Making Choices

Playgroups

Provide daily opportunities for children to play with the materials used during the Brainbuster activity.  This will allow an opportunity to manipulate the objects and practice and generalize the concept presented in the problem solving activity.

1.          Grocery store.  Children can choose which role to play in the grocery store:  a worker or a customer. Customers can choose which food they want to purchase (Day 1, 5).

2.          Puppets.  Puppets can not act on their own.  We can choose how we should act and choose how to make the puppets act (Day 5).

3.          House/Dress-up.  Children can choose which role they want to play.  They choose how to act and show their feelings.  The children playing "older" people have more choices (Day 1, 3, 5, 6, 10).

4.          Occupation dress up.  Children can choose who they want to dress up as.  As they act out that role encourage them to think about the choices that person has (Day 2, 3, 10, 12).

5.          Clay .  Make goals, plans, and even change your mind if you want.  Encourage children to try new things (Day 7, 8, 9, 10).

6.          Make a book.  Encourage children to choose their own color paper for their book.  They can choose to draw pictures  or find pictures in magazines to cut out.  Children can draw anything that they can think of (Day 12).

7.          Marble Ramps.  Children choose how to arrange the marble ramps depending on how they want their marbles to roll (Day 8).

8.          Play dough.  Encourage children to think before they choose what to do with their playdough.  They can make goals and plans, or change their goals or plans (Day 1, 2, 3, 8, 9).

9.          Boardgames.  Children can choose children to play boardgames with. We can choose how to act if we win or loose (Day 4, 5).

10.        Finger-paint with shaving cream.  Encourage children to try new things (Day 7).

11.        Crayon Resist.  Help children to plan their picture before they begin their project (Day 2, 9).

12.        Cut and paste.  Provide limited materials so that choices are limited.  We have no choice but to be safe when we use scissors (Day 11).

13.        Sponge Paint.  Children choose which color they want to paint with, which sponge to use and which design to make (Day 3, 7, 8).

14.        Musical Instruments.  Children choose which instrument they want and choose how they play that instrument (Day 3, 5, 7).