Children will learn the role of a scarecrow and ordering numbers in this interactive activity. Print 11 crow templates, color them, and number them zero to 10. Laminate them. Explain to children that you will pretend to be a scarecrow and preschoolers will be crows trying to eat the crops. To begin, yell "Caw, caw, caw." The crows holding the templates must "fly" up and arrange themselves in the correct order from zero to 10. The children who do not have a crow will yell "Caw, caw, caw" when the crows have arranged themselves correctly. Continue playing until all children have had a chance to be a crow.
Preschoolers learn through songs and movement. This scarecrow lesson will reinforce language, health and reading skills. Children will be able to identify body parts after singing the scarecrow action poem. Say the poem several times using different a different body part each time. Students will say the poem and do the actions: "The floppy, floppy scarecrow, Guards his field all day. He waves his floppy (arm, leg), To scare the crows away!" When finished, write the poem on a sheet paper and have children practice reading the poem, if some of them are able to read.
Children will learn about feelings and become emergent readers with this scarecrow lesson. To begin the lesson, read the book "The Lonely Scarecrow" by Tim Preston. Talk about how the scarecrow felt. Discuss feelings with preschoolers. Provide students with white paper and crayons. Have the children draw and color four scarecrows: sad, mad, happy and scared. Write a sentence describing the scarecrow on each drawing. For example, write "The scarecrow is sad." Staple them together and practice reading at circle time.
Children will practice math comparing skills after making a scarecrow craft that is the ideal way to end a scarecrow lesson. Tell children they are going to make scarecrows using their bodies. Children should lay down on butcher paper so you can trace around them. Students then use a variety of art supplies to decorate their scarecrows. Cut out the outlines and have students take turns arranging them from shortest to tallest. These make memorable autumn decorations to display around the classroom.