A little ball,
(Clasp hands together.)
A bigger ball,
(Curve hands into a ball shape.)
A great big ball I see,
(Raise arms above head in a circle.)
Now let's count the balls,
One,
(Hold arms above head in a circle.)
Two,
(Curve hands into a ball shape.)
Three,
(Clasp hands together.) Author Unknown
This treat tastes great anytime - and it's good for you.m m
For Amazin' Raisin Nibble Mix, use 4 cups popped popcorn, 1
cup peanuts, 1 cup round toasted oat cereal, and I cup
raisins. Mix everything in a bag just as you would for Big
Top Nibble Mix.
This clown face will make everyone laugh. For eyeglasses,
cut the top rims from an empty egg carton, and paint it a
bright colour. For the nose, cut a bottom cup from an empty
egg carton, and paint it a bright colour. Now, cut a
half-circle, about four inches in diameter, from black
construction paper. Then, for a mustache, cut a half-moon
shape. Now you're ready to put your clown face together from
the back. With the smooth edges of the rims facing you, tape
them to the top of the nose. Then paste the mustache to the
bottom of the nose. Roll up a piece of cellophane tape, so
the sticky part is facing out, and put on the inside of the
nose. Stick the whole thing onto your face and presto.
You're a clown!
You will need an oats box for each child in your classroom,
construction paper, toilet paper rolls, tope, and scissors.
The oats box is the body of the elephant. Cut out the trunk
and ears from construction paper. Tape them to the body.
Tape a piece of yarn to the bottom of the oats box for a
tail. Use the toilet paper rolls for legs. Eyes can be
added with colour crayons or markers.
Five little clowns had a lot to say.
The first little clown was fat and gay.
The second little clown does tricks all day.
The third little clown just loves to play.
The fourth one said, 'It's Circus Day!'
The fifth one said, 'Hooray, hooray!'
Did you ever see a circus clown
When he goes out to play?
He doesn't just play like you and me,
He clowns around al day.
He jumps and bends and twists around,
And makes a funny face.
He runs and crawls and hoots and toots,
And laughs in every place.
Have the children sit in a circle and sing 'I am a circus
clown my neame is ding-a-ling can _________(name of child)
come in the middle and do a funny thing. Continue down the
circle until every child has a chance. This is really fun
with 3's and 4's. You might even want to paint your face and
the children's faces like clowns before you play. Another
idea is to send a note home asking the parents to dress their
child up as a clown than you won't have to paint faces.
Use paper bags, cut as shown. (They may need to be tied
under the chin.) For the mane, use a 6 in. wide strip of
construction paper. Fold back 1 in. of the strip,
lengthwise, and glue to the horse's head. Paste on eyes,
triangle ears, and if desired, some brown or black spots.
Add a plume. Measure a band to fit around the child's waist.
Stape on a crepe paper tail, made the same way as the Lion
Tamer's whip.
Materials:9X12 in. construction paper, crayons, markers,
stickers, tape, glue, toothpick, wooden clothespins, glitter,
pompoms, beads, yarn
Procedure: Decorate paper with markers and stickers. Turn
paper upside down and fold up the triangular sides and tape
points of 2 opposite triangles. Tuck the points of the 2
remaining triangles under the taped points. For the flag,
fold a small piece of paper in half. Cut out a triangle with
one side on the fold. Unfold. Glue the toothpick along the
fold. Fold and attach to big top. Make circle rings with
three 1 in. rings. Decorate rings. Make circus performer
with clothespins glue yarn hair and construction paper hat.
Teacher: We will see a big parade.
All: The circus is coming to town. (Repeat after each
'Teacher' line.)
Teacher: We'll have pink lemonade.
Teacher: The horses will put on a show.
Teacher: The clowns will march in a row.
Teacher: There will be some acrobats.
Teacher: There will be some tiger cats.
Teacher: There will be a buffalo.
Teacher: Come on! Let's go! Let's go!
The children may draw any animal they wish, (or the teacher
can provide an outline of an animal). The children should
color their animal.
Paste the animal onto a styrofoam meat tray. Make the bars
of the cage with pipe cleaners.
The animals in their cages can be displayed up on the wall as
if they were in a circus train. Add black circles at the
bottom of the cage if you want it to look even more like a
circus train.
Give each child a piece of yellow butcher paper. Put small
amounts of red fingerpaint in the centers of the papers.
Encourage the children to leave some areas of their papers
yellow as they fingerpaint. When the paint has dried, cut
the papers into semi-circle shapes as shown. Roll the shapes
and tape them in place to form pointed clown hats. Make
tassels from the remaining paper and tape them to the tops of
the hats.
Did you ever see a clown,
A clown, a clown?
Did you ever see a clown
Move this way and that?
Did you ever see a clown
Move this way and that?
Move this way and that way,
Move this way and that way.
Did you ever see a clown
Move this way and that? (Have child form circle. One
child in middle should perform actions. Take turns.)
Materials: 4 - 2 1/4 X 12 in. strips of construction paper,
crayons, markers, or coloured pencils, scissors, tape, one 9
in. paper plate or one 9 in. paper circle, ruler, one 9X12
in. piece of construction paper.
Procedure: Make headband with one of the strippes of paper
taped or glued together to go around the childs head. Cut a
paper plate in half and attached to headband for ears. Draw
or attach eyes. With the final strip of paper turn and fold
until all the paper if folded. Tape to headband. Tusks can
be added if desired.
Five big elephants - oh, what a signt,
Swinging their trunks from left to right!
Four are followers, and one is the king.
They all walk around in the circus ring.
(To pantomime, the children crouch over and clasp their
hands, then move arms left and right as they walk. Choose
four children to be elephants who follow one chosen to be
king. The 'elephants' walk around the room several times as
the rhyme is recited.)
Materials: One 9 X 12 in. piece of construction paper,
crayons or markers, scissors, tape, 2 pipe cleaners, white
craft glue, glitter and buttons for decorations, 1 plastic
drinking straw
Procedure: Fold paper in half crosswise. Draw a circle on
the folded edge and then draw the body below the circle. Cut
out. Draw a persons front and back. For arms, bend one pipe
cleaner to look like the letter C. Use another pipe cleaner
for legs. Decorate costume and then attach straw to pipe
cleaner. Performer will do a 'flip' if straw is twirled.
Item can be suspended from celling.
This little clown is jolly and fat.
This little clown wears a big red hat.
This little clown is strong and tall.
This little clown is wee and small,
But he does the funniest tricks of all!
Materials: One 7X12 in. piece tissue paper, gift wrap, or
construction paper, ruler, tape, 1 pipe cleaner
Place the tissue paper on the work surface so one of the long
sides is closest to you. Make a fold on a long side 1/2 in.
from the edge. Press hard to make the fold stay in place.
Turn the paper over and make another fold about 1/2 in. from
first fold. Turn and fold again and again until all the
paper is folded. Wrap a piece of tape around the center of
the folded paper. Unfold the ends to make the bow. Bend the
pipe cleaner into the shape of the letter C. Tape the center
of the pipe cleaner to the center of the bow. Wear bow
around your neck as a clown's bow tie or in your hair as a
headband.
Let the children pretend they are circus animals who have
been trained to jump through hoops. Have the children line
up in a single line and take turns stepping or jumping
through a hula hoop. Adjust the height of the hoop according
to the age and skill of each child.
Explain to the children that sometimes at the circus the lion
tamer will have lions jump through a flaming hoop. Have the
children pretend that they are animal trainers and are
teaching theri animals to jump through a hoop. Let the
children take turns throwing stuffed animals through a hula
hoop or other large ring.
Sung to: 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'
Let's all go to the circus today,
The circus today, the circus today,
Let's all go to the circus today
And watch the animals play.
See the lions jump through the hoops..At the circus today
See the big seals spinning balls..At the circus today
See the little dogs jump and twirl...At the circus today
Little clown, little clown with a big red nose,
Little clown, little clown, with funny clothes.
Little clown, little clown with a suit of yellow,
Little clown, little clown, a happy fellow.
Little clown, little clown with a blue pointed hat,
Little clown, little clown, short and fat.
Little clown, little clown with a fancy green collar,
Little clown, little clown, wants to be taller.
Little clown, little clown with hair orange and bright,
Little clown, little clown, a jolly good sight.
Little clown, little clown with two purple feet,
Little clown, little clown, a real circus treat!
Once there was a little clown, Then one day he tried a
trick
Who looked so very sad, Of walking upside down,
No matter what trick he did, Soon everyone was
laughing
It always turned out bad. At this funny clown.
He tried juggling balls, He wondered why they all would
Laugh
And running up the aisles, When he was upside down,
But no matter what he did,He didn't know that turned this
way
The crowd would never smile. His face was not a frown.
Everybody liked him, For when he stood upon his
hands
But he always looked so sad, And walked around a
while,
Everyone would start to cry, The frown that was upon his
face
And for a clown that's bad. Turned right into a smile.
Materials: Scissors, One 9X12 in. construction paper,
decorate with crayons, markers etc., Tape or glue,
buttons
Procedure: Cut 9 in. square from the paper. Save both
pieces. With a crayon, draw a line to round off one corner
of the square. Cut off. Draw designs on the paper. Bring
paper together and tape. If necessary, cut off the top of
the cone to make an opening you can talk through. If you
like, make a handle for your megaphone. Cut a 1 X 9 in. stip
from remaining paper and make a ring. Flatten ring and glue
to megaphone. Or use pipe cleaner for handle.
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black,
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons,
All down her back, back, back,
She asked her mother, mother, mother,
For fifteen cents, cents, cents,
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant,
Jump over the fence, fence, fence,
He jumped so high, high, high,
He reached the sky, sky, sky, (Touch, knees, shoulders,
And never came back, back, back, (clap hands together,
Till the first of July, ly, ly. (clap parters hands 3X
(Spin around at end
It's easy to make a Mister Google Eyes. First, trace around
the top of an unbent bottle cap on white paper. Cut out the
circle and paste it inside the cap. Put a small dark button
inside the cap. Next, cut out a square of clear plastic wrap
and cover the entire cap, letting the wrap stretch across the
open part. Tape the wrap in place. You've finished one
google eye! Now make another. To complete Mr. Google Eyes,
cut a square, with sides about four inches long, from light
cardbaord or construction paper and paste the two eyes close
together. Now draw a smiling mouth. Jiggle Mr. Google Eyes
and his eyes will roll and roll!
Measure construction paper to form a tube to fit the child's
head. Staple. On another sheet of paper, draw around the
tube to form a circle, then draw another circle about two
inches larger. Poke a scissors through the center of the
small circle. Cut wedges to the line of the small circle.
Fold the wedges upward and paste to the inside of the tube to
form a hat with a brim.
Materials: 6X9 in. red construction paper, crayons, scissor,
black paper and appropriate 'cat' colour paper.
Procedure: Fold 'cat' paper in half, cut one side of paper
out in the shape of a circle. (Do not totally cut out.) Cut
red paper in the shape of an hour glass and glue into the of
coloured paper. Glue another piece of paper for the tongue.
For teeth draw or paint white dotes around the edge of the
mouth. Glue the flap on each end of the Big Cat Nose to the
face. Glue buttons onto the face for eyes. Draw the
whiskers or glue pipe cleaners to either side of the Big Cats
nose. Glue on eyes.
Materials: 20 gummed paper reinforsements (optional), 2
clown shoes (shoe boxes), 2 60-inch lengths of ribbon or yarn
or 2 60-inch shoe laces, 2 pot scrubbers of pompoms
(optional)
Lick and stick the paper reinforcements over the punched
holes on each of the Clowns Shoes. This creates eyelets.
Fold the front end of each shoe down into the box. For each
shoe, thread 1 ribbon through the 2 eyelets at the end of the
shoe. Lace the shoes, threading the ribbon through the holes
and crossing in the center. Pull the ribbon firmly to fold
down the sides. Tie ribbon in a bow. Decorate with pot
scrubbers. Attach paper fasteners through socks and box to
hold sock in place.
This circus clown shakes your hand. (shake hands)
This circus clown plays in the band.(play flute)
This circus clown has enormous feet. (show foot)
This circus clown dearly loves to eat. (pretend to eat)
This circus clown has a round red nose. (point to nose)
This circus clown has white teeth in rows.(point teeth)
This circus clown has very sad eyes. (look sad)
He laughs, and frowns and then he cries. (demonstrate)
This circus clown bends away down. (bend down)
What would you do if you were a clown?
(Draw a large clown face on durable tagboard. Colour
features and cut a large opening for mouth. From a red scrap
of felt or coloured paper, make a tongue. Now make clown
talk.
Materials: Masking Tape - Place a line of masking tape on the
floor to represent a tightrope.
Ask the children if they have ever seen a tightrope performer
at the circus. Let them take turns sharing their
experiences. Then have them line up at one end of the
masking tape and take turns using different parts of their
bodies to 'walk the tightrope'. Call out directions such as
these. 'Walk the tightrope on your toes! Walk the tightrope
using your elbows! Walk the tightrope on your knees! Walk
the tightrope using your nose!' Regulate the game by giving
simpler directions for the younger children and more
challenging directions for the older ones. For a fun touch
let the children try carrying a small umbrella.
Under the big top, what will I see?
Look there's an elephant smiling at me.
Behind the elephant, what will I see?
Look there's a bear dancing for me.
Behind the bear, what will I see?
Look a wild lion is roaring at me.
Behind the lion, what will I see?
A little seal doing tricks for me.
To make a circus cage, you'll need an empty cereal box. Cut
the flaps off the opened end. Then carefully cut out a large
rectangle on each side. Tape some straws to the box. Do
this on both sides and your cage is complete. Now put your
tiger in. Wow! Looks like the circus has come to town!
To make your circus tiger, first cut out a piece of paper
about five inches long and cour inches wide. Fold it the
long way so it's about two inches high and five inches long.
With crayon draw stripes. Keeping the paper folded, cut a
small triangle from the open side. To make the tiger's head,
cut a small circle, about an inch and half in diameter, from
white paper. Draw a face. For a tail cut out a thin strip
of paper and draw stripes. Now paste the head and tail onto
the body. That's some tiger you have there.
I saw an elephant today,
And a kangaroo, and a whale,
A tall giraffe, a wobbly calf,
And a bird with a long, long tail.
I saw them march in proud array,
I saw them all this very day.
Why don't you ask me where I've been?
To the circus? No, not I.
I've been swinging on Grandma's gate,
Watching the clouds in the sky.
Contributed by Jean Roberts
Materials: squares of colored tissue (3 in. or 7cm), glue,
pencil with an eraser, heavy paper or tagboard, scissors
Procedure: Cut a shape out of heavy paper or tagborad for
your decoration. Decide what colours you want to use, and
cut many tissue paper squares of these colors. It looks nice
to mix colours that are very close...a tree in shades of
green. spread a thin coat of glue on a small section of the
form. Do this with one tissue square at a time: Fold the
square around the end of the pencil. Set it down on the
glued area. Glue 'fluffs' very close together so that it
will look fluffy. When each section is ginished, spread glue
on another area.
Materials: Buttons, Glue, Paper, Markers or paint
For each child glue buttons on a piece of construction paper.
Hand out the papers along with felt-tip markers or crayons.
Let the children draw pictures on their papers and encourage
them to use the buttons as part of their pictures. For
example, a button could represent a flower, a tire or the
sun.
Materials Needed:Glue,Brushes,Glue bowls,Collage Material
Base - matt board, meat tray, paper plate, etc.
Procedure:
1. Each child should have a glue bowl and brush. 2. Place a
variety of collage materials on the table. Do not give the
child the materials to glue, but rather let him/her make
his/her own choices about this. (Do not interfere.) 3. Brush
glue onto the base, and stick on collage materials freely.
These materials may be glued on top of one another for an
overlapping effect.
Use: Fabric, shapes, jewelry, buttons, corks, bottle caps,
spools, cylinders, shells, nuts, beans, rocks, seeds, pine
cones, etc.
Materials: Large piece of wood or cardboard, Glue, Pictures
or photos, Printed matter, Sketches, Fabric, String, yarn,
Drawings
Procedure: Choose an idea for your collage. Collect
'pieces' that relate to the idea...you can write or draw
them, cut them out of magazines and newspapers, or form them
from other materials. You might want to use cut-out letters
or words, or bits of poetry, music, coloured fabric. Lay the
pieces on cardboard or wood and move them around until you
like the arrangement. Then glue them in place. Give your
collage a title, if you wish. In case someone asks, be ready
to tell what is important.
Materials Needed: Fabric pieces Plastic lids
Glue Glue brushes Hole punch Yarn
Procedure:
1. Have plenty of fabric swatches. Have child choose
several.
2. Give each child a clear plastic lid and she should paint
glue all over it with a brush.
3. Place fabric on glue.
4. Punch a hole and put a length of yarn for hanging.
Procedures:
1. Have the children create sculptures by putting toothpicks
into peas, similar to a tinker-toy design.
2. When the peas dry, they will turn hard, and hold the
toothpicks in place so the sculpture may be picked up, and
each child cna take his creation home.
3. Also, the children can eat the peas, if they wish, while
working on their sculptures.
Materials: plain-coloured or printed paper such as
construction paper or coloured foil or wrapping paper (maybe
even newspaper), pencil, scissors
Procedure:
1. Cut a shape from coloured or patterned paper. It can be
a regular or an irregular shape.
2. Use a pencil to mark lines for cutting the shape into a
design.
3. Cut apart the shape. Lay the pieces on a contrasting
background, leaving some space between the pieces.
(Contrasting means a colour that is different.)
4. Glue the pieces of the design in place.
Material: Coloured paper or colored magazine pictures,
scissors, white glue, pencil, drawing paper, straight pins,
small milk cartons or other containers
Procedure: Plan a design or picture and sketch it with a
pencil on drawing paper. Choose the colours you want to use,
and cut or tear coloured construction paper into small
pieces. Keep colours separated. Spread glue thoroughly over
the surface of a small are. Use a thin layer of glue. Pick
up the pieces one at a time, with a pin, and set them in
place on the glue. Continue doing this until your design is
finished.
Materials Needed: Whole nuts in a shell or empty nut
shells, Small pieces of wood (about 5 inch square) - A roof
shingle cut into 2 or 3 pieces works, Glue in squeeze
bottles or in bowls with glue brushes, Staghorn lichen if
desired
Procedure: 1. Child picks out a piece of wood. 2. Squeeze
glue generously over wood. 3. Child selects whole nuts or
empty shells and arranges on wood until area is full.
4. Lichen is nice to fill empty shells or area between nuts.
5. for a nice sheen, paint entire collage with watered down
glue or spray with a clear resin. 5. To make a nice gift,
place 4 in. candle in middle and arrange nuts around the
candle and fill with collage materials.
Materials Needed: Magazines Tagboard or cardboard
Glue Glue brushes
Procedure:
1. Let children look through magazines and tear or cut up
the particular topic pictures. (Example, Animals)
2. When they have several pictures of the topic they should
go to the next table where there will be glue and
tagboard.
3. They can glue their pictures onto the tagboard.
Eventually, they will overlap and you will have an
interesting poster. (Great to do for holidays.)
Provide kitchen tongs or meatball presses.
Give each child an outline of a snowman, a lamb or a
bunny.
Children paint glue inside the outline provided.
Children use tongs to transfer cotton balls to the picture,
dropping cotton balls inside the glued outline.
Materials Needed: Various shaped base (paper, matt board)
Various smaller shapes of paper, fabric, plastic, styrofoam,
etc. Glue Brushes Bowls
Procedure:
1. Give the child a choice of different shaped paper and
discuss choice.
2. Let the child glue various shapes onto the paper. Try
not to suggest or interfere. These young children are
learning about balance.
Materials: Coloured paper of 2 contrasting colours (black and
white), Pencil, Scissors
Procedure: Cut a piece of dark paper in half. Cut half a
design from that half starting on a side edge. Paste the
cutout part (the positive design) on one side of a full sheet
of light paper. Paste the negative part on the other half.
Experiment! Try repeating positive and negatives to build a
design.
Materials: Coloured construction paper, Scissors, Glue,
Markers or crayons
Procedure: Cut a shape or picture out of 2 colours at once.
(one of them should be a dark colour) Paste the negative
design of the lighter colour onto another sheet of paper.
Paste the positive design of the darker colour a little a
side of the other shape. You might try pasting a lump of
cardboard behind the shadow so that it stands out from the
paper. Add scenery or other objects to the picture with
marking pens.
