Preschool Express by Jean Warren

UMBRELLA PICTURES You will need to cut out 2-3 small 3” circles and 6 small black boot shapes for each of your children.
	Set out the cut shapes, some glue and a sheet of background paper.
	Children glue the three circles onto their background paper, then glue two boot shapes (pointing the same direction) below each circle.
	When dry, have your children add center dots and spoke lines on the circles with marking pens.
	Your children may also want to add raindrops on their papers with a blue pen.
Variation: For writing practice, have your children add the letter U all over their umbrella’s.

UNIFORMS

	Cut out short sleeve shirt and pant shapes for your children, using light colored paper.
	Have children glue the shirt and pants onto a piece of paper.
	When dry, have children use marking pens or crayons to add heads, arms, etc., turning the shapes into a picture of a person wearing a uniform.
Extension: Give your children small paper breast pocket shapes, have them add the letter U to the pocket, then glue it onto the top of the uniform.

BOX UKULELE
You will need a long tissue box and an empty towel tube for each child for this activity.
	Remove any plastic found around the hole on the top of the tissue box.
	Have children wrap large rubber bands around the box.
	Set out marking pens or stickers for your children to use to decorate their box and towel tube.
	Cut a hole on the top of the box, the size of the towel tube.
	Help your child slip the tube into the box half-way to represent a handle for their ukulele.
Variation: You can also make ukuleles without the handles for your children to play with.

DECORATING U’s

Cut out large U shapes using the U pattern and heavy paper.

Have your children decorate their U shapes with one of the following.

	Stickers of unicorns, Uncle Sam or umbrellas.
	o Crayon drawings of animals that live under the ground.

For underground drawings, you will want to cut out brown U’s for your children.

UGLY PICTURES

	Set out general art supplies.
	Have your children make an ugly picture.
	If your child finds this too vague, have him make an ugly bug, or animal picture.

U GAMES

U TOSS

	Using the large sized U pattern, cut 4-5 U shapes out of cardboard.
	Set out a wooden spoon, held upright in a pot of dirt.
	Let your children try to throw the U’s so that they ring around the handle of the spoon.

BALLOON TOSS
This is a fun activity to play when introducing the letter U.
	Give each child an inflated balloon.
	Have them bat the balloon “up” and continue to tap it so that it doesn’t fall down.
	The child who keeps his “up” the longest, is the winner.
Variation: You don’t need a winner. Just let children start over if their balloon fall down.
Variation: You could also mark the balloons with the letter U using a permanent marker.
CAUTION: Be sure to supervise any balloon activity and remove all small balloon pieces immediately if one happens to pop.

UNDER THE UNDER PASS

Have two children hold hands and raise their arms up high (like in London Bridges).

Now have a third child go back and forth “under” the underpass singing to the tune of “London Bridges”:

“Driving through the underpass, underpass, underpass
Driving through the underpass, on my way to work.”

“Driving through the underpass, underpass, underpass
Driving through the underpass, on my way back home.”

As children take turns, let them sing about a different destination each time.

U MOVEMENT GAMES

MOVEMENT ACTIONS
	Crawl “up-side-down”	Put your head “under” your arms
	Put your finger “under” your foot.	Put your arms “up”
	Pretend to ride a unicycle

U HOKEY POKEY

“ You put your right foot “up”, you put your right foot down, you put your right foot up and you shake it up and down. You do the hokey, pokey and you turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about.”
Continue with other Up or Under movements.

U LANGUAGE

U LISTS Let your children help you make up lists of some U things.
	A list of things that go Up.
	A list of things that go Under.
	A list of things that are Ugly.
	A list of people who wear uniforms.

THE ADVENTURES OF UNDERDOG
	Have your children make up stories about Underdog, the smallest but bravest dog around.
	Have children draw pictures of what they think Underdog looks like.
	Suggest that they draw a shirt on their dog with a giant U on it.

U WRITING

BEGINNING WRITING FUN

	Let your children write U’s with their fingers in salt poured into the bottom of a small box lid.
	Make U’s with wax sticks
	Write U’s all over a piece of paper.

U SCIENCE

UNDERGROUND ANIMALS

	Have your children investigate animals that live under the ground.
	Perhaps build a habitat using large cardboard boxes that they could crawl through
	Read books about rabbits, groundhogs, gophers, etc.
	Study animal foot prints.
	Visit a small zoo with these animals.
	Look for pictures of these animals on the internet or in books.
	Read stories about animals that live under ground.

U SNACKS

U SNACKS
	Ugly fruit
	Celery U slices
	Up-side-down Cake

U MUSIC

UMBRELLA MAN
Have your children sing a version of the Muffin Man, substituting Umbrella Man for the Muffin Man.

U TURN
U Turn, U Turn
Go around.
First go up,
Then come back down.

Jean Warren

MY UNICYCLE
Tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”

My unicycle went under the underpass.
My unicycle went under the bridge.
My unicycle went under the umbrella,
Oh what an unusual trip.

Jean Warren

READY FOR WORK
I put on my underpants
And my undershirt.
Then I put on my uniform
And rushed off to work.

Jean Warren

MY UNCLE’S UNUSUAL TRIP
Tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean”

My uncle went under the underpass.
My uncle went up and down.
My uncle took a u-turn so often,
He thought he was up-side-down.

Jean Warren

UKULELE BEAR
Ukulele, Ukulele
Ukulele Bear
Played his ukulele
At the fair.

It got so hot
Out under the sun.
He started to undress
In front of everyone.

He left on his hat
And his underwear
But everyone pointed
And started to stare.

He ran underneath
The big grandstand
And borrowed a uniform
From a member of the band.

He went back to playing
Out in the sun
But he stood under an umbrella
Until he was done.

Jean Warren

LET’S DANCE “ROUND THE UMBRELLA"
Tune: “Mulberry Bush”

Let’s dance ‘round the umbrella,
The umbrella, the umbrella
Let’s dance ‘round the umbrella
And toss in U words.

(Give your children picture cards with pictures of U words.
Let them take turns singing a verse of this song and tossing their card into the umbrella.)

Example:
“I will add an undershirt,
Undershirt, undershirt.
I will add an undershirt
To the um-brell-a.
Additional Picture Card Words
        Umpire
        Ukulele
        Underwear
        Uniform
        Unicorn
        Underpass
        Unhappy
        Umbrella
        Universe

UKULELE PLAY FOR ME
Tune: “Kookaburra”

Ukulele play a song for me.
Sitting under the Banyan tree
Play ukulele, play ukulele
How sweet your sounds can be.

Ukulele play a song for me.
About the fish out in the sea.
Play ukulele, play ukulele
How sweet your sounds can be.

Ukulele play a song for me.
About the birds up in the trees.
Play ukulele, play ukulele
How sweet your sounds can be.

Jean Warren

(Can you or your children think of other verses to sing about?)

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