fopposites

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Fun With Opposites

From Stormie:

Although "Opposites" can be reinforced through many preschool themes, I like to give it a time of special focus at one point during the year if I can. Here are a few activities:

*Opposites Collage: Provide children with construction paper, scissors, glue, and a large sheet of manilla paper or newsprint paper. Instruct them to cut long and short pieces of construction paper to glue onto the big piece of paper.

Extension: If your group is ready and can handle this direction, have them also cut fat and skinny pieces.

*Inside/Outside: Here's something I did that you too can do, and it's free! The last time I went to Lowe's Warehouse looking for painting ideas for my home, I brought home one each of the small (about 4") photograph cards they had on display from "American Tradition" paints. The purpose of these cards is to show the buyer the colors of paint available. But what's really neat about them is that some of the cards are pictures of house exteriors and some of them are of house interiors. These make an absolutely fantastic learning center game. Children can sort the cards according to whether the picture is "inside" or "outside" (or, indoors/outdoors if you prefer).
*Day/Night Picture: (Creativity Within the Limits of a Theme): In advance, draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper for each child. Label one side "Day" and draw a sun beside the word. Label the other side "Night" and draw a crescent moon beside the word. Have children draw their own day and night pictures. Observe and encourage as they draw. You might ask, "What kinds of things do we do during the day?" What kinds of things do we do at night?" Have them tell you about their completed pictures, then print their exact words on their papers.

One of the best ways to reinforce "Opposites" is through obstacle course positions as children can do things like go up/down, move in/out of something, move above/below, go to the bottom/top of something, and so on.

Favorite Books:
*Donna King, Roxboro, North Carolina, shares this favorite with us:
Dinosaur Roar, Written and Illustrated by Paul and Henrietta Strickland is a fun, rhyming book of opposites with a dinosaur theme. (Good book for teaching opposites and obviously appropriate for use with a dinosaur theme.)
*From Stormie:
"Big Tracks, Little Tracks" by Millicent E. Selsam; illustrated by Marlene Hill Donnelly: I placed this book here mostly because the title reflects the concept of opposites (big/little). Children can match the animals in the book to the tracks they make. But it also provides an opportunity to discuss opposites. For example, you can ask them to compare two animals in the book: Which one is big/which one is little? Which one has dark colored fur/which has light colored fur? Etc.
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