Summer Preschool Plan Week I – Bunny Theme

Join us for our first week of summer preschool play. Have fun with bunnies and paint or play a game of shadow tag. Everyone with young children is welcome to try out this planned out week of circle times and activities.

Day One: Circle Time

From Preschool Play: Seasons of Wonder Coursebook | Oak Meadow

Story Time Little Bunny Sunny, page 215-218

This is a beautiful story to read out loud. It is repetitive, reinforces early counting, and involves a variety of animals, but it is on the longer side, and many young children may struggle to pay attention for the length of time needed. For those who can, I suggest breaking up the story by involving your child. This is Option A. Option B would be to read it in four parts with movement in between. 

Option A: 

1. The second time the bunny says she wants to hop around the whole world, ask your child if they want to as well. If so, ask where they would like to go and why.
2. When she begins to count the stars, ask your child how many stars they think she will count. Have your child count with you to five. You can do this orally or use objects from your home. 
3. The bunny for the 3rd time says “I want to explore every stream and every river” ask your child if they want to as well. Ask what they want to do in the water and what they will see. 
4. When she counts the flowers, once again ask how many flowers your child thinks will be in the meadow and count together as high as your child can go. 
5. The 4th time the bunny says, “I want to climb every hill and every mountain” ask your child if they want to as well. Ask what they want to see from the top of the mountains and what they want to do on the hills. 
6. When she counts the fish, involve your child again in the counting. 
7. At the end of the story, have fun by hopping around the room like a bunny.

Option B:

1. Include the questions from Option A but pause when the bunny goes to sleep to do Five Little Bunnies (page 219). 
2. At the end of page 216, pause the story to do This Little Bunny (page 219), then return to the story.
3. Stop on page 217 at “Suddenly, the wind…” in the second column to do Funny Ears (page 219), then return to finish the story. 
4. At the end of the story, have fun by hopping around the room like a bunny and move into singing Bunny Hop from page 220.

Verse Funny Ears page 219

1. Show your child with your fingers how to do the motions while saying the verse
2. Then guide your child’s hands in making the motions while you say the verse
3. Finally both do the motions together, while you say the verse

Verse Five Little Bunnies page 219

1. Stand up for this verse to make it more active and engaging
2. Do the finger motions and hop together around the circle
3. Pretend to hide behind a piece of furniture, fall asleep on the floor, dance to have fun and paddle on the sea
4. Pick up your child and cradle them like a baby at the end

Verse This Little Bunny page 219

1. Sit back down for this verse
2. Read the verse while touching each of your fingers
3. Then do the verse again while using your child’s hand

Song Bunny Hop page 220

1. Have fun with this song as written

Song Ten Little Bunnies page 220

1. This is to the tune One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians
2. One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians song on YouTube 
3. This is a whole body song with up to seven verses
4. If your child loses interest at some point with this song, skip to the sleeping verse and you can pretend to go to sleep together to end your circle time

This whole circle time should take 30 to 40 minutes. If your child loses interest at any point, feel free to stop, have a snack and try again later. Learning and circle time should be fun, not work, at this age. 

Day Two: Game Day

1. Game Forest Game page 221

Play the game as written, but you may want to change it to the backyard or your local park for younger children. Other children may enjoy going to a farm or a pond. Take turns so you can model how the game works. The words used in the book are too advanced for younger children, but you can talk about where each animal lives and maybe what they eat. You can engage your child in talking about if they would like to eat the same things. You might need to prompt your child and accept any animal they can think of. For each animal, you can act out moving, eating and sleeping like the animal inself. 

2. Game Bunny and Carrot page 221

This game needs a group of at least 3 children and would be best if most of the children are 4 or older.

Day Three: Circle Time

Start your second circle time with the verse Funny Ears on page 219 as shown on day 1 to engage your child.

Then read the story Little Bunny Sunny, page 215-218 again, but just the first day, unless your child would like to read the entire story.

1. See what toy animals, toys or objects you can use to recreate the story and make it come alive
2. Invite your child to act out the story with the toys and count the objects you gather to be the stars
3. We used a silk cloth with stars on it for counting the stars, a wooden toy bunny and a stuffed animal owl to tell the story.
4. Another option would be to cut out three bunnies, an owl and stars out of paper or felt to recreate the story.

The rest of story time will be a repetition of Day One.

Optional Activities

1. Arts & Crafts Project Potato Bunny Painting

Set up an easel or paint table with the colors yellow and blue in two bowls. Take a potato and cut it in half. You can use a small cookie cutter to make a bunny, carrot or flower in the potato and then cut around it with a knife to make a stamp. Your other option is to use a knife to cut a design on both halves of the potato. Allow your child to paint with the potato, the cookie cutters and their fingers. Encourage your child to mix the two colors to see what they make. 

2. Nature Game Flower Hunt page 228 

Great for those who live where there are lots of flowers during the summer. This scavenger hunt would be best for children who are 3½ or older.

3. Nature Game Shadow Hunt page 228

This game would be best with at least 3 people to play it and would be better suited for children age 4 or older.

Beautiful Summer Preschool Plan Invitation – hummingbirdhomelife.com

Happy Learning!