3-5 Supplemental Curriculum: Learning Centers

Take turns leading the song: first adult-directed, then child-directed.
Child does action and words first, then the caregiver imitates. Switch leaders trying to do it “faster” and “slower” for large motor practice.

Learning Center #2: “Matching Game”

Topic 1: God Made Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1)

Link to GRC: SP Yr. 1, #1-2; CO Yr. 1, #16

Overall Topic Objectives: Identify God as the creator of the world. Identify the world as a gift to us from God.

Center Objective(s):

1) The caregiver and child will identify some of God’s creations in their local context.

2) The caregiver and child will practice the cognitive skill of memorization.

Materials:

Pictures of local animals and birds (See printable resources on website listed below)*
Glue
Heavy paper or cards of same size and shape

Directions:

Create a memory game using pictures of local animals and birds. Glue the pictures of the animals onto the cards.
To play:

Turn all the cards face down on the table.
Child and caregiver take turns turning over two cards at a time, looking at them and then turning back over face down.
Child and caregiver try to remember where the matching cards are as they take turns looking.

Learning Center #3: “Sequencing Fun”

Topic 1: God Made Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1)

Link to GRC: SP Yr. 1 #2

Overall Topic Objectives: Identify God as the creator of the world. Identify the world as a gift to us from God.

Center Objective(s):

1) The caregiver and child will identify the creation activities in the story of God’s creation.

2) The caregiver and child will practice counting numbers 1-6 and letters A-F in sequence.

3) The caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Materials:

Paper
Markers or crayons
Bible story of God’s creation (Genesis 1)
Optional: Have a picture book in the center telling the story of God’s creation

Directions:

The caregiver tells the story of God’s creation to the child using the picture book or storytelling from memory.
Fold a piece of paper into 6 squares.
Label each square with the numbers 1-6.
Orally, using complete sentences, invite the child to remember the story just heard in the lesson of God’s creation day by day. For example, “On day 1, God created the day and the night. On Day 2…” etc.
Take turns drawing 6 pictures to illustrate the creation activity choosing colors that represent day and night. For example, use black for night, yellow for sunshine during day, etc. Draw in each box for each day of creation.
Extend learning by remembering color names in both English and native language (if applicable).
Try to recite and recall back the order of creation by days. Use the drawings for help.
Go back and label each square now with the letters A-F. Encourage the child to recognize and write the letters in the squares in order.
Cut apart the 6 squares and mix them up. Ask the child to put them back in order using numbers, letters, or by the illustration from God’s creation. Decide if she is right. Caregiver may do it too.

Learning Center #4: “Discover God’s Creation!”

Topic 1: God Made Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1)

Link to GRC: SP Yr. 1 #2

Overall Topic Objectives: Identify God as the creator of the world. Identify the world as a gift to us from God.

Center Objective(s):

1) The caregiver and child will practice observation skills.

2) The caregiver and child will identify objects in nature created by God.

3) The caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Materials:

Objects God created such as rock, leaf, fruit, seed
Stuffed animal or dolls
Bag or basket
Cloth and tray for variation activity (optional)

Directions:

Place different objects God created found in nature in a cloth bag or a basket. (Some possible ideas to include could be a rock, leaf, piece of local fruit, seed, acorn or nut, shell, small stuffed animals, small dolls, etc.).
Child closes eyes, reaches into container, guesses the object’s name, and states what she thinks it is using full sentences.
Caregiver can also do the activity and ask questions of the child. For example: “Is it an orange?” Add descriptors: “Is this a small orange?”

Variation: Place the objects on a tray and cover them up. Invite the child or caregiver to look at the objects, removing the cover, for one or two minutes. Then, ask them to try to remember what was on the tray. Play until mastered, shortening or lengthening time as needed.

Learning Center #5: “Run to the Creation”*

Topic 1: God Made Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1)

Link to GRC: SP Yr. 1 #2

Overall Topic Objectives: Identify God as the creator of the world. Identify the world as a gift to us from God.

Center Objective(s):

1) The caregiver and child will identify and name colors.

2) The caregiver and child will match things in God’s creation to colors.

3) The caregiver and child will experience large motor exercise.

Materials:

7 different colored ribbons (yarn, string)
Bag or basket

Directions:

Cut 7 colored ribbons, one for each day.
Caregiver takes a few steps backwards from her child so that child can run to her and around her on signal.
Caregiver pulls out a colored ribbon (for example, yellow) from a bag or basket and child names one thing God created that is that color (such as a yellow bird).
Once the child names something, she runs, hops, or skips around her mother and returns to the start place until another ribbon color is pulled out of a basket.
Caregiver can play too for large motor exercise, while child chooses the color from the container.

* Adapted from Philippines curriculum Shalom, Lesson 35

Learning Center #6: “You Can Create Too!”*

Topic 1: God Made Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1)

Link to GRC: SP Yr. 1, #2

Overall Topic Objectives: Identify God as the creator of the world. Identify the world as a gift to us from God.

Center Objective(s):

1) The caregiver and child will self-expression and language skills through creative art.

Materials:

Play-doh or clay

Directions:

Invite the caregiver and child to use the play-doh or clay to create favorite animals, birds, fish, or any other object they can recall from hearing the Creation story during the main lesson. Ask each pair to tell the group about the object they formed and where it fits in the creation story.
The caregiver and child may also form the words “CREATION” or “GOOD” using the play-doh or clay. Next, they may discuss God’s role in our world and that His creation is good. Letter recognition is reinforced on this portion of the activity.

*Adapted from Philippines curriculum Shalom, Lesson 35

Learning Center #1: “Name the Animals” (Genesis 2)

Topic 2: I Can Help Protect God’s World and It’s Creatures

Link to GRC: PH Yr. 2, #44; CO Yr. 1, #16A

Overall Topic Objective: Caregiver and child will identify different animals. Caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Center Objective(s):

1) Caregiver and child will discover or review in the Bible how the animals got their names.

2) Caregiver and child will identify the names of animals.

3) Caregiver and child will create new imaginary animals and name them.

Materials:

10 or more cards with pictures and the names of different animals
Bible, Genesis 2

Directions:

Caregiver and child play a game with a created card deck of 10 or more different animals in the animal kingdom.
On the cards, print the name of the animal first, and include a picture or sketch (drawn or glued) of the animal next to the printed name.
Review the creation story from Genesis 1 to learn about when Adam named the animals.
Turn the deck of animal cards face down.
First player chooses a card and caregiver and child try to read the name of the animal by sounding it out and recognizing the picture.
Second player chooses a card and caregiver and child try to read the name of the animal.
Caregiver and child create a new animal, which is a combination of the two they have chosen from the deck, and pretend they are “naming the animals” with nonsense words. Examples: monkey and kagaroo = monkaroo, cheetah and sloth = cheesloth, etc.

Learning Center #2: “Investigate Your World - All Creatures Great and Small!”*

Topic 2: I Can Help Protect God’s World and It’s Creatures

Link to GRC: PH Yr. 2, #44; CO Yr. 1, #16A; CO Yr. 2, #14

Overall Topic Objective: Caregiver and child will identify different animals. Caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Center Objective(s):

1) Caregiver and child will develop observation skills.

Materials:

Hand-held magnifying glass if available
Recycled plastic bag for collecting items
Paper or notebook
Pencil
Cloth or blanket for caregiver and child to sit on safely outdoors
Large spoon or small shovel to collect samples

Directions:

Choose a safe spot outdoors to place a blanket for sitting at this center. A lawn, playground, field, dirt spot, forest, or near a pond or water source works well. In urban areas, go outside and sit on a bench or chair and make observations of the immediate sidewalk area around you.
Observe an area about 1 ft. (approx. 30 cm) in diameter from where caregiver and child are sitting together. If possible, place a border around a little area with the placement of rocks or sticks. Observe only that area inside the borders you have created.
Caregiver and child get very close to the surface (watch for dangerous insects) and write or draw their observations on a small piece of paper. If a notebook is available, that works great, too. Collect interesting objects in the plastic bag. Answer the following questions:

What are some small things you saw? Draw your favorite thing.
Tell about a sound you noticed. Draw something that wiggled or moved.
Touch something carefully. Did anything surprise you?
Use your spoon to dig up the earth a bit. What did you collect in your plastic bag to share with other caregivers and children?

*Adapted from 202 Science Investigations by Marjorie Frank, Incentive Publications, Nashville, TN. USA, 1990. p.46-47

Learning Center #3: “Animal Sort!”

Topic 2: I Can Help Protect God’s World and It’s Creatures

Link to GRC: PH Yr. 2, #44; CO Yr. 1, #16A; CO Yr. 2, #14

Overall Topic Objective: Caregiver and child will identify different animals. Caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Center Objective(s):

Caregiver and child will explore pretend animal habitats and name animals that live in each.

Materials:

3 large papers, markers or crayons
3 large buckets of clean sand
Large tree branch
Paper for each child
Crayons or markers

Directions:

Preparation for the center:
- Draw a large tree outline on one large paper.
- Draw the ground and some rocks and bushes on the second paper.
- Draw grass at the top of the third paper (for animals that live underground). Variation: Add props to enhance the lesson.
Place the three large papers prepared as noted above in three different stations in the room and add the following:
- The large branch with pictures of tree dwelling animals and insects tied on it on the paper with the tree outline.
- A bucket of sand with some rocks and plants for animals that live on the ground on the paper with the ground and some rocks and bushes drawn on it.
- A bucket of sand with toy spiders, worms, or pictures of underground animals on the paper with the grass at the top.
Caregiver and child visit each station; talk about the habitat represented and name local animals.
Child can draw an animal that would live in each habitat.
Pictures can be copied from the internet of different animals that would live in all of these habitats.

Learning Center #4: “Animal Hospital”

Topic 2: I Can Help Protect God’s World and It’s Creatures

Link to GRC: PH Yr. 2, #44; CO Yr. 1, #16A; PH Yr. 2, #18

Overall Topic Objective: Caregiver and child will identify different animals. Caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Center Objective(s):

1) Caregiver and child will discover how animals are cared for by a veterinarian.

2) Caregiver and child will develp pre-science and pre-math skills.

Materials: (contextualized)

1 or 2 stuffed animals
A pretend doctor’s kit. Box can be made with baby bottle, bandages, cotton balls, pretend shots (dull pencils or capped markers), magnifying glass, etc.
A larger child’s shirt and/or hat to dress as a health worker who wears a medicine coat during a visit
Paper on which to chart the “results” of the examination (temperature, what is wrong with the animal, etc.). This can be made with several pieces of paper stapled on a larger piece of paper with the top folded down a few centimeters to look like a clipboard/chart
Crayons or markers for “writing” on this chart

Directions:

Set up a pretend “veterinary hospital / health clinic” for the caregiver and child to interact with.
Caregivers and children who are afraid of going to health clinics for immunizations and medicines have the opportunity to role-play the feelings they might have getting a shot or taking medicine by pretending to be doctors or nurses caring for stuffed animals.

Learning Center #5: “Match the Animal and the Product!”

Topic 2: I Can Help Protect God’s World and It’s Creatures

Link to GRC: PH Yr. 2, #44; CO Yr. 1, #16A, 24-27; CO Yr. 2, #24-26

Overall Topic Objective: Caregiver and child will identify different animals. Caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Center Objective(s):

1) Caregiver and child will discover food or other products that come from animals.

Materials: (contextualized)

Plastic or stuffed animals that correspond to products (such as bees, cows, chickens, etc.)
Pictures or actual collected products (such as honey, milk, eggs, etc.) that correspond to the plastic or stuffed animals

Directions:

Caregiver and child match pictures or actual collected products with the animal source they come from. Contextualize as needed.
Match the food source with the food or product that each animal produces. Examples:

Bee and a jar of honey or honeycomb
Cow with milk picture or milk pail, shoes made from cowhide
Chicken with egg, picture of favorite food made from chicken
Goat with picture of cheese or milk
Wild animal with drum or clothing
Horse with bridle

Learning Center #6: “Noah’s Animals!” (Genesis 6-7)

Topic 2: I Can Help Protect God’s World and It’s Creatures

Link to GRC: PH Yr. 2, #44; CO Yr. 1, #16A; SP Yr. 1, #5-6; SP Yr. 2, #6-7

Overall Topic Objective: Caregiver and child will identify different animals. Caregiver and child will develop language skills.

Center Objective(s):

1) Caregiver and child will develop fine motor skills.

2) Caregiver and child identify local animals.

Materials:

Safety scissors
Scraps of any available different colored papers (can use white, or recycled colorful magazine pages, or construction paper scraps)
Yarn or string for the necklace
Spacers (beads or cut up rolled tubes or make “chains” from small pieces of paper also)
Small cardboard stencils of different animals: elephant, giraffe, lion, etc. (Can make the animals common to your locale or expand child’s knowledge of God’s other animals in the world)
In some contexts, paper beads can be created
Bible open to Genesis 6-7

Directions:

Recall the story of Noah’s Ark naming some of the animals that were in the ark with Noah and his family.
Caregiver and child choose the animal stencils to include on the necklace.
Caregiver and child cut two shapes of each animal chosen.
Lace the animals and spacers (beads or other chosen spacers) to create a necklace.
Sing a local song about animals together.