The Sky
SKY ART
Invite your children to try one or more of the activities below.
Dip flat sponges cut in cloud shapes into white tempera paint. Press the shapes onto blue paper to make cloud prints.
Finger paint gray, stormy sky pictures on finger-paint paper.
Paint various kinds of sky pictures—sunny skies, cloudy skies, rainy skies, snowy skies—at the easel.
GROUP SKY SCENE
Set out a large piece of white paper, and let your children paint it sky blue. Give them cotton balls to gently pull apart and glue onto the “sky” for clouds. Then give them construction paper cutouts of other things that can be seen in the sky, such as a sun, flying birds, airplanes, and helicopters. Have the children glue or tape the cutouts onto their sky scene before you display it in your room.
SKY COUNTERS
Give each of your children a set of five large blue index cards that you have numbered from 1 to 5. Also give each child 15 airplane stickers or bird stickers. Help the children name the numerals on their cards and then attach matching numbers of airplanes or birds. When they have finished, encourage them to use their cards for counting practice. Provide zipper bags for storing their counters, if you wish.
CLOUD BOOK
Invite each of your children to tear a piece of white paper into a freeform cloud shape and glue it onto a piece of light blue construction paper. Ask the children to take turns completing this sentence: “My cloud looks like….” As they do so, write each child’s response at the bottom of his or her paper. Help the children sign their names to their cloud pictures. Then fasten the pictures together with a construction paper cover to make a Cloud Book to place in your group’s library corner.
SKY FLIP PUPPET
For each of your children, staple together a 5-inch square of light blue paper and a 5-inch square of black paper to represent the daytime and nighttime sky. Give each child a yellow sun shape and wisps of cotton to glue onto his or her blue daytime sky, and a white crescent moon shape plus several star shapes to glue onto his or her black nighttime sky. Attach a large craft stick to the bottom of each child’s squares to make a puppet. Let the children flip their puppets back and forth while telling stories or singing songs about the daytime and nighttime sky.
SKY WEATHER CHART
Make a weekly or monthly chart containing a square for each day, and hang the chart on a wall at your children’s eye level. From construction paper, cut out weather markers such as these: yellow sun shapes, white cloud shapes, gray cloud shapes, raindrop shapes, and snowflake shapes. Each day, go outside with the children to view the sky and talk about what it looks like. When you return to your room, let the children glue or tape an appropriate weather marker (or markers) onto the day’s square on your weather chart. Continue until your chart is complete.
IN THE SKY
Tune: “Frere Jacques”
When I look up, when I look up
In the sky, in the sky,
I can see the sun,
I can see the clouds,
Oh so high, oh so high.
When I look up, when I look up
In the sky, in the sky,
I can see the moon,
I can see the stars,
Oh so high, oh so high.
Heather McPhail
Encourage your children to continue singing about other things they can see in the sky.
BLUE SKY SNACKS
Set out a small clear-plastic cup for each of your children. Make blue gelatin, pour it into the plastic cups, and allow it to set in the refrigerator. At snacktime, invite each child to spoon a white whipped-topping “cloud” onto his or her blue gelatin “sky” before eating.