|
By
Catherine M. Pruissen
The
great thing about designing and making bulletin boards
with your kids is that each theme presents new opportunities
to enhance language skills, fine motor skills through
arts and crafts, social skills as the children build
together, and so on. What's more, you don't even have
to have a wall to hang them on. Simply tuck it behind
the couch if you lack space and bring it out just
before the kids arrive or during special activity
times during the day.
Building
a Cultural Community Bulletin Board
Materials:
- An
empty bulletin board
- 8
½" by 11" sheets of various coloured paper
- Crayons,
markers, non-toxic glue
- Various
cultural magazines such a National Geographic, Life,
etc. that may be cut up
Directions:
Talk
with the children and make a list of the different
cultures that the children of your centre or home
make up your. If there is no diversity in your group,
borrow books from your library that depict children
of various ethnic backgrounds. Next, let each child
pick a culture they would like to be part of if they
are not already. Have them cut out pictures that represent
their culture and past them on to the paper. Help
them label their culture using the crayons or markers.
Have the children cut out as many flags as they can
to use as a boarder for your board. Finally, discuss
with the children a possible name for the new community
board you have just designed. For an additional activity,
you could have them choose a particular character
from their cultural sheet or make one up, and write
a story each character and what makes them so special
as a human being.
Friendly
Notes Bulletin Board
- An
empty bulletin board
- 8
½" by 11" sheets of various coloured paper
- Crayons,
markers, non-toxic glue
- Various
colours of Post-It Notes
Directions:
This
bulletin board can be designed as a fun place where
the children can post little friendly notes to each
other during the course of the day. Have each child
design their own special place using the coloured paper.
Help them make up a series of special notes that can
be stuck all over the board so they can grab them and
give them out at will. These notes can be friendly notes,
thanks you notes, or kind saying directed towards another
person. In order for this to help promote reading, writing,
and good social behaviors, build this sharing of the
notes activity into your weekly or daily planning. This
is a wonderful way for each child to learn to appreciate
all the good qualities in each of the other children.
Fire
Escape Bulletin Board
Materials:
- An
empty bulletin board
- 8
½" by 11" sheets of large square graph paper
(enough for each room in your home or centre)
- Crayons,
markers, colored pencils
- Various
magazines that may be cut up
Fire safety begins with fire escape planning. To help
the children learn how to get out of the facility
or home should a fire occur, work with them on the
bulletin board using the graph paper using one sheet
to lay out each room in your home. Put the sheets
together as to depict an architectural drawing of
your home. This is a great learning experience for
the children on a number of fronts such as engineering,
architecture, etc., along with the safety learning.
Have the children cut out beds, dressers, doors, windows,
etc, that will go into the rooms on the board. When
the rooms are complete, use brightly coloured arrows
drawn in market to show the children how to leave
the room in the event of a fire. Nest, you can go
online or contact your local fire hall for pictures
that demonstrate how to "Stop, Drop and Roll,
and other important safety tips. Place these around
the board. (Visit our Oct.
Newsletter for links to Sparky the Fire Dog and
and the NFPA Web site.)
To
emphasize what is being learned with the map, practice
the escape drill with the children regularly, along
with the crawling out of the building and stop, drop
and roll techniques.
|
