Monthly Curriculum and Daily Lesson Plans

There will be no formal lesson plans for July/August.  Lots of Preschool Summer Ideas on this page!

Summer Preschool Plus+
Fun and enriching ideas for a Preschool Summer Program

PLAY, LEARN, and BE INSPIRED during the fun Summer Months!

Summer provides an opportunity to ease the heavier academics and explore the outdoors.  The key to a successful Summer program is to BUILD EXCITEMENT.  You can BUILD EXCITEMENT many ways by making small changes to the program's layout, schedule, and environment.  Move around furniture, add outdoor toys/activities.

THEMES BASED DAYS or WEEKS:
Cooking Week
Summer Olympics
Art Week
Bring your wheels to school (scooters, trikes, bikes, helmets)
Sports Camp (try out a new sport each day, or bring the sport out of the normal environment, i.e., play soccer in the soccer field, or play baseball at the baseball diamond)
Game Day (bring games from home to share for the day)
Special Visitors (bakers, dentists, family pets)
Dance Week (each day focused on different style:  hip-hop, scarf dancing, ballet)

DRAMATIC PLAY:
Different ideas, materials, set-up, and activities provide new and engaging activities for children, improve morale for providers, show parents that your program is not stagnant. Consider changing the dramatic play area for the summer.  Remove the kitchen and tool bench and add one or more of the following:

Beauty salon: Twirly office chair, Hairstyle picture book, barrettes, headbands, hats, spray bottles for that gel look on boy’s faux hawks,  combs, brushes, mirrors. 
Shoe store:  Shoe boxes, children write numbers on shoe boxes, foot measuring tape, print out shoe sizer template from internet and laminate for extended use.  Chairs to sit on.  Parents can donate old children’s shoes and even adult shoes for fun.  Shoe workers need to match up shoes in the same box.  Play cash register and play money.

Pizza Store:  Donated pizza boxes in different sizes from pizza store, coupons for pizza, pictures with labels of types of pizzas, play cash register and play money.

Bakery:  Cookies sheets, muffin pans, muffin liners in many colors, whisks, rolling pins, pictures of bakery items, playdough to make the items, price sheets, play cash register and play money.

Children’s Hospital or Stuffed Animal Hospital:  Crutches, napping cot, bandages, notepads for symptoms, toy stethoscopes, scrubs donated or bought from costume shop, name tags for doctors and nurses. 

Costume shop or Dress up Closet (armoire at garage sale).   

SUMMER PRESCHOOL GAMES FUN TO PLAY OUTDOORS:
Obstacle course
Trike lanes with chalk, trike races
Mudpies, mud pizzas
Fossil dig, volcanoes, dinosaurs, plaster of paris with dried animals inside, children need to chip away with popsicle sticks
Bike wash - provide soapy buckets and wash all the bikes
Egg spoon races - but use marshmallows for younger kids and for less mess!
Duck, Duck, Goose
Mother May I?
Musical chairs
Hide and Seek
Jump Rope
Parachute Games
Bubbles
Frisbee
Pillowsack races
Miniature golf
Throw wet sponges through hula hoops held by partner several feet away
Shaving cream on the slide with bathing suits (with caution, and on slides not too big), place tarp at bottom
Shaving cream on tarp for homemade slip and slide (use caution!)
Balloon pop - Set timer for 1 minute, provide bag of inflated balloons, how many can pop in 1 minute and use legs, push against walls, sit on)

PAINTING IS FUN WITHOUT BRUSHES!
Feathers
Legos
Spaghetti
Straws
Sponges
Plungers (clean plunger of course, at the Dollar Tree), dab into paint - make large circle art on paper on fence or ground
Frozen popsicles (made with water and paint color)
Ice cubes
Salad spinner art
Line slide with butcher paper and dip golf balls into paint and slide them down the slide for art project
Balloons
Marbles rolled in paint rolling around paper on cookie sheet
Paint with feet

WADING POOLS ARE NOT JUST FOR WATER!
Fill a couple inches with homemade bubble solution and hoola hoops for humongous bubbles!
Fishing pond with magnetic fish and poles
Dirt pile to use for trucks - Tonka trucks dumping and pushing dirt along, add water for a little mud
Fill with sand and use as sand box, sandcastle contest
Use as a vegetable or flower garden

COMMUNITY BUILDING ACTIVITIES WITHIN COMMUNITY OR CONNECTION BETWEEN HOME AND SCHOOL:
Swap day - bring 2 old games/toys/clothes/books, leave with 2 new games/toys/clothes/books
Family BBQ or Picnic or even Camp-Out
Lemonade sale - Raise funds for school, send care package to military personnel, donate to animal shelter

KINDERGARTEN BOOT CAMP
Fun and enriching ideas for a 2 week Get Ready for Kindergarten Program

For children entering Kindergarten in the Fall, offer a Kindergarten Boot Camp style program that mimics what will happen during the first month of Kindergarten.  Not necessarily an academic program, more of a social and skills based program to help children have a better transition.  Returning from Disneyland the day before a child's first day of school is not going to help a child! 

Practice all the skills needed for a successful transistion to Kindergarten:
Taking shoes on and off.
Hanging up jackets on hooks.
Practice lining up at the door and at transition periods.
Go shopping for a new backpack and lunchbox.
Sit at circle time and listen to a story and learn to raise hands and share or ask questions when asked.
Practice asking for assistance when needed (i.e., straw in juice box, where is the bathroom?)
Practice writing name in new and fun ways.