Friendship and Fun: Storyboxes and More!

This month we are learning about friendship and how to have fun with our friends. We are reading two books in class and many of our activities are based upon the stories.  My students are learning how to participate in parallel and cooperative play activities. Stories are always a great way to introduce concepts.

Friendship Stories:

Where’s My Sweetie Pie by Ed Emberly -- Storybox and Textured Book 

A Kiss for You by Joan Holub --Storybox Activities

Where's My Sweetie Pie?

Stories are so much fun when children can actively participate. Where's My Sweetie Pie is a great book to teach object permanence, searching skills, and positional concepts.  In this story the reader looks high, low, and all around for their sweetie pie.  This book works well with the following story box items.  Textures can be easily added, which is helpful for students that are working on exploring textured pictures and book skills.

• High/Low- Reach up high and down low
• Teddy Bear and Chair
• Owl/Towel- place a towel over the student
• Log/frog- wood log and toy log
• Sky/Butterfly- Connect a toy butterfly to a wand
• House/Mouse- Toy mouse in small house
• Pocket/Locket- Large pocket to reach in and look in a Locket
• Mirror- For students who can look in the mirror.

This story can also be modified for students who are learning to use their monoculars. They can go on a scavenger hunt around the classroom looking by each item named in the book. 

A Kiss for You

To reinforce the concepts of friendship, we also read the story A Kiss for You.  We acted out the activities named in the book during circle time. 

Wave hello to our friends

Pat a puppy

High Five our friends

Hug a bear tight

Blow kisses

Play peek-a-boo

Wave bye-bye to our friends

Activities to support the stories:

Parachute

After we have read the story we play hide and seek underneath the parachute.  A paraeducator shared this song with me years ago, and it continues to be a hit with my students. I have changed the wording from kids to friends.  First all of the children hide and we sing the song.  After that each student gets a turn to hide under the parachute. We raise and lower the parachute as we sing the song.

Where are my friends?

Where are my friends?

Where did they go?

Where are my friends? I want to know.

My friends are all hiding, where can they be?

1, 2, 3 (Move the parachute up and down three separate times) All my friends I see!

After the song is finished we exclaim, “there they are!  I found my friends hiding under the parachute.” The students love this song, and oftentimes they are smiling or laughing as we pretend to not be able to find them. 

Games

Hide and Seek: I have a stuffed toy that supports hide and seek.  The toy is named Suzie and she says phrases such as “I’m Hiding, I’m over here, Come find me.”  The students take turn hiding and finding the toy.  I modify the difficulty level of hide and seek based on my students’ needs and abilities.  When the activity is just being introduced, the toy is hidden underneath a blanket that is directly in front of the student.  Then we search under the blanket and find it.  After the students understand this concept, the toy is gradually hidden farther away from their reach.  Then we get to explore the room looking for Suzie.

Don’t Break the Ice: This is a fun game to play with preschoolers of all ability levels.  I put rubber grips on the hammer handles for my students.  This game can be played individually, in pairs or in a small group.  The students can play simultaneously or in turns. 

Puppy Love: This game is similar to Hot Potato.  The puppy sings the song “You’re the one that I want.”  Her nose lights up and her tail wags.  A bell is attached to her tail and jingles when it lights up. We sit in a group and pass the puppy.  When the puppy stops singing, we stop passing the puppy and clap for the student holding it.