Fun Ideas for using old sheets with preschoolers

From Bright Kids Newsletter
PRESCHOOL CORNER --- Old Sheet, New Idea!
Copyright Evelyn Saunders
Used with permission. All rights reserved.

For your bouncy active preschooler, here are a few active learning activities. All you need is an old bedsheet or two and a permanent marker. On one sheet write the numbers 1 - 10 (or higher if needed) in large print, randomly all over the sheet. Use the sheet in one of several ways:

MUSICAL NUMBERS
Played like musical chairs, play music and when you stop the tune the child(ren) must jump onto a number. Then draw a number out of a hat. Show the number ... the child standing on that number is "out." This is good for working on number recognition.

MYSTERY NUMBER
Give the child a clue like "I am thinking of a number between 5 and 10" and have them stand on the answer. Continue to give them clues ... "No, larger ... now smaller."

MATH QUIZ
Ask any number of math questions and have the child hop and jump to the answer. They also like to answer a question with each foot and hand. Here are a few sample questions:

--How old are you?
--How old will you be on your next birthday?
--How many pet's do you have?
--How many day's until Sunday?
--What is 5 + 5?

Now make another sheet with the lower case alphabet randomly written in bold marker. Maybe do the vowels in another color for a lesson on vowels. Have your child(ren) hop and jump onto some letter sounds as they answer questions:

--Can you stand on the letter that makes the sssss sound as in snake?
--Can you put one foot on a vowel and one foot on a consonant?
--Can you hop onto "ffffffff" for fox? (Note: Always say the letter's sound, not the name of the letter.)

Have fun!