It's Mhine4ever!

 Children are naturally curious—and what better way to nurture their learning than by exploring the Five Senses? This weekly lesson plan is designed for 3 to 4-year-olds and focuses on play-based, sensory-rich activities that engage their growing minds and bodies.

Throughout the week, children will learn how they use their senses to explore the world around them. Each day highlights one of the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—with songs, stories, art, and hands-on experiences that are both fun and educational.

Photo credit: https://www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/five_senses.html

📚 Learning Objectives:

• Identify and name the five senses

• Use descriptive language to express sensory experiences

• Engage in group activities that promote listening, observation, and expression

• Develop fine motor, cognitive, and social-emotional skills

🗓️ Weekly Overview

📝 Daily Breakdown

👁 Monday – Sense of Sight

Let’s open our eyes to all the colors and shapes around us!
Activities:

• Color Hunt: Look around the classroom for items in different colors

• Art: Paint with bright dot markers

• Outdoor Play: Nature "I Spy" walk

• Story Time: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

• Song: “I Can See With My Eyes”

👂 Tuesday – Sense of Hearing

Today we focus on the sounds around us—both loud and quiet!
Activities:

• Sound Guessing Game: Identify objects by their sounds

• Music Corner: Explore instruments like tambourines and shakers

• Outdoor Walk: Listen to nature sounds

• Story Time: The Listening Walk

• Song: “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

👃 Wednesday – Sense of Smell

Let little noses discover the world of scents—both sweet and stinky!
Activities:

• Scent Bottles Game: Lemon, coffee, vanilla, vinegar

• Art: Make “smelly paintings” using cinnamon or cocoa powder

• Sensory Table: Add herbs, flowers, and spices

• Story Time: What’s That Smell?

• Song: “Sniff Sniff Sniff”

👅 Thursday – Sense of Taste

Let’s explore the flavors we love—and some we don’t!
Activities:

• Taste Test: Try samples of sweet (banana), sour (lemon), salty (cracker), and bland (lettuce)

• Cooking Fun: Make a fruit salad or decorate cookies

• Art: Create a paper plate “pizza” with favorite toppings

• Story Time: Eating the Alphabet

• Song: “I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas”

✋ Friday – Sense of Touch

Let curious hands discover soft, rough, bumpy, and squishy textures!
Activities:

• Texture Box: Mystery touch-and-feel game

• Art: Texture collage using fabric, foil, cotton balls, and sandpaper

• Outdoor Play: Barefoot walk on soft grass or a sensory path

• Story Time: Touch and Feel (DK Books)

• Song: “Touch Your Nose, Pat Your Head”

🌟 Bonus Ideas:

• Create a “My Five Senses Book” by adding a page each day with drawings or photos of what the child experienced

• End the week with a Five Senses Celebration, showcasing what the children learned through artwork, music, food tasting, and sensory play

Final Thoughts:
Teaching young children about their five senses is not only fun—it’s foundational. By tuning in to what they see, hear, smell, taste, and touch, children learn to become more aware, expressive, and confident in exploring their environment.

✨ Stay tuned for more weekly themes and activities! If you try this lesson plan in your daycare or classroom, I’d love to hear how it went—feel free to share photos, stories, or your own twist on the activities in the comments!

Theme: It’s All About Me – Day 5

Ideal For: Preschoolers (Ages 4–5)
Focus: Self-expression, confidence building, early literacy

💡 Why This Activity Matters

After spending a week exploring their names, bodies, emotions, and families, preschoolers end the “It’s All About Me” theme by celebrating their favorites and dreams. This reflective activity encourages children to express what they love and imagine who they might become—with a colorful and personal All About Me Booklet they create and share.

It’s a wonderful keepsake and a joyful way to close the week with connection, laughter, and confidence.

📘 Activity: All About Me Booklet

Objective:
Children will identify and communicate their likes, interests, and goals through a personalized booklet.

✏️ Materials You’ll Need:

• Printable “All About Me” worksheet pages or folded/stapled blank paper

• Crayons, markers, pencils

• Optional: glue, family photos, or stickers

• A mirror for self-portrait page (optional)

• A circle-time sharing space

📄 Suggested Pages to Include

Each child completes a booklet with prompts like:

• My name is...

• I am ___ years old.

• My favorite color is...

• I love to eat...

• My favorite animal is...

• When I grow up, I want to be...

• This is me! (Draw a self-portrait)

You can print ready-made templates or let kids write/draw on blank pages.

🧠 Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Circle Time Warm-Up

Start with fun questions:

“What’s your favorite color?”
“Do you have a favorite food or toy?”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Let kids take turns answering aloud. This warms them up for the booklet activity.

2. Booklet Creation

Pass out the pages or folded paper booklets. Go through each page one at a time:

• Assist with writing if needed (especially for emerging writers).

• Let children illustrate their answers.

• Encourage creative responses! (E.g., “My favorite animal is a dragon.”)

Tip: Use mirrors to help them draw their self-portrait on the final page.

3. Sharing in Circle Time

Once finished, invite children to share one or two pages from their booklets with the class:

“My name is Marco. I love pizza. When I grow up, I want to be a firefighter.”

Celebrate each child’s work with applause and positive comments.

📚 Book Pairings

• I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont

• All About Me! by Dr. Seuss (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library)

• Marvelous Me: Inside and Out by Lisa Bullard

✅ What Children Learn

• Self-awareness and expression

• Confidence in speaking

• Pre-writing and drawing skills

• Appreciation for what makes them unique

This lesson is also a gentle introduction to goal-setting and dreaming big!

🎉 Bonus Ideas

• Display booklets on a classroom bulletin board called “Our Favorites!”

• Create a digital version to email to parents or include in learning portfolios

• Host a mini celebration with certificates like “Most Creative” or “Biggest Dreamer”

🧺 Clean-Up Tip

Use this as a teachable moment:

“Just like we care for our favorite things, we care for our space too!”
Assign simple jobs like stacking booklets or collecting crayons.

💬 Final Thoughts

The All About Me Booklet is more than just a fun craft—it’s a reflection of each child’s identity, curiosity, and dreams. It gives them a voice, builds their confidence, and shows them that their likes and choices matter.

By the end of this week, children walk away knowing:
🎉 I am unique.
🎨 I am creative.
👧 And I matter.

 Theme: It’s All About Me – Day 4

Ideal For: Ages 4–5 | Preschool | Daycare | Homeschool
Focus: Family identity, creativity, and communication

💡 Why Teach About Family in Preschool?

Families are the first communities children know. Learning to talk about “who I live with” and what makes their home special is key to building emotional security, self-awareness, and respect for diversity.

This activity—Family House Collage—gives preschoolers the chance to express who matters most to them, while building fine motor and language skills.

🎨 Activity: Family House Collage

Objective:
Children will talk about the people they live with and express their understanding of home through a hands-on collage.

🧰 Materials You’ll Need:

• Construction paper (for the background and house shape)

• Glue sticks or white glue

• Crayons, markers, and scissors

• Family photos from home (optional)

• Old magazines or catalogs

• Optional: multicultural clipart of families

📝 Step-by-Step Guide

1. Start with Circle Time

Begin the day with a gentle conversation:

“Who do you live with?”
“What is your home like?”
“What do you love to do with your family?”

Keep it inclusive—some children live with grandparents, foster families, single parents, or relatives. Every family counts.

2. Create the Collage

Each child will create a visual “home” using the materials provided.

Steps:

• Cut out a house shape from construction paper and glue it to a large sheet.

• Find or draw pictures of family members to place inside the house.

• Label each person with their name or role (e.g., Mom, Lola, Baby Brother).

• Decorate the house with windows, pets, flowers, and personal touches.

Encourage imagination and emotion. This is their version of “home.”

3. Circle Sharing

Once finished, invite children to show their collage and talk about it:

“This is my brother. We play trucks.”
“That’s my mom. She hugs me when I’m sad.”

This step builds confidence and strengthens classroom community.

📚 Book Pairings

Pair the activity with heartwarming books like:

• The Family Book by Todd Parr (a great way to celebrate diversity!)

• A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

• Who’s In My Family? by Robie H. Harris

🧠 Learning Benefits

✔ Encourages self-expression and storytelling
✔ Develops fine motor skills (cutting, gluing, drawing)
✔ Teaches appreciation for different family types
✔ Builds emotional vocabulary and connection

🌈 Extension Ideas

• Use labels in home languages (Nanay, Tatay, Ate) for multicultural classrooms

• Create a “Class Family Book” with one page per child’s collage

• Have a Family Show-and-Tell Day where children bring in an item from home

🧺 Clean-Up Tip

Turn clean-up into part of the lesson:

“We take care of our classroom like we take care of our homes!”

Use music, assigned jobs, or color-coded bins for easy sorting.

💬 Final Thoughts

Family is at the heart of every child’s world. This sweet and simple Family House Collage project helps children honor where they come from—and share it with pride.

Let them express what “home” means in their own way. You might just learn something beautiful.

Theme: It’s All About Me – Day 3

Recommended Age: Preschoolers (4–5 years old)
Duration: 45–60 minutes
Focus: Social-emotional learning, artistic expression, and communication

🎯 Why Teach Emotions to Preschoolers?

Understanding and expressing emotions is a core part of a child’s development. At ages 3 to 5, children begin to recognize feelings in themselves and others—but they need help naming, talking about, and managing them.

That’s where this fun and meaningful lesson comes in: Emotion Masks help young learners explore emotions in a safe, hands-on, and imaginative way.

🎨 Activity Highlight: Emotion Masks

Objective:
Children will explore different emotions, facial expressions, and the situations that trigger them.

Materials Needed:

• 2 paper plates per child

• Crayons or markers

• Popsicle sticks

• Glue or tape

• Optional: a small mirror, emotion flashcards, stickers

📝 Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Circle Time Warm-Up

Start by talking about feelings. Ask:

“How are you feeling today?”
“What does your face look like when you’re happy? Angry? Scared?”

Show simple emotion flashcards or act out facial expressions. Encourage children to copy you using a mirror to see themselves.

2. Create the Masks

Each child creates two masks, each representing a different emotion (e.g., happy and sad).

Steps:

• Draw one emotion on each paper plate.

• Add features like eyebrows, eyes, mouths to show how the emotion feels.

• Attach a popsicle stick as a handle.

• Let children personalize their masks with colors or stickers.

3. Dramatic Play: Act It Out

Invite children to hold up their masks and role-play:

“This is my happy face. I feel happy when I eat ice cream!”
“This is my angry face. I feel angry when someone takes my toy.”

This helps build emotional vocabulary and empathy.

4. Discussion Time

Ask questions like:

• “What makes you feel sad?”

• “What do you do when you're scared?”

• “How can we help a friend who feels mad?”

Encourage open sharing in a supportive group setting.

🎶 Bonus: Emotion Song Time

Sing a playful twist on a classic:

“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands…”
“If you’re sad and you know it, wipe your tears…”
“If you’re angry and you know it, take a breath…”

Let children act out each feeling using their masks.

📚 Book Pairings

Pair this activity with emotion-themed picture books like:

• The Color Monster by Anna Llenas

• Glad Monster, Sad Monster by Ed Emberley

• Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis

🧠 Learning Benefits

This activity supports:

• Emotional literacy

• Self-expression

• Fine motor skills

• Empathy and social connection

• Confidence in naming and managing feelings

🧺 Clean-Up Tip

Use a labeled bin or tray to collect crayons, glue, and masks. Encourage children to “help clean as part of taking care of our classroom and our feelings!”

💬 Final Thoughts

Exploring emotions through art and play gives children the tools to express themselves, connect with others, and build healthy emotional habits. The Emotion Masks activity is simple, fun, and powerful—one that your preschoolers will remember and love!

Theme: It’s All About Me

Age Group: 4 to 5 years old
Focus Area: Self-awareness, Body Parts, Creativity
Duration: 45–60 minutes

🎯 Learning Objectives

This lesson helps children:

• Recognize and name key body parts (e.g., head, hands, feet)

• Understand the basic function of each body part

• Express themselves through art and movement

• Build confidence and a positive self-image

🧰 Materials Needed

• Large sheets of butcher paper (one per child)

• Markers, crayons, pencils

• Safety scissors (optional)

• Yarn, stickers, or fabric scraps (optional for decorating)

• A music player for action songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”

🧠 Introduction (Circle Time)

Start with a short discussion:

“Today, we’re going to learn all about our amazing bodies!”

Show a simple body chart or poster and ask:

• “What do we use to see?”

• “Where is your heart?”

• “What helps us run?”

This sparks curiosity and sets the tone for hands-on learning.

✍️ Main Activity: Life-size Me Poster

This is a fun and memorable activity where kids create a life-sized version of themselves!

Steps:

1. Have each child lie down on a large sheet of butcher paper.

2. Carefully trace their body outline.

3. Let them draw and decorate their features—face, hair, clothes, etc.

4. Help them label major body parts such as:

   • Head – “For thinking and seeing”

   • Eyes – “For seeing”

   • Hands – “For touching and holding”

   • Feet – “For walking and running”

   • Heart – “It beats inside and keeps us alive!”

Encourage creativity! Some children may want to add shoes, jewelry, or favorite colors.

🗣️ Group Sharing and Reflection

Invite each child to present their poster and say something like:

“These are my hands. I use them to paint and help my mom!”

Display the posters in the classroom or hallway to celebrate each child.

🎶 Movement Break: “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”

Play the classic song and encourage children to point to the correct body parts. Repeat it faster each time for fun and laughter!

📏 Learning Assessment

As children participate, observe and ask:

• Can they name their body parts?

• Do they understand their functions?

• Are they engaging with the activity and their peers?

Take quick notes or photos (with parental consent) for documentation.

🧩 Extension Ideas

• Use yarn for hair and scraps of cloth for clothing

• Read books like “Parts” by Tedd Arnold or “My Body” by Andrea Pinnington

• Create a class book called “Our Amazing Bodies” with each child’s poster as a page

💡 Why This Activity Matters

At ages 4 to 5, children are naturally curious about themselves. This activity supports:

• Body awareness

• Language development

• Fine and gross motor coordination

• Self-expression and creativity

This lesson plan is a favorite in my classroom. It’s a blend of art, science, and emotional learning—all rolled into one child-centered experience. Try it out and watch your little learners light up with pride!

 In the eyes of many, Maribel is simply an early childhood educator — the one with warm hands, gentle eyes, and a quiet but commanding presence in the classroom. But behind her daily routines of teaching ABCs and tying shoelaces lies a story not everyone knows. A story of strength, survival, and silent resilience.

Maribel is not just a teacher. She is a creator.

She brings life to every classroom through arts and crafts, where popsicle sticks become castles and paper plates become animals. She encourages children to explore, express, and imagine. Her love for creativity flows naturally — not just in the classroom, but at home, where her hands are always busy with a brush, a pen, or a pot of soil.

You’ll often find her surrounded by plants — her sanctuary, her therapy. Cacti, succulents, flowering greens — each one lovingly nurtured, each one a symbol of growth after hardship. Her garden is a mirror of her soul: resilient, quiet, thriving.

But there's more to Maribel than meets the eye.

She sings to heal. Her karaoke machine becomes her stage, where she belts out her favorite ballads and old love songs, turning sorrow into melody. It’s her way of letting go, even if just for a few minutes.

To her friends, she’s the life of the party — giggling over jokes, loud and silly. But around strangers, Maribel retreats into quiet corners. She listens more than she speaks, observes more than she shares. She’s friendly but cautious, warm but guarded.

What most don’t see is the pain she’s carried.

Behind her bright smile is the heavy truth of a failed marriage — one that left her and her children emotionally bruised. Her ex-husband’s words were sharp, his presence toxic. Yet Maribel never allowed herself to be swallowed by bitterness. Instead, she became the anchor for her children. She stood firm — not because she wasn’t afraid — but because she had to be strong for them.

She rarely shows the pain. She hides it with her patience, her laughter, and her work.

But when the world sleeps, Maribel writes.

Her notebooks are filled with poems — deeply personal, raw, and moving. Through every stanza, she pours out the sadness, homesickness, love, and longing that she keeps buried during the day. Poetry is her secret language, her lifeline.

And yet, despite everything, Maribel lives positively.

She continues to nurture young minds, teach with passion, laugh with her friends, and grow her garden of hope. She is not defined by what broke her — she is defined by how she blooms again and again.

To the world, she may be just another teacher. But to those who know her — really know her — Maribel is a warrior, a poet, a mother, a friend, and a healer of little hearts.

She is living proof that no matter what life throws your way, you can choose to grow, give, and glow.

🌿✨