The Georgia Early Learning Standards Activity Guides may - gapitc

Self-awareness
My Favorite Things
Activities and Strategies
for Development
Invite the children to bring in a favorite item from home. Be sure each item is
labeled with the child’s name.
Gather the children together in two separate groups to talk about their favorite
item and what they like to do with it. It is better to do this with half of the children
at a time so they do not have to sit too long to listen or wait for their turn.
Take a photograph of each child with their favorite item.
Make a “My Favorite Things” poster or book with each child’s picture for the
children to look at together.
Put the items in the children’s cubbies or other safe place until time to go home.
A Puppet Just Like Me
Plan a craft activity where the children make a puppet “just like me.”
Get styrofoam balls (about three inches in diameter) and craft sticks at a craft
store—one for each child in your class. (Balls of play dough or clay could be
used instead of styrofoam.)
Ask parents to donate clean nylon knee-high stockings of various shades to
match the skin tones of the children in your group. You will also need small
pompoms in colors similar to the eye colors of the children; different color
yarn cut in various lengths for hair; felt for noses and mouths; and glue.
Before the activity, insert a craft stick in the bottom of each styrofoam ball.
Set out unbreakable mirrors for the children to look into as they choose the
stocking and other materials to match their features. Help them make the
selections, but let them make their own choices.
Have the children stuff the ball into the stocking to make their “head.” A teacher
should then tie a piece of yarn under the head to make a “neck.” The rest of the
stocking will be hanging over the craft stick.
Help them glue on the “eyes” and “hair” to match theirs. Let them make their
nose and mouth from felt.
Show them how to slip their hand under the stocking and hold the craft stick.
Encourage the children to introduce their puppet to their friends and talk about
how it is “just like me.”
263