Sewing with yarn: Use a hole punch to punch holes around the edges of paper plates. Give each child a plastic needle with a piece of yarn threaded through it. (Plastic needles are available at craft stores.) Show the children how to use their needles and yarn to "sew" around their plates. Yarn Bubbles: Blow up a small balloon for each child. Mix equal parts of liquid starch and glue together in Styrofoam food trays. Cut different colors of yarn into long pieces. Let the children dip the yarn pieces into the starch and glue mixture and wrap them around their balloons. Hang the balloons to dry. When the yarn has completely dried, pop the balloons and carefully remove them. Dyeing Yarn: Put different colors of food coloring into clear plastic cups and add small amounts of water. Give teh children 6-inch pieces of thick white yarn. Ask the children to guess what will happen when they put their yarn into the food coloring. Then have them dip their yarn pieces into the different colors of "dye." Allow the yarn pieces to dry on sheets of newspaper, then let the children sort them by color. Yarn Day: Have the children bring things from home that have been made from yarn. Let each child talk about his or her item. Ask the children to describe the different colors, textures and uses of the articles they have brought. Yarn Circle Fun: Give each child a 4-foot piece of yarn. Show the children how to form large circles on the floor with their pieces of yarn. Then ask the children to follow directions such as these: "Place your right foot inside your circle.Place your left elbow inside your circle; Jump into your circle; Walk around your circle." Color Bracelets: Use small pieces of green, yellow, red and blue yarn to make bracelets. Place the yarn bracelets in a bucket. Let each child take a colored bracelet out of the bucket, name the color and slip it over his or her wrist. Then have the children sit in a circle. Ask them to listen carefully as you sing the song below and to raise their hands when they hear the color names of the bracelets they are wearing. Sung to:"If You're Happy and You Know It" If you're wearing green today, Raise your hand. If you're wearing yellow today, Raise your hand. If you're wearing red today. Then raise your hand - hurray! If you're wearing blue today, Raise your hand. Repeat, each time changing the order of the color names. Yarn Shapes: Use glue and pieces of yarn to create a different shape on each of five index cards. Draw matching shapes with felt-tip markers on five additional index cards. Give the cards to the children and let them take turns finding the matching pairs of shapes. Mary Had a Wooly Lamb Sung to "Mary had a Little Lamb" Mary had a wooly lamb, Wooly lamb, wooly lamb, Mary had a wooly lamb, Its wool was white as snow. Its wool got thick and very heavy, Very heavy, very heavy Its wool got thick and very heavy So its fleece was sheared. The wool was soon made into yarn Into yarn, into yarn The wool was soon made into yarn And woven into cloth. Now Mary has a wooly coat Wooly coat, wooly coat Now Mary has a wooly coat That she wears to school. Children's Books: -Charlie Needs a Cloak, Tomie De Paola, (Prentice Hall, 1974). -A New Coat for Anna, Harriet Ziefert, (Knopf, 1986). -Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flournoy, (Dial, 1985). Hot Air Balloon: 4+ y/o Material needed: Pictures of hot air balloons, Large box, 4 small paper sacks, yarn, newspapers What to do: 1. Look at the pictures of hot air balloons with the children. Explain the use of the sand bags. 2. Put the box in the middle of the circle. This activity can be done inside or outside on the playground. 3. Stuff the sacks with newspaper and tie it closed. 4. Tie the sacks to the corners of the box with yarn. 5. Ask two or three children to climb into the box (the number of children depends on the size of the box). 6. Children pull the sacks (sand bags) inside the box and "fly away" in to the sky. 7. To "land" children pu the sacks (sand bags) ouside the box and "down they come" to earth. More to do: Art: Make a hot air balloon at art time using wallpaper samples for the balloon, construction paper for the basket, yarn for the ropes. It can be glued on blue paper with cotton ball clouds in the sky. Draw people in the basket. Science: Blow up a large balloon, let the air out and show children how air pushed the balloon high into the air. Explain that real hot air balloons use gas to keep the balloon inflated. Related book: Hot Air Henry by Mary Calhoun. Related Song: "Up, Up and Away" by the Fifth Dimension Measuring Up to a Baby Whale 4+ y/o Materials needed: Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Mark Cowadine Yarn, tape measure, colored rolls of masking or electrical tap, masking tape, scissors, paper and markers, large open floor space. What to do: 1. At circle time read the paragraph labeled "Baby" on page 17 in the book listed above. Show the children the photo on page 16 that compares the baby killer whale's length to a human's length. 2. Ask the children to use the tape measure to determine the killer whale's length on the floor (approximately 6' 10"). 3. Leave the tape measure on the floor. 4. Cut a piece of yarn, measuring enough yarn to equal the whale's length and cut the yarn. 5. Let the children use plain masking tape to hold the yarn in place on the floor. 6. Using a different colored tape for each child, let each child lay next to the yarn taped to the floor to compare their own lengths in relation to the whole after measuring the child. Write the child's name on the piece of tape. 7. With older children place the tape measure beside the yarn (whale) and allow the children to measure the whale's length and their height. 8. After measuring ask the children, "Who is bigger, the child or the whale? Who is tallest, smallest? How many are the same? Where could the baby whale live if it were to come to our school? Playground? Sidewalk? Sensory table? Block area? Art area?" Display the children's answers for parent and children to see. Color Caterpillar 3+ y/o Materials needed: Cardboard egg carton (cut in half lengthwise making a strip of 6 cups), construction paper scraps of 6 different colors (red, yellow, blue, green, purple and black), 1 pipe cleaner, black marker or crayon, glue, piece of yarn (12"-16" long) What to do: 1. Children cut out one circle from each colored sheet of the construction paper. The circles can be drawn on the paper to make it easier for younger children. 2. Children glue one circle on each hump of the upside-down egg carton strip. 3. Children bend the pipe cleaner in half and insert it to make the antennae in the first egg cup. 4. Children draw eyes on the first egg cup. 5. Children push a piece of yarn through the hole (made by the teacher) in the front of the first egg cup. The yarn is knotted and it makes a pulling handle. More to do: Language: Talk about the different colors uses. Large motor: Take your caterpillar for a walk. The caterpillars are also fun to run with outside. Science: Use the different circles of color to match colors of things in your room. For example, "The first color on Ben's caterpillar is yellow. Who sees something yellow?"