Preschool Express by Jean Warren

Nests You will need a small lunch sack and some blue poms or small plastic Easter eggs for this activity.
	Give your child a brown lunch sack and a pair of safe scissors.
	Have him cut about 3” off the top of the sack.
	Then, help him roll the sides of the sack down as far as possible, then flatten the sack a bit with his hand. This will be the nest.
	Next, have him cut small strips of paper from the cut off section of the sack.
	Have your child place the paper strips into the nest, to make it cozy.
	Then set out some blue poms to place in the nest for eggs, or small plastic eggs.

Decorating N Shapes
Print out the letter N and use it as a pattern to cut large N shapes for your child out of heavy paper. Have your child decorate her shape by:

	Gluing on small squares of newspaper.
	Writing on names (or cutting names out from magazines)
	Gluing on pine needles
	Gluing on pictures of noses.

Number Collage
	Have your children cut out numbers from newspapers.
	Then, set out some sheets of paper and some glue.
	Have your children cover a piece of background paper with glue and then place the numbers all over the paper for a number collage.

Noodle Necklaces
Purchase dyed noodles from a craft store or use plain noodles, capable of being strung.

	Set out the noodles.
	Give your children 14” sections of string.
	Wrap tape around one end of each string for a needle.
	Have your children lace the noodles onto their string to create a necklace.
	When they are done, over lap the two ends of their string and wrap it with tape. This will allow your children to take the necklace on and off without having to tie it.

Games

Noon vs Night

	Cut out pictures of things that people do in the middle of the day and at night.
	Glue the pictures onto small index cards.
	Mix up the cards and have your child sort the cards into “Noon” vs “Night” piles.
Variation: Here is a felt board version of the above game.
	Back the cards with strips of felt.
	Place a black strip of felt down the center of your felt board.
	Place a yellow felt sun at the top of one side and a white moon at the top of the other side.
	Have your children sort the cards by placing them on the correct side of the board

Counting Nuts

	Set out a bowl of nuts with their shells still on.
	Have your child grab a handful of nuts, then count how many they have.
Variation: Serve nuts (in shells) at a pretend tea party for four.
	Give your child 8 nuts and have her distribute them equally among the four.

Gathering Nuts
This is a game for a group of children.

	Take a basket or bucket and place 20-30 nuts in it.
	Then toss out the nuts and have your children collect nuts
	When the nuts are all gathered, have your children take turns counting the nuts they gathered as they drop them back into your container.
	Repeat the game as often as your children would like.

Pounding Nails

	Set out some small nails with large heads and a small sturdy hammer.
	Start a nail in a stump or other soft wood piece and let your child hammer in the nail.
	Provide safety goggles for your child while hammering.

Language

NURSERY RHYMES

	When studying the letter N, it’s a great time to learn new or review old Nursery Rhymes.
	You can also have your children pretend to be nursery rhyme characters while others try to guess who they are.
	You could also set out some simple Nursery Rhyme costumes for your children to wear.

N Books Here are a list of items that go together. See if your children can come up with the M pair.
	Look for books with “N” words in the title, such as the Nutcracker.
	One of my favorite stories with young children is “Too Much Noise”.

N Names
	See how many N names you can think of.
	Such as Ned, Nellie, Neil, Natalie, etc.

N Opposites Here are some words that have N opposites. See if your children can guess what they are.
	Yes – (No)
	All - (None)
	Day – (Night)
	Quiet – (Noisy)
	Old - (New)

Finding N's
	Give your children sheets of newspaper and have them look for the letter N.
	Give them colored pens to circle the N’s.
Variation: Have your children circle “names” or “numbers” or just “nines”.
NOTES:
	Set out small sheets of paper and pens.
	Encourage your children to write notes to friends and family.
	Include some stamps with simple pictures and/or short greetings.

Science

Discover the North Pole

	Set out some books about the North Pole.
	Have your children look through the books and help them make a list of the facts they discover.

Day & Night
	Set up an experiment of how the earth gets both day and night.
	Place a light in the middle of the room.
	Have your children move around the light facing the light.
	Now have them pretend that they are the earth moving around the sun.
	Explain that besides rotating around the sun, the earth also spins around.
	Have your children spin around half-way, so that now their backs are to the sun.
	Explain that the people who live on one side of the earth face the sun half of the time (which we call “day”) and face away from the sun the other half (which we call “night”).

Snacks

N Nuggets

	Peel a banana.
	Let your child cut it into 6-8 chunks.
	Set out a small bowl of chopped nuts (or let your child help you chop)
	Have your child roll each chunk in the nuts and set them on a plate to eat.

Nectarines

If nectarines are in season, give your child nectarine slices for a snack.

Nut Bread

Let your child help you make nut bread.

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