Creative curriculum is a pupil-based curriculum for preschool classes in which the pupil leads the lesson and the teacher follows the pupil's natural learning style. Though this method is individually, it can work for a classroom if the teacher arranges the classroom for success. Allow pupils to explore on their own, and set up centers that allow children to learn while they play. Lesson plans can also be incorporated into the creative curriculum.
Dancing Sultanas
Gather interested children around a bottle of soda water and raisins. Ask them what will happen if the raisins are dropped into the water. Some children will guess that the raisins will float, some that the raisins will sink. Ask the children to observe the bubbles in the liquid. Drop the raisins into the bottle and watch the raisins float around inside the liquid, instead of either sinking or floating. Explain that the bubbles hold the raisins to help them float inside the liquid.
Clown Cone Puppets
An artistic project is a clown cone puppet. Distribute white pictures of clowns to interested children. Talk about colors while the child decorates the clown in any style she desires. Help the child glue the clown onto a flat stick, such as a tongue depressor. Poke a hole in the bottom of a paper cup and put the tongue depressor in the hole so the clown pops out of the top of the cup. For a journal entry, allow the child to use the puppet to tell a story, which the teacher will copy onto journal paper.
Keepsake Hand Prints
Use modeling clay to complete this project, which will be more meaningful if completed by the child. Lay the clay flat and help children press a hand into the clay. Let the clay dry overnight, then ask children to paint the hand any color, or combination of colors, they choose. The hand print will make a unique keepsake created by the child.
All the Bunnies
This activity is a gross motor creative curriculum idea. Call interested children to a carpeted area and ask them to lie down, pretending to sleep. Sing the following song to the children: "All the bunnies fast asleep, All the bunnies not a peep, If I should sing my song today, Will all those bunnies get up and play?" Signal to the children to rise and hop around the room like bunnies. Continue the song while the children hop, changing the verse to "Get up, little bunnies, hopping, hopping, Get up, little bunnies, hop, hop, hop. Get up, little bunnies, hopping, hopping, get up, little bunnies, hop and stop!" The children should stop hopping on the word "stop." This game teaches instruction-following through game playing.
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Writer Bio
Rebecca Mayglothling has worked directly with toddlers and preschoolers for more than three years. She has published numerous lesson plans online as well as parenting and teaching advice. She continues to keep ahead of parenting methods and is eager to share them through her professional writing.