Play a counting and number recognition game with a deck of cards. Prepare a deck of standard cards by removing the picture cards. Each player in this game picks a card. The higher card wins. This game can also be played by picking two cards, counting the total number of symbols on the cards combined, and declaring the higher total the winner. The two-card combination game lays a foundation for later addition practice.
Transportation is a social studies unit suited to kindergarten students. Create traffic signs and display them in the learning environment. Ask the student to name as many vehicles as possible, then write a sentence about the vehicle. Start a journal with the sentences, then discuss what role each vehicle plays in the community. Discuss why the vehicle is important to the community and how the vehicle might help the child or the child's family. These lessons raise awareness of community and how a community depends on transportation to operate.
Use a live plant and a stalk of celery to review plants and plant roots. Explain different parts of the plant, such as the leaves and the stem. Take the plant from the pot so the child can see the roots. Explain how roots bring water to the leaves. Ask the child to place the stalk of celery in a glass of colored water and ask the child what will happen, based on the knowledge that roots take water to leaves. Leave the celery overnight, and review the color in the stalk the next day. Review why the color moved from the water to the stalk, and compare the celery to the plant from the previous day.
Prepare a family literacy bag with your kindergarten student. Place a book in the bag and find props to support the bag. Use puppets, stuffed animals, or small plastic toys relating to characters or settings in the book. Read the book with your child and pull the props out of the bag at appropriate points in the story. Allow the child to explore the book alone with or without the props after the activity is over.