Preschool Teaching Aids

Melanie D. Spotten

Brigham Young University-Idaho

ECD 370: Teaching Preschool

Betty McQuain
 1. The Three Little Pigs Child-Sized Hand Puppets
I created 20 child-sized hand puppets so that the children could use them to help tell the story
during small focus for my lesson on strong building materials on February 17th. I made the
puppets by cutting a piece of flannel until it was the shape I wanted the puppets to be and then
tracing that shape onto the rest of the flannel squares. I then cut out the bodies, ears, and noses
and sewed them together. I used tacky glue to place googly eyes on at the end. I first asked 4
children to help me tell the story of the Three Little Pigs during gathering time while the rest of
the children said the script with them. Then in small focus, support teachers read a printed book
of the Three Little Pigs and helped the children to take on the role of their assigned puppet and
act out the story as she read. The children seemed to enjoy using the puppets. All of them chose
to participate.
2. The Three Billy Goats Gruff Stick Puppets
I created these 4 stick puppets for use in closing circle on March 11th. I first found illustrations
of three billy goats and a troll online and then printed them in color. I then cut around the
illustrations, laminated them, and cut around them again. Then I used hot glue to attach them to
large craft sticks. When I used these materials, I had each of the children (there were only four)
at closing circle hold a puppet. I made a bridge out of blocks and had the children walk their
puppet across the bridge (or pop up from under the bridge) as I told the story. I also helped those
who wanted to repeat the dialogue of their part in the story. The children asked to tell the story
again and all of them wanted to participate. On the flip side however, when we finished one
child asked if I was going to read a story at closing circle. I think she and perhaps others of the
children would have appreciated having a printed story in addition to a puppet story at closing
circle.
3. The Little Red Hen Stick Puppets
I created these stick puppets to encourage story telling in the book area for the weeks of March
9th-16th, because many of the children in our lab had shown interest in story telling after we acted
out The Three Little Pigs at gathering time. I created the puppets by drawing the animals on
construction paper using drawing tutorials and examples I found online. I painted them with
acrylics and used a permanent marker to outline them. Then I cut them out, laminated them, cut
them out again, and glued them onto large craft sticks. I placed them in the book area during
self-selected with books that tell the story of the Little Red Hen. I saw some children using
them, but I didn’t get to personally interact with the children in the book area very much those
days. I think it would have been helpful for me to have been there to encourage them to use the
puppets to tell a story.
4. Floor Puzzle
I created this item at the suggestion of my team because many children in our classroom choose
to work on puzzles during self-selected every day and several of them no longer seem to be
challenged by the puzzles we have in lab. We were intending to use this puzzle as a math
activity for the weeks of March 23rd-April 1st. I created the puzzle by painting sections of a thick
foam poster board with tacky glue and then smoothing blue and brown construction paper over
it. After the first layer of paper had dried, I cut out fish and seaweed and glued them onto the
board. I then cut the entire board into smaller pieces. If I had gotten the opportunity to use the
puzzle with the children, I would have tried to encourage them to work in groups to complete the
puzzle. One of our reasons for wanting a large floor puzzle that multiple children could work on
was to encourage a shy child in our class to connect with peers while doing something she
enjoys. I also would have scaffolded the activity as the puzzle is more difficult than the ones the
children are used to working on in our classroom.
5. Story Stones
I created these items to encourage imaginative story telling in the book area. Sister Seamons
gave me the idea when I took CHILD 340 from her. I intended to create the stones by printing
out colored images and using modge podge to plaster them to stones my husband and I collected
at Henry’s Fork. However, I didn’t have access to a printer, so I tried painting the images on the
stones with acrylic. I really didn’t like how that turned out, so I found a black and white printer
and printed the images anyway. I then cut them out and used the modge podge to plaster secure
them onto the stones. I will probably remake them with the colored images once I have access to
a color printer again as well as add more images I collected for the project. I had these in my
lesson plan for use in the book area during self-selected time for the weeks of March 9th-16th, but
they weren’t finished in time, so I haven’t used them yet. If I had used them with the children I
would have modeled creative story telling by developing characters for the stones and making
plans for what my characters would do. I would have invited the children to help me in making
the characters and story and encouraged them to make their own stories as well.