers/work stations, and for our daily projects. I will definitely write a post at the end of our color study with some ideas for studying colors with preschoolers! But, along the way, I hope to share my first mini-series with you...Connecting to Literature: Colors. I have chosen to work on connecting many of our color activities over the next two weeks to great children's books. I hope there is something in the series that you might enjoy doing with your little ones!
Connecting To Literature: Colors Part One
Freight Train by Donald Crews
I decided to do the first part of the series on a book that covers all the colors of the rainbow. The kids at my school this year have been building trains, literally, every day! Freight Train by Donald Crews would connect their interest to our color theme. Freight Train is a Caldecott Honor Book, and is one that I and the preschoolers enjoy.
To Make:
Make a Felt Board
I made two felt boards out of cork-boards (50% off at Michael's this weekend) and some green felt. I just cut the felt and glued it down tight with the Elmer's Spray Glue I keep in my craft closet. Easy-peasy. And super cheap, compared to buying pre-made felt boards.
Make Patterns
I traced the trains straight from the book. I labeled them by color and then cut them out from my felt. I made one large set that matches the book. Then I hand-drew a mini-set of patterns so that the whole train could fit on my felt board. The full-sized were too big, but I thought the kids might enjoy the larger size too. I made all the train-cars from the book.
Make Felt Tracks and Fillers
I found some awesome felt that looked like bricks, rocks, and dirt. This was great for making the tracks and various things for the kids to put "inside" their train cars. I also used it to make smoke :) This was more expensive felt, but one piece of each was plenty and I have enough left over use again.
I made sure to make both small and large sized pieces for them to put inside the train-cars.
Set It Up
I was recently inspired by a series called "Invitations to Play" set up by a team of bloggers. Check out a link to their Fall Invitations at the bottom of this post :) I wanted to set up some Invitation to Play activities at my preschool, so I set this up with that in mind.
The BIG trains got a tub, with a small container for wheels.
The SMALL trains got a tub, with a small container for their tiny wheels.
The train tracks and the fillers got their own tubs too! I think it will be fun to see if the kids can also work on sorting the pieces back out when they are done with it at the end of the day or week.
Ready to Play!!
More Invitation to Play Inspiration:
I set this activity up because I was inspired by 25 Fall Invitations to Play! I read this whole series, and if you haven't seen it, you should check it out too by clicking below: http://mynearestanddearest.com/fall-invitations-play-series