FOREST-A TRANSFERER

INTERACTIVE PLANNING-THE FOREST

NEW! (Open interactive planning-Forest) Enter your own programming, save the document, and then print it out to use for your educational activities on the theme of the forest.

CIRCLE TIME

NEW! Thematic letter-The forest

We suggest a little imaginary game to play with the children. (Open thematic letter-Forest) Print out the letter. Prepare a colorful envelope. Place it in a prominent place in the room so that the children can find it, read them the story, and follow the instructions throughout the week.

NEW! Forest puppets

(Open puppets-Forest) Use the puppets for their “creative” aspect. Have them talk and interact with each other. Give the children a chance to participate by letting them talk to their own puppets. You will find several puppet models in the Educatout Club.

Let's explore the forest

Gather the children around you. Take a telescope and pretend to look into the distance. Describe different forest animals one by one and invite the children to identify them. Once you have described a squirrel, a deer, a hare, a raccoon, a bear, and a fox, ask the children what kind of environment these animals live in. They may tell you that they live in the zoo. If so, tell them that it is actually an environment where they live in freedom, namely the forest. Together, identify different characteristics of a forest: dense vegetation, different types of trees, varied wildlife, etc.

NEW! Talk, talk, chat, chat

(Open word flashcards-Forest) Print and laminate the word labels. Each child picks a word label. Taking turns, they must present the image they have picked (e.g., a bear). Discuss with the children what they know about the image they have picked. Ask them questions.

Ask each child to bring a book, stuffed animal, movie, figurine, or other toy from home that represents something from the forest. Gather all the objects in the center of the circle, pick one at random, and have the children share everything they know about that animal or object. Read the children a story about the forest.

AREA SETUP

NEW! Thematic poster-The Forest

(Open thematic poster-Forest) Print and display in your space. To decorate your space according to the theme, we suggest hanging fabric leaves, stuffed animals, and pictures here and there.

NEW! Educa-decorate-The Forest

(Open educa-decorate-Forest) Print, cut out, and laminate. Decorate your walls to set the mood for the theme in your classroom.

NEW! Educa-theme-The forest

(Open educa-theme-Forest) Print and laminate the various elements representing the theme. These images will enable you to introduce the theme to the children while decorating a corner of your classroom.

Our personalized forest

Unroll Kraft paper on the floor and cut out large sheets, long enough to attach to the wall vertically, from the ceiling to the floor. Glue several sheets next to each other, spacing them slightly to represent tree trunks. Then cut out huge leaf shapes from different types of trees that you can stick here and there on either side of the trunks. (Open bear head) Print out a bear head for each child. Using stickers or double-sided tape, the children attach their bears to the forest to create a three-dimensional mural.

Warm room

As an introduction to your theme, set the thermostat in your room to a much higher temperature than usual before the children arrive. When the children tell you that it is warm, take the opportunity to tell them that it is because you are going to explore a very, very warm environment... Let them guess, and when they realize that you are talking about tropical forests, give them a bottle of water.

Bear door

Wrap the door of your room in brown paper. Draw a bear's face in the center of your door. Cut out several pieces of brown crepe paper. Stick them all around your door.

Forest wall

Hang a transparent shower curtain in one corner of your room. Each morning when the children arrive, invite them to draw a forest animal using washable felt-tip pens. Hang leaf shapes that you have cut out of cardboard from the ceiling.

Transform your daycare to look like a forest. Trace trees on a roll of white paper or on brown paper bags which you have cut. To decorate the trees, make a hole in the center of dead leaves and thread them on string or ribbon. Glue the leaves to the bottom of the tree or trace each child’s hand onto colored construction paper to make leaves. Have each child cut out their hand and glue it to the giant tree trunk. Display on the wall. Add pinecones, different colors of apples, etc. (Open word flashcards-Forest) Print and display throughout the daycare. The next time you take a walk in the forest; children will be able to recognize certain animals.

PICTURE GAME

NEW! The pictures may be used as a memory game or to spark a conversation with the group. Use them to decorate your daycare or a specific thematic corner. (Open picture game-Forest) Print, laminate, and store in a “Ziploc” bag or in your thematic bins.

NEW! Writing activity-The forest

Every week, we suggest writing worksheets. (Open writing activities-F for forest) Print one for each child or laminate and use with an erasable pen.

VARIOUS WORKSHOPS

Construction and building blocks:

• Natural or colored wood blocks
• A few branches and pinecones
• Add a few logs
• Have children build a tree house (take pictures!)
• Add wooden sticks of all kinds which children can use for various constructions
• Forest animals!  You can find some at the dollar store or in toy stores

Arts & crafts:

• Cardboard, tissue paper, empty egg cartons, recycled material, etc. to create a cabin in the forest
• Hang a large sheet of paper on the wall for children to make a collective mural.  Initiate the project by adding a few trees and asking children to add leaves, animals, etc.
• Print a tree on a large sheet of paper and have children glue leaves and cover the trunk with green and brown construction paper. It is preferable that you use glue sticks because liquid glue goes right through the paper
• An easel (or paper on the wall), a large paper, and paint.  Children can paint their own forest
• Popsicle sticks and white glue.  Children can build a small cabin
• What kind of tracks do animals make?  You can make tracks of your own with paint.  Help children see that everyone’s footprints are different
• A piece of waxed paper and white glue.  Children can trace a spider web on the paper using glue.  Once dry, it can be removed from the paper and hung
• Discuss forest fires…using orange and yellow paint

Drawing:

• Coloring pages with forest animals, nature, birds…
• Musical drawing: draw a forest while playing sounds of nature
• Drawing on recycled paper to explain the importance of preserving trees

Role play:

• Little Red Riding Hood: find a little red riding hood costume, a picnic basket, a wolf (stuffed animal)
• The Three Little Pigs: Three chairs of different sizes, three bowls of different sizes, etc., stuffed animals which represent pigs (if possible), a wolf…
• Snow white: a beautiful dress, a bed for sleeping, an apple, a mirror…
• Picnic: a picnic basket filled with dishes, a blanket, a radio and a CD with birds singing!  This activity may also be done for lunch time.  Simply set your blanket on the floor in the middle of the room.
• Camping in the forest: a tent, two sleeping bags, utensils, dishes, food, pyjamas

Regardless of the activity you choose for the role play area, decorate the area with giant paper trees, illustrations from calendars representing the different seasons in the forest, fabric leaves on the walls, etc. The goal is to literally “transform” your role play area to look like a forest.

Manipulation:

• Memory game with forest and animal illustrations (educatall picture game or a store-bought version)
• Puzzles related to the theme
• Brown or green modeling dough to create a forest. You may use homemade modeling dough and let it dry to make a model.  Why not add yellow, red, and orange modeling dough to make a fall forest?
• Fabric autumn leaves which can be sorted by size, color, etc.
• A felt board with figurines from the forest, trees, etc.
• Pre-cut mushroom shapes which can be used to make a memory game
• Memory game which associates animals to their habitat
• Memory game in which you hide objects from nature and remove one, children guess which one is missing
• A few pieces of rope to learn how to tie and untie knots
• Association game with animals which have fur, feathers, and illustrations of different animals

Pre-reading:

• Books about forest animals
• Fairy tales which occur in forests (The three little pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Hansel and Gretel, etc.
• Headphones and CDs with sounds from the forest, birds singing, animal cries, etc.
• Bird and forest puppets

Pre-writing:

• Dot to dot or connect the dot trees with numbers 0 to 10
• Games with educatall word flashcards
• Animal names children can trace.  Add an illustration to make identifying the word easier
• Activity sheets related to the theme

Motor skills:

• An obstacle course: move like forest animals
• A treasure hunt: children search for pictures of forest animals
• Try whistling like a bird
• Move about the daycare like animals or insects
• Pretend you are firefighters extinguishing forest fires: children stand in line with a pail full of water.  Have them pass the pail down the line to get to the fire with as much water as possible still in the pail!
• Sing songs while sitting around a pretend campfire.  Explain the importance of properly extinguishing a fire to avoid forest fires

Sensory bins:

• Sandbox
• Container filled with soil
• Container filled with pine needles
• Container filled with pinecones
• Container filled with leaves (real or fabric)
• Container filled with sunflower seeds

Kitchen:

• Prepare a fruit salad with fruit which grow in trees: apples, pears, plums, even pineapples! 
• Have children cut white and brown mushrooms in little pieces and combine with sour cream and plain yogurt to make a veggie dip…children may take a liking to mushrooms 
• Prepare a recipe using small fruit, like the ones found in the forest
• Bird nest salad: 1 grated carrot, ½ cup of Chinese noodles, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, a few raisins.  Combine all the ingredients.  Shape to look like a nest and add raisins to represent eggs

Science:

• Place leaves, pieces of bark, coniferous branches and pinecones in a container.  Let children manipulate and observe the contents of the bin with magnifying glasses
• Deposit different types of mushrooms in transparent containers and invite children to observe them
• With raffia, straw, bits of yarn, etc., you can encourage children to build bird nests
• Create a vivarium and add a few insects.  Obviously, you must cover well to avoid surprises!
• Show children a compass, a map, etc.
• Plant various types of plants, flowers, etc.
• Build a birdhouse.  There are endless possibilities!

WORD FLASHCARDS

NEW! Use flashcards to spark a conversation with the group or in your reading and writing area.  They may also be used to identify your thematic bins. (Open word flashcards-Forest) (Open giant word flashcards-Forest) beaver, deer, squirrel, owl, skunk, moose, bear, bird, raccoon, fox, hare, forest

NEW! Which forest animal do you like best?

(Open forest animals) Print one copy of the document for each child and an additional copy to label the columns of your chart. At the top of a large piece of cardboard, write Which Forest animal is the most popular? Then draw four columns and glue an animal at the bottom of each one. Invite the children to color and cut out their favorite forest animal. Then, each child explains their choice before placing their animal in the appropriate column. Count how many children chose each animal as a group. Discuss the results with the children. Which animal is the most popular? Which animal is the least popular? If you wish, you could print out additional animals and invite parents to add their preferences to your chart to encourage further discussion with them. The next day, you can review your chart again with your group. Have the results changed?

NEW! Educa-chat box-The forest

(Open educa-chatterbox-Forest) Print and laminate the various images. To make your chat box, you will need a shoe box or a small container that you can decorate as you wish. Place small objects, images, photos, or various accessories related to your theme inside the box or container. To help you, we provide images of different objects that you can use. During a conversation or while waiting for dinner, for example, ask the children to pick an object or card from the box and name what they see.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND MOTOR SKILLS

NEW! Modeling dough activity placemats-The Forest

(Open modeling dough activity placemats-Forest) Print and laminate. Let the children choose the play mat they like best. Provide them with modeling clay and let them play with it so they can fill in or reproduce the different shapes on their play mat.

NEW! Where are the miniature forest pictures hidden?

(Open miniature forest) Print and laminate. Place small cardboard pictures around your room. When you give the signal, the children must search for the pictures. There are no winners here; the important thing is to have fun! At the end, you can give each child a picture.

NEW! Let's manipulate the letter F for forest

(Open Let’s manipulate the letter F like forest) Print for each child. Children must trace, stamp, punch, and reproduce the letter on their worksheet. 

NEW! Let's explore the forest with tweezers

(Open giant forest scene) Print out the different pages and glue them all to the bottom of a large plastic bin. Cut out different sized leaf shapes from crepe paper, construction paper, and foam sheets in different shades of green. Place the leaves over the illustrations so that they are hidden. Take turns removing a leaf from the bin using large kitchen tongs or small eyelash tweezers. When they manage to see an animal or an element of the forest, they name it.

In the forest, there are...

Have the children stand in a circle and give each of them an animal name (moose, deer, hare, etc.). Stand in the center of the circle and throw a scarf into the air, saying, “In the forest, there are...” (name an animal). The child whose name is called must pick up the scarf and throw it into the air, naming another animal.

Puzzles-The Forest

Take pictures of forest animals (e.g., greeting cards, calendar pictures, etc.) and cut them into two or three pieces with pinking shears. Give each child one piece of the puzzle and hide the other pieces. Each child must find their missing pieces to complete their puzzle.

NEW! Forest animals to sort and counting

(Open forest animals to sort and counting) Print, laminate, and cut out the animals. Glue each animal onto a popsicle stick. Use modeling clay to make a forest for each child. Assign a color to each one. They find all the animals with that color number and then stick them in their forest in numerical order. You can hide the animals and challenge the children to find them and then place them in order in their modeling clay forest.

NEW! Sorting activity-Trees

(Open sorting activity-Trees) Print and laminate the color pages. Give each child a sheet and place the small images in the center of the table. The children must use their thumb and index finger to match them to the circle of the correct color.  

Fresh grass container

Bring a very large, shallow container outside and invite the children to help you fill it with fresh grass clippings. Their little hands will work hard to pull up the grass. Once your container is full enough, let the children play with forest animals in it.

Leaf jumping

(Open models-Leaves) Print. Laminate and attach the images to the floor. Play music. When the music stops, the children must sit on a leaf (a variation of musical chairs).

The riddle basket

Place a series of objects related to the theme (small mittens, a plastic apple, a fabric autumn leaf, etc.) in a large basket. One by one, the children must feel the bag without looking and try to identify an object. They are each allowed to ask two questions. If they can't find it, they skip their turn. The child who successfully identifies an object can become the game leader, i.e., the one who answers the questions of the child who puts their hand in the basket.

Wolf, where are you?

Children walk about the daycare singing with the exception of one child who was designated to be the wolf:

“Let’s walk in the woods, while the wolf isn’t here.  If the wolf was here, he would eat us up…Wolf, where are you?  Wolf, what are you doing?”  While the wolf is getting dressed, he answers, “I am putting my socks on”.  The game continues with, “I am putting my pants on, I am putting my shoes on, I am putting my shirt on, etc.”  The group repeats the song after each one of the wolf’s responses.  When the wolf is ready he calls out, “I am going to eat you up!”  He then chases after the children.  The first child to be captured becomes the wolf.

Hideout

Provide children with several different sizes of boxes and let them play a game of hide and seek in their hideouts, just like squirrels.

Squirrel hide and seek

Fill a small swimming pool or bin with leaves (dried up leaves from trees or fabric leaves).  Hide objects among the leaves.  When you give the signal, children search for the objects.  When they find one, they must deposit it in a hideout, just like squirrels do.  They can then continue to hunt for other objects.  Once all the objects have been found, start over.

Leaves in water

Fill a storage bin with water and add leaves. Children blow on the leaves using a drinking straw to make them move.

Path in the forest

Use adhesive tape to mark off a start line and a finish line. Place leaves approximately 10 cm apart. Provide children with drinking straws or empty toilet paper rolls they can blow in to make their leaf move towards the finish line. The first child to successfully cross his leaf over the finish line wins. The winner can race with another child.

Variation: Deposit various obstacles on the floor (chairs, tables, bowling pins, mattresses, etc.)

Musical animal

Play music. When you stop the music, show children an animal illustration. Have them imitate the animal, the sound it makes and the way it moves about. When the music starts up again, children resume dancing.  When you stop the music, display a different animal. You may use the word flashcards for this activity.

Watch out for the bear

Select a child to be the bear.  The bear chases the other children until he touches one. The child who is touched becomes the bear. Variation: The child who is touched must stop moving and hold his arms out. The other children can free him by passing under his arms.  Several children can have their arms extended at the same time.  Change bears frequently.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Illustrated walk

While taking a walk in the forest with your group, invite children to collect objects from nature. When you return to the daycare, hang a large sheet of paper on the wall. As a group, make a collective mural with the objects you collected.

Squirrel hideout

A few facts about squirrels. Red squirrels build their nests in branches or cavities in trees. In winter, they live off the food their carefully collected during summer and autumn. A single hideout can contain several hundred pinecones. Take a walk with your group in the forest. Give each child an empty tissue box. They can use their box as a hideout, just like squirrels. Collect as many tiny twigs, leaves, pinecones, and acorns as you can. These items may be used for crafts throughout the theme.

Relaxation in the forest

Have children make their own beds of leaves. They will love relaxing on their beds. Ask them to observe the clouds. They will identify shapes which they can later draw on paper. Also invite them to listen to the sound of the wind and the birds.

ACTIVITY INVOLVING PARENTS

Invite parents to attend a small show during a special Little Red Riding Hood day. Children will be very proud to serve their parents biscuits they made themselves. See the suggestion of the week at the end of the theme.

COGNITIVE ACTIVITIES

NEW! Coloring hunt and seek-The forest

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

NEW! I'm learning to count-Forest leaves

(Open I'm learning to count-With forest leaves) Print and laminate the document. Cut out the leaves. Children have fun matching the correct number of leaves to each number.

NEW! Forest Trees to Reproduce

(Open forest trees to reproduce) Print, laminate, and cut out the cards. For each child, twist the bottom two-thirds of four brown pipe cleaners together to represent a tree trunk. Position the top third of the pipe cleaners to represent tree branches. The children securely attach the bottom of their tree trunk to a green paper plate with tape. Place a large bowl filled with green, yellow, orange, and red buttons with holes large enough to slide onto the pipe cleaners in the center of the table. Each child sets up their tree in front of them and picks a card. They look at the illustrated leaves, take a button matching the color of each leaf, and slide them onto the branches of their tree to reproduce the tree printed on their card. Check that their work is correct. Then they remove the “leaves,” pick a new card, and start again.

NEW! Educa-duo-The Forest

(Open educa-duo-Forest) Print and laminate for durable and eco-friendly use. Children must connect the different elements that form a pair using a dry erase marker.

NEW! Educ-math-The Forest

(Open educ-math-Forest) Print and laminate for durable and eco-friendly use. Children must count the images in the different rectangles and circle the corresponding number.

NEW! Association puzzles number-The forest

(Open association puzzles-numbers-Forest) Print, laminate, and cut each puzzle in half. Children have fun matching the correct number of items to each number. Place the pictures face down on the table. Invite a child to put two pieces of the puzzle together.

NEW! Word game-The forest

(Open word game-Forest) Print, laminate, and cut out lots of different letters. Give each child a small shovel. You will also need several word labels. Use stickers to attach a word to each child's shovel. Ask the children to find and collect the letters that make up their word. Then they can put them in the right order. When they have done so, they show you the word and you read it together.

NEW! Series-The Forest

(Open series-Forest) Print one sheet for each child. Print, laminate, and cut out the cards. You will need round stickers or bingo markers (primary colors). Draw a card. The children must press the circles to reproduce the series.

NEW! Paint by Numbers-The Forest

(Open color by number-Forest) Print one for each child. The children must add color according to the color code.

NEW! Educ-Shadows-The Forest

(Open educ-shadows-Forest) Print and laminate for durable and eco-friendly use. Children must find the shadow corresponding to each image in the left column and connect them with a dry erase marker.

NEW! Educ-same and different-The forest

(Open educ-same and different-Forest) Print and laminate for long-lasting and eco-friendly use. Children must circle the image that is different from the others on each line.

Tree full of leaves

(Open game-Tree full of leaves) Print and laminate the game. Using Velcro, children associate the pictograms to the correct tree.

Beaver game

(Open game-Beaver) Print, laminate, and cut out the pieces. Glue the beaver to the wall. Give each child one laminated beaver tail. Children take turns trying to place the beaver tail as close to the beaver as possible while blindfolded.

Which animal is it?

Children choose an animal (use the word flashcards or figurines). They must hide their animal in their hands. The object of the game is to describe their animal or imitate it so the other children can guess which animal each child picked. 

Your turn to guess

Stand at one end of the daycare, facing the wall, your back to the group. Ask children to stand with their back to the wall, at the other end of the daycare.  Show them a picture of an animal but make sure you don’t see it.  Have them move towards you making the sound which corresponds to the animal you showed them.  You must guess which animal was illustrated before they reach you.

Hunt and seek

(Open hunt and seek-Forest) Print and laminate. Children pick cards and search for the object in the picture.

Forest animals lacing

(Open lacing-Forest animals) Print, trace onto cardboard and cut out. Use a hole-punch to make holes all the way around the contour of the animals. Children will enjoy threading a shoelace through the holes.

Where are the mice?

(Open-mice) Print and laminate. Deposit small cardboard mice throughout the daycare, placing them so that only the tails are visible.  When you give the signal, children must find the mice. There is no winner for this game. The only goal is for children to have fun. At the end, you may give each child a mouse to take home. Variation: You can color the mice using different colors and ask children to find only a specific color.

What does this animal eat?

(Open association game-Forest animals) Print and laminate the two series of forest animals. Give children the cards. The object of the game is to associate the missing animal parts.

Raccoon

Add a few camping necessities to a cooler: flashlight, fishing pole, bag of marshmallows, etc. Take the items out one at a time and have children name them. Explain to your group how we sometimes have unwanted visitors when we go camping in the forest.  Remove an item from the cooler and have children guess which item is missing.

Forest animals

Cut out the animal tracks. (Open animal tracks) Glue them to the floor so they form a path.  When children follow identical tracks, they will discover which animal the tracks belong to.  Glue the corresponding animal at the end of each path.  Paths can lead to the bathroom, to the sink, etc.

Leaf box

Use three empty storage bins.  Glue a different color leaf onto each bin (example: green, red, and brown).  Deposit a large bag of leaves beside the bins.  Children sort the leaves by color.

I am going in the forest, I am bringing…

Have children sit in a circle, begin the game by saying, “I am going in the forest, I am bringing…” (for example: a flashlight).  The child sitting next to the first child must repeat, “I am going in the forest, I am bringing a flashlight and…”  Each child must repeat the items chosen by the previous children and add one of his own. 

MORAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

The collective forest

Draw and cut out images and shapes related to the forest and stick them on the wall. Provide the children with materials to decorate their forest. All the children work together to create an original mural.

NEW! Photo booth-The forest

(Open photo booth-Forest) Print out the different accessory templates provided, cut them out, and attach them to straws. You can also buy hats, fun hair clips, scarves, glasses, etc. from a department store to complete your photo booth set. Set up a corner of your room with a large cardboard box, a curtain, or a fun backdrop and take pictures of the children. All they have to do is choose their favorite accessories and have fun! Why not get the parents involved in the photo booth? Take pictures of everyone as a family or individually. The photos will make great souvenirs. Print several copies and cover the wall of the locker room or hallway with them.

Relaxation in the forest

Ask the children to make themselves a bed of leaves on which they can relax. Then ask them to observe the clouds. They will see shapes that they can draw later. They can also take the time to listen to the wind and the birds.

Cabin in the woods

Children will love playing in their own cabins. Drape old sheets over furniture, tables, and chairs to make tents or cabins.  Add objects which can be found in the forest. Let children play and eat their snack in them.

CULINARY ACTIVITIES

Porcupine

Cut a potato in two. Place the cut side in a plate. Encourage children to insert toothpicks into the round part of the potato.

ARTS & CRAFTS

NEW! Forest puppets

(Open puppets-Forest) Print the different puppet templates on cardboard. Ask the children to cut them out and decorate them with different craft materials. Attach the images to wooden sticks (Popsicle style) to make puppets.

NEW! My hat-The forest

(Open hat-Forest) Print and cut out. Ask the children to glue green glitter all around a hat and add forest elements.

Giant tree

Hang a large white paper banner on a wall. Draw a tree trunk and ask the children to stick real autumn leaves (found during a walk) on it to make an almost real tree.

My leaf hand

Trace each child's hand on colored cardboard to represent the leaves of the tree. Then ask the children to cut out their hands and stick them onto a giant tree trunk stuck to the wall.

Leaf characters

Ask the children to choose a beautiful autumn leaf. Stick on some googly eyes, a pompom for the nose, and a small twig for the mouth.

My scrapbook

(Open scrapbook-Walk in the forest) Print for each child. Take a walk in the forest and invite children to collect twigs and leaves they can glue on their scrapbook page. You may also add a photograph. Add the page to each child’s scrapbook (Open scrapbook).

Forest animals

(Open craft-Forest animals) Print for each child. Have children color the pieces. Glue them onto an empty toilet paper roll.

Magic stones

Search for large stones in the forest. Let children paint them.

Branches

Collect branches with your group. Children can decorate them with paint and sparkles. You may also use the branches as paintbrushes.  Dip the branches in several colors of paint.

Animal tracks

Gather all the animal figurines you can find. Make tracks in salt dough and let dry. Ask children to associate the animals to the tracks. This activity can be adapted. The tracks can be done in paint, on a sheet of paper, or in a sandbox.

Paint prints

Collect elements of nature you can dip in autumn-colored paint.  Make prints on paper.

My crumpled tree

(Open craft-tree) Print for each child. Encourage children to fill the tree trunk with crumpled pieces of brown tissue paper. Next, crumple several tiny pieces of red, yellow, orange, and green tissue paper and glue them around the tree trunk.

Log cabin

Have children build their own miniature log cabin using empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls. If you prefer, you may use a cardboard milk carton. Paint it and glue coffee sticks to it.

COLORING PAGES

NEW! (Open coloring pages theme-Forest) Print for each child

Creative coloring

(Open creative coloring-Forest) Print for each child. Have children complete the drawing with what they see in the trees, in the forest.

SONGS & RHYMES

Pop goes the squirrel 

by: Patricia Morrison - sung to: Pop goes the weasel

All around the great big forest

The fox chased the squirrel

The fox thought ‘twas all in fun

Pop! Goes the squirrel

Right into his secret hideout

Where he stores his pinecones

That’s where his winter food is

Pop! Goes the squirrel

SUGGESTION OF THE WEEK

Special Day-Little Red Riding Hood

(Open perpetual calendar-Little Red Riding Hood)

ARRIVAL: Greet children wearing a red cape.  Place a red and white checkered tablecloth on the floor and sit on it for circle time.  Take an imaginary walk in the forest (pretend to look at the trees and insects, jump over a tree root…) on your way to the tablecloth.

CIRCLE TIME

Snack: fruit

Lunch: picnic

Afternoon snack: biscuits

Here is a biscuit recipe:

½ cup of margarine

2 cups of brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of raisins

2 cups of flour

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of soda

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

½ teaspoon of salt

¼ cup of margarine

¾ cup of boiling water

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Preparation: Combine the margarine and the brown sugar. Add the two eggs. Prepare the dry ingredients. Melt the margarine, add boiling water, and then the dry ingredients. Add the vanilla at the end. Deposit approximately 1 teaspoon of the biscuit preparation on a cookie sheet at a time. Bake in a 325⁰F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

SPECIAL ACTIVITY

Prepare the biscuits with your group and serve them as a snack with parents.

Prepare a small show (Open characters-Little Red Riding Hood). Let children decorate their puppets. Prepare a small story with the characters from the story. Present the puppet show to parents or for another group of children. You can make a small puppet theater or simply paint an old sheet.  Hang it to look like a large curtain.  Organize your daycare to make it look like a theater. Adjust the lighting with red light bulbs. Use your imagination, but especially children’s imaginations!