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- Art
| Provide each of your children with a paper bowl. Then let them try one of the decorating ideas below. |
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Have your children make “turtle shells” by painting the back of their bowls green. When the paint has dried, invite the children to use black markers to draw designs on their shells (provide pictures of turtle shells to spark ideas). Give the children head, tail, and leg shapes cut from green construction paper. Then help them glue or tape the shapes to the underside of their turtle shells. |
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Instead of using paint and markers to make turtle shells, let your children tear several colors of green tissue paper into small pieces and glue the pieces all over the back of their paper bowls. Add heads, tails, and legs as described above. |
- Art
Give each of your children a piece of white construction paper with a green paper circle glued in the middle. Then demonstrate how to use green crayons or markers to turn the circle into a turtle by adding a head, a tail, and four legs. Encourage the children to add other details, if they wish. |
- Counting
Make small “turtle shells,” using one of the ideas below. Then set out the shells for your group to use for counting games.
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Cut the egg cups out of one or more cardboard egg cartons. Turn each cup upside down and trim off the bottom edge so that the cup stands about 1 inch tall. Invite your children to paint the cups green to create “turtle shells.” |
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Instead of using cardboard egg cups, give the children walnut shell halves to paint green. |
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| – Color Recognition
Make a blank book for each of your children by stapling together several pieces of white paper with a green paper cover. On the cover, write “My Green Book” plus the child’s name. Then let the children cut or tear green pictures out of magazines and glue or tape them onto their book pages. Encourage the children to display their finished books, if they wish. |
TORTOISE AND HARE FUN – Language/Opposites/Dramatic Play
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Read or tell the story “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Talk about the meaning of the story: “Slow and steady wins the race.” |
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Ask your children to demonstrate the opposites “slow” and “fast” by doing such things as clapping, blinking, toe tapping, crawling, hopping, and walking. |
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Let the children take turns acting out the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. |
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– Science/Movement/Language
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Use picture books to discuss different kinds of turtles and their habitats. |
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Make a masking-tape pathway on the floor of your room. Let your children pretend to be turtles and crawl along the path, wearing paper plates on their backs for shells. |
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Read Vachel Lindsay’s poem “The Turtle” to the children. Encourage them to act out the poem as you read. |
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Show the children how to make a shadow turtle. Shine a bright light on a wall and hold one hand between the two. Make a fist to create the turtle’s shell and stick out your thumb to create its head. |
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– Music/Movement
Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”
Turtle, turtle moves so slow,
Crawling, crawling, watch him go.
At the pond he looks around,
See his head move up and down.
Turtle, turtle wants to swim,
Now he slides and dives right in!
Liz Ryerson
Let your children act out the song as you sing.
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Tune: "I'm A Little Turtle"
I'm a turtle egg
Living by the sea.
Down in a sandy home,
One, two, three.
On a windy evening
Under the moon,
I begin to dig out,
I'm leaving soon.
Now I crawl down
The beach into the sea.
Just like the turtles,
Who came before me.
I'm a little turtle,
Swimming in the sea.
Watch me swim,
One, two, three.
By the class of Mr. Joe Dirvin
Mont' Kiara International School
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(Have children act out the song.) |
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– Food Preparation
For each of your children, place a bread circle, about 3½ inches across, on a plate and spread it with softened cream cheese. Cut kiwi fruit into ¼ inch slices and use a paring knife to remove the brown peel. Then invite the children to place a kiwi slice on their bread circles for a turtle shell and add raisins for a head, a tail, and four legs.
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