A Nanny’s Day – The Professional Way!

Theme: Apples

Art: Paperplate Apple – Give each child a round white paper plate. The children can paint glue all over one side of the paper plate and sprinkle red tissue paper squares on top of the glue. Add a green stem at the top with a chenille stick. If they’d rather paint instead of gluing on tissue paper, they can fingerpaint the apple red.

Cooking: Homemade Applesauce – Peel, core, and chop 4 apples. In a saucepan; combine apples, ¾ cup water, ¼ cup white sugar, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until the apples are soft. Allow to cool and mash with a fork or potato masher. Serve warm or chilled.

Language: “Five Little Apples” – Cut out five apples and tape them to a paper apple tree. Recite the following story:

Five little apples hanging on the tree, One little apple smiled at me.

I shook that tree as hard as I could.

Down came an apple, (Have your charge take an apple off of the tree)

Mmmmm! It was good!

(Replace the underlined number for a decreasing number each time until there are no apples

left hanging on the tree.)

Math: Apple Colors – Explain to the children that apples are not just red. They also come in green and yellow colors. Cut out several apple shapes from red, green, and yellow construction paper or felt sheets. (You can also use real apples for this activity.) The children can sort the apples by color.

Music: “Apples, Apples” (Tune: “Are You Sleeping?”) Apples, apples.

Apples, apples. Red, yellow, green. Red, yellow, green. Very crunchy.

Very crunchy. Healthy for me. Healthy for me.

Science: The Inside of an Apple and Apple Printing – Slice a whole apple in half. Talk to the children about the parts of the apple (the seeds, core, and stem) and how apples grow on trees. Blot the inside of the apple with a paper towel to get rid of the moisture. Pour two to three colors of paint onto separate paper plates (one plate per color). Have the children use a paintbrush to brush paint onto the inside half of the apple. Press the apple onto heavy paper to make apple prints. Dip a small paintbrush into green or brown paint to make a stem at the top of the apple. Let dry and hang for the children to see.

Theme: Pizza

Art and Language: Paper Plate Pizza – Ask the children what kinds of toppings come on a pizza and cut them out of felt. They might name pepperonis, cheese, mushrooms, black olives, ham, pineapple, or peppers. Paint a paper plate red, which will be the pizza sauce. The children can glue the toppings onto their pizza. Yellow or white crinkle paper also makes great shredded cheese. In addition, black pom-poms can be used for black olives.

Cooking: Homemade Pizza – Take the children on a trip to the grocery store to pick up bread dough, pizza sauce, and the toppings that they would like on their homemade pizza. Allow them to help roll the dough, spread on the sauce, and add the toppings. Bake according to bread dough package directions.

Math: Pizza Patterns – Create pizza toppings out of construction paper (pepperonis, black olives, mushrooms, pineapple, ham, etc.). Teach the children how to make patterns with them. (Ex. Pepperoni, olive, pepperoni, olive, etc.) As they get more advanced, make the patterns more challenging. For the older toddlers, start by sorting the toppings into separate piles.

Motor Skills: Pepperonis – Cut out large red circles from construction paper and make a long, winding trail on the floor for the children to follow. The children can practice walking backwards on the trail.

Music: “On Top of My Pizza” – (Tune: “On Top of Spaghetti”)

On top of my pizza

All covered with cheese.

I lost my pepperoni

When somebody sneezed.

AH-CHOO!

It rolled off the table

And onto the floor.

And then my pepperoni

Rolled right out the door.

*Replace underlined word for other pizza toppings such as mushroom, pineapple, black, olive,

anchovy, etc.

Sensory: Painting With Pizza Sauce – Allow the children to fingerpaint with pizza sauce on heavy paper. Talk about how the sauce feels.

Social Studies: Pizza Shop – Stop by a local pizza shop and ask if they will give you a few pizza boxes. Add white dish towel “aprons,” a pen and pad of paper for taking orders, some fancy placemats and plates; and you’ll be all set to play “Pizza Shop!” Create menus for the children to “order from.”