The preschool students carried over their fishing activity from the Pond Life theme to the Earth Day theme. We put the fish cutouts with paperclips in the sensory table. We added scraps of paper and plastic cups and aluminum foil as litter in the pond. The students had to go fishing but it was more difficult to catch fish with all the litter.

The students were able to see the importance of keeping their Earth and ground clean so litter does not get in the lakes, rivers, and streams and harm the fish.

During Recycling week and studies on Earth Day, the preschool students learned about the importance of keeping the air clean.

They drew pictures on black bulletin board paper. There were pictures of flowers, the sun, and even some letters of the alphabet. Then we took the black paper outside and sprinkled baby powder on it. Yuck. It made a mess out of the students’ nice pictures.

We tried to shake the powder off the paper. It didn’t come off. We turned the paper over and tried to wipe the powder off on the grass. It only smeared it and didn’t come off.

The students were able to see how air pollution messes up good things. They learned the importance of keeping the air clean. We talked about factories with smoke stacks that cause air pollution and how that smoke sometimes makes our air yucky to breathe and not healthy for our lungs.

The preschool students are learning about Earth Day and what it means to recycle. We started off the week by having a garbage truck/recycling truck visit. The students got to see a truck up close and even sit in the driver’s seat.

They are learning all week about recycling and putting this into practice by sorting their paper and plastic items. No glass or metal items at school since that is not safe in case the glass breaks and the metal has sharp edges.

For a fun outdoor activity in preschool, the students played Leap Frog to cap off their week learning about Pond Life.

One student curls up on the ground, tucking his head and feet in. The next student leaps or hops over him and curls up on the ground in front of him. The next student in line leaps over those two students then curls up on the ground in front. Each student leaps over the others on the ground and the game continues.

This is great for a different outdoor activity. 

During pond week the preschool students enjoyed fishing time. We cut out a large circle of blue bulletin board paper and taped it down to the floor. We cut out fish shapes and attached a paper clip on each fish. We used a magnet tied to the end of a long dowel rod for the fishing pole.

The students went fishing by trying to attach the magnet on the fishing pole to the paper clips on the fish cut outs.

While exploring the pond in the sensory table, preschool students can pretend to be ducks. They can place a plastic baggy on their hands and pretend to wade and swim in the sensory table water like a duck’s webbed feet. This activity will give the students a sense of what a duck’s webbed feet might be like.