Cabins

CIRCLE TIME

Animated discussion-Cabins

(Open picture game-Cabins) Print and laminate the pictures in the format you prefer. Use them to spark a discussion with your group and ask children questions about the theme.

AREA SETUP

Thematic poster-Cabins

(Open thematic poster-Cabins) Print, laminate, and display where parents are sure to see it.

Educa-theme-Cabins

(Open educa-theme-Cabins) Print and laminate. Use the different illustrations to decorate a corner of your daycare and present the theme to your group (and their parents).

Educa-decorate-Cabins

(Open educa-decorate-Cabins) Print, laminate, and cut out the various items. Use them to decorate your daycare and set the mood for the theme.

Welcome to our log cabin

Cut several long rectangles with rounded corners out of Kraft paper or brown cardboard. Using brown markers, draw lines here and there on the rectangles to make them look like logs. With your group, glue your logs around your daycare entrance. Hang an irregular shape cut out of brown cardboard (to represent an old piece of wood) over the door and write your group name or your daycare’s name on it.

Tree stump seats

In your circle time area, set several low (so they will not fall over) logs upright on the floor, forming a circle. Make sure the extremities of the logs are relatively flat and provide smooth surfaces (to limit the risk of splinters). Children will enjoy sitting on them during circle time or story time.

Rustic garland

Cut several triangles out of burlap. With your group, glue them at regular intervals on a long jute cord. Let children help you cut strips of checkered fabric. Knot the strips on your jute cord, between the burlap triangles. Hang your rustic garland in your daycare.

Stickers-Cabins

(Open stickers-Cabins) Print the illustrations on adhesive paper and use them to create unique stickers.

Your daycare becomes a forest

Draw several trees on a large piece of white paper or on brown paper grocery bags that you have cut open. To decorate the trees, use a hole-punch to make a hole in several leaves and thread them on a ribbon or string. Glue leaves around the bottom of a large tree outline displayed on a wall. Encourage each child to trace the contour of his hand on colored paper to represent a leaf. Children cut out their “leaf” and press it on the tree using adhesive putty. Add pinecones, apples, etc.

Campfire

Create a pretend campfire by setting a tub or a round red carpet in the center of your circle time area.

Rustic tablecloth

Purchase a white paper tablecloth. With your group, cut squares out of red construction paper and press them all over your tablecloth to represent a checkered pattern.

PICTURE GAME

The picture game may be used as a memory game or to spark a conversation with your group. The pictures may also be used simply to decorate the daycare or a specific thematic corner.  (Open picture game-Cabins) Print and laminate. Store the game in a “Ziploc” bag or in your thematic bin.

Memory game-Cabins

(Open picture game-Cabins) Print the illustrations twice and use them for a traditional memory game.

ACTIVITY SHEETS AND WRITING ACTIVITIES

Activity sheets are suggested for each theme. Print and follow instructions. (Open activity sheets-Cabins)

Writing activities-C like cabin

(Open writing activities-C like cabin) Print for each child or laminate for use with a dry-erase marker.

Educa-nuudles-Cabins

(Open educa-nuudles-Cabins) Print for each child. Have children color the sheet and use Magic Nuudles to give it a three-dimensional look. If you don’t have Magic Nuudles, simply ask children to fill the spaces with bingo markers or stickers.

To order Magic Nuudles:

http://www.educatout.com/catalog/category-magic-nuudles_i-78_76.php

LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES

The flashcards may be used during circle time to spark a conversation with your group or in your reading and writing area. They may also be used to identify your thematic bins. (Open word flashcards-Cabins) (Open giant word flashcards-Cabins) cabin, log cabin, sugar shack, bird house, shed, cottage, playhouse, hut, thatched cottage, shack, garden shed, gazebo

Let’s chat

Print and laminate the word flashcards. Have each child pick a flashcard and take turns presenting the item to the group. Discuss each item to see what children know about the theme.

Educa-chatterbox-Cabins

(Open educa-chatterbox-Cabins) Print and laminate the cards. To create your chatterbox, you will need an empty shoebox or a small bin that you can decorate as you see fit. Fill it with tiny objects, illustrations, pictures, and accessories related to your theme. To help you, we have created a series of cards that you may use. During circle time or, for example, when children are waiting for their lunch, have them take turns picking a card or object out of your chatterbox and naming the corresponding item.

Cabin illustrations

Collect several pictures and illustrations of cabins and use adhesive putty to stick them on walls, the floor, and various items throughout your daycare. Children will love to discover them throughout the theme.

ROUTINES AND TRANSITIONS

You will need a piece of brown fabric for each child. Set a small chair (or any other small furniture item) on either side of each child’s naptime mattress and drape a piece of brown fabric over the furniture items to represent a log cabin. Children will love falling asleep in their very own cabin.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND MOTOR SKILLS

Modeling dough activity placemats-Cabins

(Open modeling dough activity placemats-Cabins) Print and laminate. Let children pick a placemat and provide modeling dough. Encourage them to use the dough to fill or reproduce the shapes that are on their placemat.

Educ-clothespins-Cabins

(Open educ-clothespins-Cabins) Print and laminate. Children must find and identify the correct picture using a clothespin.

String activities-Cabins

(Open string activities-Cabins) Print for each child. Children trace the lines with waxed string pieces (Wikki Stix).

Variation: Trace the lines with glue and press string on the glue-covered lines.

Wikki Stix are sold on the educatall online store: https://www.educatout.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=wikki+stix&x=0&y=0.

Cardboard cabins

Provide several cardboard boxes (different sizes) and let children use them to build and represent cabins.

Cabin obstacle course

Pull your daycare curtains closed and turn off the lights. Create a special obstacle course that children must complete, collecting glowsticks (use glowstick bracelets) hung from various items along the way. At the end of the course, children can connect the bracelets to create a colorful circle of light.

Bird house game

(Open game-bird house) Print, laminate, and cut out the bird house and display it on a wall. Give each child a laminated bird. Children can take turns trying to stick their bird as close to the bird house as possible while blindfolded.

Wooden towers and patterns

Cut several logs into disks that are nearly all the same size. If you prefer, you may use store-bought wooden disk coasters. Use paint to write numbers 1 to 10 (or more depending on the number of disks you have). Invite children to stack them in numerical order. You may choose to draw symbols (hearts, stars, etc.) on the disks and use them to create patterns that children must complete.

Branch construction

Give each child a plastic bag with handles and go for a walk with your group. Be sure to visit an area where trees are present. Invite children to collect fallen branches. You could also ask children to bring branches from home. All formats will work for this activity! You should have long, short, thick, and fine branches. Set them all in a large bin and let children use them to build cabins. To do so, they can pile them one on top of the other, interweave them with wooden blocks to create three-dimensional structures, etc.

Forest scale model

Here, you will need a large piece of green cardboard (you could also use white cardboard to create a winter scene). With your group, cut many triangles out of green felt (different shades). Children can glue the triangles here and there on your cardboard to represent a forest. Under each one, have them draw a tree trunk using a brown marker. Next, they can add cabins by gluing a few wooden Popsicle sticks one on top of the other. For the roof of each cabin, they can glue small branches to form a triangle.  (Open small forest animals) Print for each child. Have them cut out the circles and glue a wooden stick behind each one. They will enjoy adding them to your forest and creating various scenarios.

Soft forest animals

Collect several stuffed animals representing animals that can be found in the forest. Use them for a guessing game. Arrange them on a table, in front of your group. Have fun describing the animals one at a time. The child who identifies the correct stuffed animal can hold it until the end of the game or keep it during naptime. If a child identifies more than one animal, he can share with a child who does not have one.

Sugar shack construction

Provide large cardboard boxes (from appliances such as a refrigerator or a washing machine), fabric, and empty paper towel rolls. Help children create and decorate cabins that look like traditional sugar shacks. Let them play in them throughout the theme.

Forest animals

Cut out the different animal tracks (Open forest animal tracks). Glue the tracks on the floor, creating paths. The goal is for children to follow a set of tracks so that, at the end of the path, they discover which animal they belong to.

THEMATIC DAY

(Open perpetual calendar-Sugar shack day) Transform your daycare and modify your daily schedule to present a special sugar shack day, all without leaving your daycare! Children will have just as much fun!

Purchase cookies shaped like maple leaves and serve them as a morning snack. Enjoy outdoor activities all day long. Set a checkered tablecloth on a table for lunch time and serve traditional sugar shack foods. Show children the steps involved in maple syrup production and taste test a wide range of maple products (maple water, syrup, maple butter, maple taffy, maple sugar).

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Digging my cabin

Invite children to dig in the snow or sand to represent a cabin.

Cabins in the woods

Children love playing in cabins. Drape old bedsheets over outdoor play structures and furniture to represent cabins. Add items that are frequently found in the woods. Let children spend time in the cabins throughout the theme.

COGNITIVE ACTIVITIES

Educa-dots-Cabins

(Open educa-dots-Cabins) Print for each child. Give each child a tiny bowl filled with poster paint and a cotton swab. They must dip their cotton swab in the paint and then on each dot to color the letters or items. Let dry and display. Use their work to name the letters or items with your group.

Counting cards-Cabins

(Open counting cards-Cabins) Print and laminate. Prepare a series of wooden clothespins on which you have written or painted numbers 1-9. Children must count the items on each card and place the corresponding clothespin on the correct number.

Color by number-Cabins

(Open color by number-Cabins) Print for each child. Have children color the picture per the color code.

Snakes & ladders-Cabins

(Open snakes & ladders-Cabins) Print and laminate. Children use a die and small figurines to represent playing pieces.

Homemade wooden puzzles

Print several pictures representing cabins. Color them if necessary. Arrange several Popsicle sticks in a row on a table and glue a picture on top of them. Cut along each stick. Repeat these steps for each picture. Hand children a set of Popsicle sticks and invite them to place them in the correct order to complete the picture.

Game-Four cabins

(Open game-Four cabins) Print, glue the cards on opaque cardboard and cut them out. Arrange all the cards upside down on the floor or table (so that you cannot see the illustrations). Children take turns rolling a die. Every time a child rolls a “1”, he can turn a card. If he does not already have this cabin in front of him, he keeps it and places it on the table for everyone to see. The first child who has collected all four cabins wins.

Hunt and seek coloring-Cabins

(Open hunt and seek coloring) Print and laminate. Children must find and color the items one by one.

Pyramid-Cabins

(Open pyramid-Cabins) Print and use the stickers to create pyramid games by sticking them on plastic drinking glasses. Arrange them on a table, building a pyramid. Children attempt to make all the glasses fall by tossing a frisbee towards the pyramid. Grant each child three tries.

Map

(Open map to the cabin) Print the blank map for each child. Invite children to color the elements on the second page and cut them out. Next, they must listen to your instructions and glue each item in the correct place on the map, per the order in which you name them.

MORAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Mandalas-Cabins

(Open mandalas-Cabins) Print for each child. Have children color the mandalas to provide them with a calm moment during the day.

Cabins in the woods

Children love playing in cabins. Drape old bedsheets over outdoor play structures and furniture to represent cabins. Add items that are frequently found in the woods. Let children spend time in the cabins throughout the theme.

Fishermen costumes

Often, people who stay in log cabins enjoy fishing. Try to find brown or green vests along with fishing hats that children can wear. Set rubber boots in your role play area. Children will have fun dressing up as fishermen. Set a blue shower curtain on the floor to represent a lake and draw a rowboat outline on it. Children can sit in the rowboat. Of course, you should also have a few fishing rods (old broomsticks with a rope attached to one end). You can add Fun Foam fish to your lake too.

Forest animal headbands

(Open forest animal heads) You will need several store-bought plastic headbands. These can easily be found at your local dollar store. Print the animal heads on heavy paper. Encourage children to color them and cut them out. Help them glue each head on a headband. Invite them to pick a headband and pretend they are the corresponding animal.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Our improvised log cabin

In your yard, transform a playhouse to make it look like a log cabin. Use wide adhesive tape to hang checkered fabric in the windows to represent curtains. Pile logs in front of the playhouse to change its appearance. Arrange rocks in a circle to represent an outdoor fire pit, add branches and tiny logs to your pit along with orange garbage bags cut into strips and inserted among the logs to represent flames. Add decorative lanterns (dollar store) containing battery-operated candles. Set fake fur fabric on the ground.

Row to the cabin

In one corner of your yard, set a blue shower curtain or tarp on the ground to represent a river. Inflate a small rowboat and set oars inside. Invite children to pretend they are rowing down the river to their cabin.

Forest animal figurines

In one corner of your yard, set a bin filled with forest animal figurines, wooden blocks, pieces of fabric, Popsicle sticks, etc. Children will love using the materials to build cabins for the forest animals. Let them play freely.

We’re off to the cabin

Build an obstacle course that children must complete to reach your cabin (decorated playhouse, see activity above). Among other things, you could use a blue shower curtain or tarp to represent a river that children must jump over. You could also set a few logs on the ground and have children move around them (slalom). They  could also jump over them. What’s more, you could ask each child to carry a log to the end of the course, stating that you need firewood. Children could collect fruit along the course (Fun foam or plastic food items). Invite them to help you build your obstacle course.

CULINARY ACTIVITIES

Rice Krispie cabins

Prepare traditional Rice Krispie squares. Cut them using square and triangular cookie cutters. Show children how they can use the shapes to represent cabins. Provide chocolate syrup (or strawberry coulis) in squeezable bottles. Children can use them to draw doors, windows, a chimney, etc.

Oven-baked smores

A trip to a cabin in the woods almost always involves a campfire. Since smores are a popular campfire treat, why not prepare smores indoors with your group? Have children arrange Graham crackers on a baking sheet, creating 2 or 3 rows. Next, have them set a piece of chocolate on each cracker. A marshmallow will need to be added over each piece of chocolate. Finally, a second Graham cracker shall be set on top of each marshmallow. Put the baking sheet in the oven for a few minutes. Turn the oven light on and watch your smores. The chocolate will quickly melt before your eyes. Enjoy!

Edible fishing rods

You will need long stick-shaped crackers or pretzel sticks, licorice (rope), and small fish-shaped crackers or jellybeans. Wrap one end of each piece of licorice around a stick-shaped or pretzel stick. Knot the opposite end around a fish. Serve these fishing rods at snack time.

Sugar shack lunch

Pretend you are going on a trip to a sugar shack. Invite children to join you on an imaginary bus ride to the sugar shack. Go for a walk in the forest. Enjoy a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, pretend to eat a wide range of maple treats, etc.

ARTS & CRAFTS

My cabin hat

(Open educa-decorate-Cabins) Print and cut out. Glue the shapes on a construction paper headband or hat.

Models-Cabins

(Open models-Cabins) Print the models and use them for various activities and projects throughout the theme.

Crafts-Cabins

(Open models-Cabins) Print and let children decorate the cabins. Cut them out and hang them within your daycare or near your daycare entrance.

My pine tree

Give each child a metal can and have them fill it with soil. Next, have them plant a pine tree branch in their can. Have them wrap a piece of checkered fabric around their metal can and tie a pretty bow.

My rustic pencil jar

Give each child a jar. Set several small branches on the table. Let children cut them so they are somewhat taller than their jar and glue them around the outside of their container, vertically. Children wrap a piece of burlap or a piece of checkered ribbon around the branches to complete their pencil jar.

Bird house

For each child, purchase a wooden bird house at your local dollar store. Let them paint and decorate their bird house as they wish.

Our wooden mural

For this project, you will need a wooden pallet. With your group, decorate it to represent a cabin. You could, for example, set it against a wall horizontally and draw a door and windows. Add curtains cut out of checkered fabric. Use branches to represent a roof.

Modeling dough cabins

Prepare brown homemade modeling dough. Children can use it to represent cabins. If you wish, you could incorporate rice to offer a new texture that children will love to explore.

My cabin book

Cut several pictures of different types of cabins out of magazines, old books, etc. Glue each picture on a piece of paper measuring 10 cm x 13 cm. Arrange the pictures in Ziploc bags, sliding two pictures back to back in each bag. Staple the bags together at the closed end to create a book. Use colorful adhesive tape to cover the staples.

My sugar shack

You will need glue, coffee sticks, and paint. Ask children to build a sugar shack using these materials.

COLORING PAGES THEME

(Open coloring pages theme-Cabins) Print for each child.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO USE THE COLORING PAGES

Identical coloring pages-Cabins

Print the same coloring page for each child and an additional copy for your model. Color only certain parts of your picture. Present the model to your group and ask them to color their picture to make it look exactly like yours.

Coloring binder-Cabins

Print and laminate several coloring pages and arrange them in a binder with a few dry-erase markers. Leave everything on a table for children to explore.

Musical drawing-Cabins

Play musical drawing with your group. Give each child a coloring page. Have children sit around a table. When the music starts, they must pass the coloring pages around the table. Every time the music stops, they must color the picture in front of them until the music starts again.

Homemade puzzles-Cabins

Give each child a picture to color. When they are done, cut each picture into pieces to create unique puzzles.

Have fun!

The educatall team