Preschool Express by Jean Warren

	Set out stringing laces (or pieces of yarn with tape wrapped around one end).
	Set out some large beads (too large to swallow) or other stringing objects.
	Let each child make a “five” necklace by choosing five beads and stringing them on his/her lace.

FIVE STARS
Let your children decorate a star shape with star stickers.

	Give each child a large cardboard star.
	Lightly write a large number 5 in the middle of each star with a pencil.
	Give your children marking pens and have them draw over your light lines, with one of the pens.
	Finally, set out some star stickers and have children choose five, one to place on each point of their star.

FIVE RINGS

	Give your children a cardboard cutout of a hand.
	Set out some crayons.
	Have your children draw a ring on each finger.
	Have children count the number of rings in all.

Variation: Give children a piece of paper and let them draw around one of their hands with a crayon. Then have them draw rings on each finger.

SEASONAL “FIVE” PICTURES
This activity is great whatever the season, just change the objects.

	Give each child a piece of paper with a numeral 5 written at the top.
	Then set out some glue and brushes and some small seasonal objects.
	Examples: Leaves, cotton balls (for snowballs), silk flowers, or small shells.
	Have your children each choose five objects and glue them onto their papers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 5 YEAR OLDS
You will need some play dough and some small candles for this activity.

	Make up a batch of play dough.
	Let your children fill large jar lids or other small pans with the dough.
	Then set out small birthday candles and let them choose five candles to place on their cakes.
	Let your children hold up their cakes and sing “Happy Birthday” to all the five year olds in your class.

CRAFT STICK HOUSES

	Give each child a piece of paper and five craft sticks.
	Then set out some glue and small glue brushes.
	Show children how to glue one side of each craft stick and then how to carefully place it on their papers with the glue side down.
	Have children construct a house on their papers using their sticks.
	The most conventional house would have a bottom, two sides and two sticks to form a pointed roof.
	However, whatever your children come up with is OK.

FIVE PEAS IN A POD
You will need some craft sticks and some small green poms for this activity.

	Give each child a craft stick (large or small). If you have green ones that would great.
	Set out some glue and small brushes and some small green poms.
	Have your children glue five poms on their craft stick “pod”.
	Have children hold up their pea pods while they sing the song “Five Peas in a Pod”.
Variation: If you do not have poms, you could set out some green play dough and let your children roll small green peas, then let them place them on their sticks.

FIVE GAMES

COUNTING RINGS

	Bring in a basket of inexpensive toy rings.
	Let your children take turns placing a ring on each finger of one hand.
	Have children count them as they put them on and as they take them off.
Variation: You could also cut out a cardboard hand and arm and let children place the rings on the cardboard fingers.

VEGETABLE GARDENS

	Cut vegetable pictures out of magazines or collect a variety of vegetable stickers.
	You will need five of each type of vegetable
	Attach the pictures or stickers to the tops of large craft sticks.
	Let your children take turns “planting” the vegetables, one kind per row.
	When they are finished, have them count the number of vegetables in each row.
Variation: Instead of a vegetable garden you could do a flower garden.

FIVE FRENCH FRIES
You will need two cardboard fry holders from MacDonald’s for this activity, plus two yellow sponges that could each fit into a holder.

	Cut each sponge into five long fries.
	Set out the sponge fries and the fry holders.
	Let your children take turns pretending to be the fry filler at MacDonald’s.
	Instruct them to put five fries in each holder.

FISHING FOR FIVES
You will need some paper, a stick, a string, some paper clips and a horseshoe magnet for this activity.

	Cut out some paper fish (approximately 4-5 inches).
	Attach a paper clip to either end of each fish.
	Make a simple fishing pole with the stick and the string.
	Attach the magnet to the end of the string.
	Let your children take turns fishing.
	Let each child catch five fish.
	Encourage everyone to count as they fish.

DICE GAMES
Make up dice games where you need to roll the number five.

	Roll one dice and try to get the number five.
	Roll two dice and try to get two fives.
	Row two dice and try to get to roll five by putting the numbers rolled together. Example: 1 & 4 or 2 & 3.

SORTING BY FIVE

	Set out a large pile of some type of small safe object. Example: a pile of cotton balls, a pile of shells, a pile of crayons, a pile of leaves or a pile of pinecones.
	Let your children take turns sorting the objects into piles of 5.

BODY STAR

	Have five of your children sit on the floor in a circle with their backs to one another.
	Tell them they are going to make a star by stretching their legs out in a V shape, so they are gently touching the legs next to them.
	Stand up on a ladder to take a picture of them from above.
	Display the developed photos on a large paper star shape.

LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR FIVE

BOOK OF FIVE

	Cut sheets of plain paper in half.
	Make a book for each of your children by stapling six half sheets of paper together and writing “My Book of Five” and the child’s name on the cover.
	Set out a variety of stickers.
	Have your children choose five similar stickers to place on each page of their books.
	Write the number 5 and what kind of stickers on each page. Example: 5 fish, 5 hearts, 5 starts, etc

FIVE RHYMES

FIVE LITTLE SEA STARS

Five little sea stars sitting on the shore.
A wave rolled in, then out once more.

Four little sea stars sitting on the shore.
A wave crashed in, then out once more.

Three little sea stars sitting on the shore.
A wave bounced in, then out once more.

Two little sea stars sitting on the shore.
A wave tumbled in, then out once more.

One little sea star sitting on the shore.
A wave lapped in, then out once more.

No little sea stars sitting on the shore.
But they will return, I am sure, once more.
Adapted Traditional
(Ask your children if they can guess where the sea stars went?)

FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “Oh, my, it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are dark clouds in the air.”
The third one said, “But we don’t care.”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run, let’s run.”
The fifth one said, “It’s Halloween fun.”
Then “Woo-oo-oo” went the wind and out went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.
Author Unknown
(Let your children take turns acting out the rolls of the pumpkins.)

CIRCLING FIVES

	Give each child a grocery add sheet and a black crayon.
	Have them look for 5’s and circle.
	Can they find at least five?

SALT BOX FIVES
You will need a small box lid and some salt for this activity

	Cover the inside bottom of the box lid with salt.
	Show your children how to practice writing the number 5 with their finger.
	Show children how to gently shake the box, side-to-side to create a clean slate.

WRITING POEM
Here is a short rhyme for helping your child learn to write the number 5.
            The little clown,
            First goes down,
            Then around,
            Then puts a hat on top.
                                    Author Unknown

If you are using the D’Nealian writing method use this rhyme.

            The little train
            First goes back,
            Then goes down
            And around
            On the railroad track.
                                   Jean Warren

FIVE SCIENCE

FIVE SENSES
Now is a great time to discuss our five senses.

	Set up five tables in your room with activities for each of the five senses.
	For Seeing – you could have pictures, viewfinders, binoculars, magnifying glasses, etc.
	For Hearing – you could have headphones, tape recorders, instruments, telephone, etc.
	For Touching – you could have stuffed animals, sandpaper, silky scarves, etc.
	For Smelling – you could have perfume bottles, a cut lemon, spices, etc.
	For Tasting – you could have small snacks, some salty, some sweet, some sour, etc.
Discuss how lucky we are to have five ways to learn about things.

PANSIES

	Bring in a pansy plant for your children to observe.
	Have them count how many petals each flower has.
	Go to a nursery and look for other flowers and plants that have five petals or leaves.

APPLE STARS

	Take an apple and cut it in half horizontally.
	Show your children the star in the middle.
	Each point of the star, holds a seed pocket.
	Have children count the five pockets.

BANJOS

	Bring in a 5 string banjo for your children to observe and strum.
	Have children make their own banjos using an empty tissue box and five rubber bands.

FIVE SNACKS

STAR COOKIES

	Make some sugar cookie dough.
	Set out some star cookie cutters and let your children cut out star cookies.
	Help children transfer the cut cookies to a baking sheet.
	Bake, cool and frost.
	Have children count the number of points on their cookies.

FIVE SNACK BAGS

	Set out three or four bowls of different small snacks.
	Let your children each take a small zip-lock bag and fill it with, five of each item in the bowls.
	Suggested snacks: Small pretzels, cereals, small marshmallows, grapes, apple chunks, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, peas, carrot sticks, etc.

FIVE SONGS & RHYMES

FIVE LITTLE FISH

Five little fish swimming in the sea,
They went to school, like you and me.
They learned to swim,
They learned to dive,
They learned to count from one to five.
One, two, three, four, five!
Jean Warren

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